Editing Sweden Democrats (section)

=== Early years (1988–1995) ===
[[File:Sdsticker.jpg|thumb|Early sticker used by the Sweden Democrats with the slogan {{lang|sv|Bevara Sverige Svenskt}} ("Keep Sweden Swedish")]]
The Sweden Democrats party was founded in 1988 as a direct successor to the [[Sweden Party]],<ref name="Rydgren"/> which in turn had been formed in 1986 by the merger of {{lang|sv|[[Bevara Sverige Svenskt]]}} (BSS; in English: "Keep Sweden Swedish") and a faction of the [[Progress Party (Sweden)|Swedish Progress Party]]. The SD continued to use Keep Sweden Swedish as its slogan until the late 1990s.<ref name="r1089">Rydgren, 2006, pp. 108–109.</ref> The SD claims 6 February 1988 as the date of its foundation and that the party was formally registered after a meeting in Stockholm designed to bring together various nationalist movements who issued a [[white paper]] for a new party, although observers tend to see the party's foundation as part of a complex decade-long series of events, with some even calling into question whether a meeting took place.<ref>Anders Widfeldt (2014). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=tm1eBAAAQBAJ&dq=6%20February%201988%20sverigedemokraterna&pg=PT245 Extreme Right in Scandinavia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416003606/https://books.google.com/books?id=tm1eBAAAQBAJ&dq=6%20February%201988%20sverigedemokraterna&pg=PT245 |date=16 April 2023 }}''. Routledge, p.245.</ref>

Initially, the party did not have a single centralized leader and was instead fronted by two alternating spokespeople before [[Anders Klarström]] became the party's sole official chairman and head of the Sweden Democrats' national board in 1989.<ref name="ekstrom"/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://ordfrontmagasin.se/fascistledarnas-bekannelser/ |title=Fascistledarnas bekännelser – Ordfront Magasin |website=ordfrontmagasin.se |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200926112130/https://ordfrontmagasin.se/fascistledarnas-bekannelser/ |archive-date=26 September 2020}}</ref>

According to the anti-racism publication ''[[Expo (magazine)|Expo]]'' and the political historian Duncan McDonnell, it is generally agreed that the Sweden Democrats have never been a [[Neo-Nazism|neo-Nazi]] or a fascist political party,<ref name="Expo_SD_Historia"/> although some of the SD's founders and early members had previously belonged to both Swedish and foreign neo-fascist and white nationalist groups and the party had a reputation in the late 1980s and early 1990s for attracting [[skinhead]] gangs to its public events.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-13/sweden-democratic-party-has-far-right-roots-but-has-it-changed/10238482|title=Has Sweden's old 'Nazi' party really changed?|date=12 September 2018|website=www.abc.net.au}}</ref><ref name="kvallsposten"/> Studies by ''Expo'' documented that around nine of the original 30 people who founded the SD had associations to known Nordic fascist organisations such as the [[New Swedish Movement]] and the [[Nazism in Sweden|neo-Nazi]] [[Nordic Realm Party]] ({{lang|sv|Nordiska rikspartiet}}, {{Abbr.}}''NRP'') and estimated that around sixty percent of party's national board members between 1989 and 1995 were connected to neo-Nazi movements in various ways both before and during their time in the party.<ref name="Expo_SD_Historia"/>  However, the study also concluded that a majority of these members were no longer active within the party by the mid-to-late-1990s.<ref>{{cite book|first=Stieg|last=Larsson|pages=108|publisher=EXPO|title=Sverigedemokraterna Den nationella rörelsen|year=2001}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref><ref name="Mattsson">{{cite book|date=2009|first=Pontus|isbn=978-91-27-11768-6|last=Mattsson|location=Stockholm|publisher=Natur & Kultur|title=Sverigedemokraterna in på bara skinnet}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> The party's first auditor, [[Gustaf Ekström]], was a ''[[Waffen-SS]]'' veteran and had been a member of the national socialist party ''[[National Socialist Workers' Party (Sweden)|Svensk Socialistisk Samling]]'' in the{{nbsp}}1940s.