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Comment by ptaipale | Hacker News Reader

I'm from neighbouring Finland which had a fairly similar situation: far-right radicalism as well as communism in the 1930's was quelled and rule of law and liberal values prevailed.

I fail to see how the article answers the question in headline. It seems to say "because we all became nice Social Democrats with strong suport" but doesn't really answer the how.

Also, the references to Black Lives movement seem very out of place. BLM activists appear quite confrontational and in many ways the exact antithesis of how Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark became what they are.

In a word, being divisive (e.g. by bashing Donald Trump a lot, however well deserved) isn't going to reach out and win over anyone who disagrees with you.

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" Meanwhile in Norway, the Norwegian Workers’ Party crafted a vision that seemed both radical and reasonable and won majority support for their view despite the dissent of a very small Communist Party. Grassroots movements built a large infrastructure of co-ops that showed their competency and positivity when the government and political conservatives lacked both. Additionally, activists reached beyond the choir, inviting participation from people who initially feared making large changes.

Norwegians also took a different attitude toward violence. They chose nonviolent direct action campaigns consisting of strikes, boycotts, demonstrations, and occupations—a far less fearsome picture than Nazi Brown Shirts and street fighting. Norway therefore lacked the dangerous chaos that in Germany led the middle classes to accept the elite’s choice of Hitler to bring “law and order.” "

So Norwegian government became strong because co-ops showed that they have competence and the government does not? This story does still not sound very logical.

I know that in Finland the radicalization that had lead to a bloodbath in civil war in 1918 was mended during the next two decades by a land reform where the poor tenant farmers were able to buy out their own plots and become independent farmers. The Communist leaders escaped to Russia where they were later mostly purged by Stalin.

The rising fascist rebellion in Finland in early 1930's was suppressed by enforcing rule of law. By the time Soviet Union (in pact with Nazis) attacked in 1939, lots of (formerly) poor people felt they had something to defend, so even the sons of red-hot revolutionaries held their place in the line against attacking Soviets.

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