Cette thèse analyse les formes et les effets de l’utopisme qui sous-tend le projet politique du SAP (parti social-démocrate suédois) entre 1932 et 1986. Dans le cadre d’une approche conceptuelle du politique nous nous interrogeons sur le pouvoir des idées, des symboles et de l’imaginaire dans la constitution d’un roman national original, mais aussi à travers la mise en oeuvre de l’action publique. A partir d’un important corpus inédit de discours et d’écrits rédigés par les trois leaders qui se sont succédés à la tête du gouvernement pendant un demi-siècle(Hansson, Erlander, Palme), la thèse s’efforce de mettre à jour « la cristallisation sémantique » qui a structuré le lexique politique du SAP. En son coeur figure la métaphore du Folkhem qui fonctionne comme un mythe mobilisateur pour la nouvelle société, avant de se transformer en élément essentiel de l’identité nationale et de la culture politique de la Suède. Autour du Folkhem, se noue le contrat social suédois, et la notion se transforme en source etressource de légitimité politique. L’histoire des récits du Folkhem permet de mieuxcomprendre les origines du modèle suédois et les modalités récentes de son évolution. Par son extrême plasticité, le Folkhem continue de nos jours à faire l’objet d’appropriations politiques nombreuses et diverses, confirmant ainsi son rôle fondateur d’institution de sens. / This thesis relates the forms and effects of the utopianism that underlies the SAP (Swedish Social-Democratic Party) political project between 1932 and 1986. The power of ideas,symbols and imaginary in politics is our theoretical base. The political discourse of the SAP leaders and the importance of words in the creation of public policy are studied. Our corpus consists of a vast archive material. Guided by utopianism, the leaders express their will to create a new society. The Folkhem political metaphor, narrative at the heart of the political glossary of the SAP, is in the centre of this utopianism. The notion is used as a mobilizingmyth for the new society and it works as a social contract for the Swedes. The Folkhem narratives help us understand the Swedish model and contemporary Sweden. By its extreme plasticity and by being part of the Swedish identity, the notion is still a source of political legitimacy and continues to produce meaning.

This subject of interest in this paper is the ideas expressed and formulated in the making andinauguration of the Branting-monument at Norra Bantorget in Stockholm. The initiative for a monument honoring the late Social Democratic leader Hjalmar Brantingwas taken at the Swedish Social Democratic Party Congress in 1928. In 1935 the party board decided to give the task of designing the monument to the much renowned artist Carl Eldh. A national fund-raising campaign for the monument was also initiated. In1942 the model of the monument was completed, but because of the war it was stored in a shelter. On June 2, 1952 the monument was inaugurated with great ceremony. Old working movement songs and anthems were played and sung and speeches were made by the Prime Minister Tage Erlander, Stockholm City Council President Carl Albert Andersson, and three foreign guests: Salomon Grumbach, Camille Huysmans and Paul LöbeIn the Social Democratic daily press reporting on the inauguration and in the speeches from the inauguration one can track several important recurring themes. It is clear that they were eager to define Branting as a prudent reformist and anti-communist. It also points out that both Branting was a big Swede that the whole nation stood behind, but also a great European and internationalist. But it also adds time to let different people describe Branting on a personal level, thus both strengthening the heroic image of Branting and making the image of Branting more personal. Even liberal newspapers adopted much of this rhetoric. The only newspaper that in the true sense took a fairly critical stance in relationship to the inauguration was the communist Ny Dag.

Based on the concept of rhetorical situation, the purpose of this study is to compare and describe the three Socialist leader's May Day speech from the years 1954, 1978 and 2011. The results of the analysis showed that there is a big difference in how the leaders chooses to appeal to the rhetorical audience. Erlander, 1954, never appealed directly to his audience which Palme, 1978, did both initially as repeatedly throughout his speech. Juholt, 2011, has a personal and frequent appeal which is repeated throughout his speech, which is interpreted as a sign of the intimization of the public language. It proved difficult to discuss the Socialist rhetoric as one unified form. The rhetoric realm is influenced by too many external factors, such as the media, which makes it impossible to speak of it as one. The analysis revealed that the language of the 1th may-speeches is characterized by the people who use it. It is inevitable that the speaker puts his utmost emphasis, in both language and speeches. It would require a larger and more comprehensive analysis to allow any conclusions about a social-democratic language.Keywords: Rhetorical situation, genre, ethos-logos-pathos, 1th May, the Swedish Social Democratic Party, Tage Erlander, Olof Palme, Håkan Juholt