<ref name="edoc.hu-berlin.de" /> The SD's first chairman Anders Klarström and deputy board members and party co-founders Fritz Håkansson and {{ill|lt=Sven Davidson|Sven Davidson (politician)|sv|Sven Davidson (politiker)}} had all been active in the Nordic Realm Party.<ref name="Schön">[[Bosse Schön]], ''[https://www.etc.se/inrikes/nazisterna-som-skapade-sverigedemokraterna Nazisterna som skapade Sverigedemokraterna] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240418135215/https://www.etc.se/inrikes/nazisterna-som-skapade-sverigedemokraterna|date=18 April 2024}}'', Tidningen ETC 4 February 2014.</ref> Klarström later elaborated he had briefly been part of the NRP as a teenager before distancing himself from it by the time he became SD leader.{{refn|<ref name="edoc.hu-berlin.de">{{Cite journal |first=Anders |last=Widfeldt |title=A fourth phase of the extreme right? Nordic immigration-critical parties in a comparative context |website=Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin |year=2010 |number=1/2 |pages=7–31 |doi=10.18452/8037 |url=https://edoc.hu-berlin.de/handle/18452/8689 |access-date=19 March 2024 |archive-date=19 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240319015552/https://edoc.hu-berlin.de/handle/18452/8689 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/2728776|title=Det dubbla ansiktet – Sverigedemokraterna granskas|publisher=[[Sveriges Radio]]|year=2009|language=sv|access-date=19 March 2024|archive-date=19 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240319015551/https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/2728776|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.expressen.se/kvallsposten/har-bildar-nazisterna-partiet-sd--i-malmo/|title=Här bildar nazisterna partiet SD – i Malmö {{!}} Kvällsposten|access-date=26 November 2018|language=sv-SE|archive-date=31 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181231121708/https://www.expressen.se/kvallsposten/har-bildar-nazisterna-partiet-sd--i-malmo/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="svd.se">{{Cite news|url=https://www.svd.se/nazist-arbetade-for-ss--var-med-och-grundade-sd|title=Nazist arbetade för SS – var med och grundade SD|first=Erica|last=Treijs|newspaper=Svenska Dagbladet|date=30 April 2017|via=www.svd.se|access-date=2 May 2017|archive-date=8 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508110933/https://www.svd.se/nazist-arbetade-for-ss--var-med-och-grundade-sd|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">Utan ånger: Gustaf Ekström – SS-veteranen som grundade Sverigedemokraterna. Johan Ulvenlöv, Matti Palm, Anders Larsson, 2017</ref><ref name="aftonbladet.se">{{cite web|url=https://www.aftonbladet.se/a/zpmVK|title=Nazisten som grundade SD|website=Aftonbladet|date=5 June 2017|access-date=12 March 2021|archive-date=29 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210129221801/https://www.aftonbladet.se/a/zpmVK|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="r1089"/><ref name="kvallsposten"/><ref name="ekstrom"/><ref name="telegraphboots"/><ref name="Telegraph2"/><ref name="Rydgren"/>}} The first version of the SD's old youth-wing, the ''[[Sweden Democratic Youth]]'' was accused of having dual leadership with neo-Nazi youth movements until 1995<ref>{{cite web |url=https://expo.se/lar-dig-mer/wiki/sverigedemokraterna-sd/ |title=Sverigedemokraterna (SD) |access-date=2 March 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sdungdom.se/historik.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090513001628/http://www.sdungdom.se/historik.php |url-status=dead |archive-date=2009-05-13 |title=Historik |access-date=2 March 2025}}</ref> while the SD's logo from the 1990s until 2006 was a version of the torch used by the British [[National Front (UK)|National Front]].