This post is based on an article written by Olle Waestberg, a former active member of the Liberal Party and one of the leading experts in democracy in Sweden.
Apart from the Sweden Democrats, all political parties in the Swedish parliament have changed their names. In most cases, the name change was about distancing themselves from their own history or attracting more voters.
The Right Party (Högerpartiet) was originally opposed to democracy, and calling themselves "right-wing" limited their ability to broaden their voter base. That's why they became the Moderates (Moderaterna).
The Workers' Party (Arbetarpartiet) wanted to expand and emphasize their ideology. That's why they changed to the Social Democrats (Socialdemokraterna) in 1990; they removed the mandatory member membership in the LO (Swedish Trade Union Confederation).
The Farmers' Federation (Bondeförbundet) had a bad reputation in the cities and changed its name to the Center Party (Centerpartiet).
The fact that the Workers' Party and the Farmers' Federation represented specific groups led the Liberal and Free-minded parties, which were ideology-based, to adopt the name "People's Party" (Folkpartiet) when they merged in 1934. Later, the party changed its name to the People's Party - The Liberals (Folkpartiet Liberalerna), further emphasizing its ideology and eventually dropping the name "People's Party" altogether.
The Communist Party (Kommunistiska partiet) had a grim history. The party always supported the Soviet Union under Lenin and Stalin. Since Stalin supported the Nazi occupation of Norway, the Swedish Communist Party did the same. The party was not allowed to be part of the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Defense Committee. The party's history has forced several name changes, and it now calls itself the Left Party (Vänsterpartiet).
Party history matters. For the Liberals (Liberalerna), there is every reason to refer to their history. Other parties, as is well known, have been forced to change names to break with their dark history. How parties handle their history says a lot about the future.
The Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna) differ from other parties in their view of their own history. The party was originally neo-Nazi and antisemitic. The current party leadership joined that party, though as teenagers. Nowadays, the party expels members who are publicly exposed as racists.
SD's economic spokesperson, Oskar Sjoestedt, has made antisemitic statements, Björn Söder has made racist statements, and Richard Jomshof, chairman of the Justice Committee, described authoritarian Hungary as a role model when he was party secretary. But the party leader Jimmie Aokesson, regardless of the party's history or previous statements, does not care. Even though he denies it, he has previously praised Hungary's Viktor Orbán, among others.
If the Sweden Democrats were to genuinely distance themselves from their history, change their name, and attract a new generation, they would likely be perceived differently. However, there is no indication that this will happen in the foreseeable future.
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