{{refn|<ref name="r1089"/><ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=http://sverigedemokraterna.se/vart-parti/blasippan-sverigedemokraternas-partisymbol/|title=Blåsippan – Sverigedemokraternas partisymbol|publisher=Sverigedemokraterna|language=sv|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100923075630/http://sverigedemokraterna.se/vart-parti/blasippan-sverigedemokraternas-partisymbol/|archive-date=23 September 2010|url-status=dead|access-date=7 October 2010|place=SE}}</ref><ref name="Expo_SD_Historia">{{cite news|url=http://expo.se/2011/sa-ljuger-sd-om-sin-historia_3612.html|title=Så ljuger SD om sin historia|work=[[Expo (magazine)|Expo]]|first=Daniel|last=Poohl|access-date=24 January 2011|language=sv|archive-date=17 January 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110117062501/http://expo.se/2011/sa-ljuger-sd-om-sin-historia_3612.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.skma.se/nov06/sverigedemokrater.pdf|title=Sverigedemokraterna inga arvtagare till nationalsocialisterna|work=[[Swedish Committee Against Antisemitism]]|first=Heléne|last=Lööw|access-date=24 January 2011|language=sv|archive-date=12 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210212014122/http://www.skma.se/nov06/sverigedemokrater.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>}} The SD also encountered controversy for some of its early policy ideas before 1999, which included a proposal to repatriate most immigrants who came to Sweden from 1970, banning adoption of foreign born children and reinstating the death penalty.<ref name="auto6">{{cite web|url=https://ordfrontmagasin.se/fascistledarnas-bekannelser/|title=Fascistledarnas bekännelser|date=9 January 2019|access-date=27 February 2021|archive-date=20 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420143112/https://ordfrontmagasin.se/fascistledarnas-bekannelser/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The party promoted concerts by the Swedish offshoot of [[Rock Against Communism]] and sponsored music of the nationalist [[Viking rock]] band [[Ultima Thule (Swedish band)|Ultima Thule]]. Various party officials today acknowledge that being fans of Ultima Thule's music factored prominently in their decision to become politically engaged.<ref name="Teitelbaum 2013"/> Early on, the party recommended international connections to its members such as the [[National Democratic Party of Germany]], the American [[National Association for the Advancement of White People]] (founded by [[David Duke]]) and publications like the Nazi ''[[Nation Europa]]'' and ''[[Nouvelle École]]'', a newspaper that advocates [[scientific racism|racial biology]] and the British neo-Nazi [[Combat 18]] movement.<ref name="vitbok">{{Citation |title=Sverigedemokraternas vitbok 1988–2014 |year=2014 |url=http://expo.se/www/download/sds_vitbok_Expo_2_2014.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140912071628/http://expo.se/www/download/sds_vitbok_Expo_2_2014.pdf |archive-date=12 September 2014 |url-status=dead |publisher=[[Expo (magazine)|Expo]] |language=sv}}</ref><ref name="SDBulle 11-89">{{cite news |title=Adresser till ledande utländska nationella partier och tidningar |journal=SD-Bulletinen |year=1989 |page=3 |url=http://www.sdarkivet.se/publikationer/sd-bulletinen/SD-Bulletinen_1989_11.pdf |language=sv |access-date=16 September 2017 |archive-date=20 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020122149/http://www.sdarkivet.se/publikationer/sd-bulletinen/SD-Bulletinen_1989_11.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Murray">{{cite news |last1=Murray |first1=Douglas |author1-link=Douglas Murray (author) |title=How the Sweden Democrats came in from the cold |url=https://unherd.com/2020/02/how-the-sweden-democrats-came-in-from-the-cold/ |access-date=29 July 2023 |work=[[UnHerd]] |date=28 February 2020 |archive-date=1 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231001012245/https://unherd.com/2020/02/how-the-sweden-democrats-came-in-from-the-cold/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The SD won municipal representation for the first time during the [[1991 Swedish local elections]] in [[Dals-Ed Municipality]] and [[Höör]].<ref name="SD10">{{cite book|date=1998|id=[[LIBRIS]]:&nbsp;[http://libris.kb.se/bib/2434119 2434119]|location=[[Stockholm]]|publisher=Sverigedemokraterna|title=Sverigedemokraterna 10 år!!! : 1988–1998}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>