The Minister of Supply ( sv, Folkhushållningsminister) was a member of the

government of Sweden The Government of the Kingdom of Sweden ( sv, Konungariket Sveriges regering) is the national cabinet of Sweden, and the country's executive authority. The Government consists of the Prime Ministerappointed and dismissed by the Speaker of the ...

. The minister of supply was the head of the

Ministry of Supply The Ministry of Supply (MoS) was a department of the UK government formed in 1939 to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Minister of Supply. A separate ministry, however, was responsible for aircr ...

from 1939 to 1950 which handled matters relating to the national economy.

History

The minister of

supply Supply may refer to: *The amount of a resource that is available **Supply (economics), the amount of a product which is available to customers **Materiel, the goods and equipment for a military unit to fulfill its mission *Supply, as in confidenc ...

headed the

which was established on 15 October 1939 to deal with administrative matters concerning general guidelines for the government's activities to ensure the supply within Sweden of necessities that were important for the population or production. was entrusted with the task of organizing the new ministry, for matters relating to the national economy, of which Eriksson became the first head. This was perhaps Eriksson's greatest and for Sweden's most significant contribution at this time. As his successor in the position of minister of supply expressed himself about its organization, "it was so expedient and well adapted to the demands of the crisis situation that the whole thing could later be seen as self-evident". Eriksson was succeeded by Axel Gjöres in 1941, who held the position for 6 years. Gjöres in turn was replaced by

Gunnar Sträng Gunnar Georg Emanuel Sträng (23 December 1906 – 7 March 1992) was a Swedish Social Democratic politician, most known for being Sweden's longest serving minister for finance. Sträng grew up in a working-class family in Lövsta, today a part ...

in 1947. Gjöres had made very important contributions as minister both during the war and in the years immediately after. He did not want to leave the post in 1947, because the Swedish economy was in a very precarious situation. Gunnar Sträng had been persuaded to become minister of supply. He was then given responsibility for the regulatory policy that was maintained for several years after the Second World War, when it was feared that the depression would strike like after the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. That was not the case. Unemployment on a national basis was low, and prices were reasonably kept in order. Gunnar Sträng was succeeded by

Karin Kock Karin Kock-Lindberg (''née'' Kock; 2 July 1891 – 28 July 1976) was a Swedish politician (Social Democrats) and professor of economics. In 1947 she became the first woman to hold a ministerial position in Sweden. She was also the first female pr ...

who became Sweden's first female cabinet minister. In December 1949, Prime Minister

Tage Erlander Tage Fritjof Erlander (; 13 June 1901 – 21 June 1985) was a Swedish politician who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1946 to 1969. He was the leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party and led the government for an uninterrupted tenur ...

forced Kock to leave her ministerial post to become director general of

Statistics Sweden Statistics Sweden ( sv, Statistiska centralbyrån ; SCB) is the Swedish government agency operating under the Ministry of Finance and responsible for producing official statistics for decision-making, debate and research. The agency's responsib ...

. She was not happy about the change and would have liked to stay, something Erlander had a hard time understanding, considering that her influence had been reduced to insignificance. Erlander had instead wanted

Axel Strand Axel Strand (13 November 1893 in Burlöv – 13 September 1983 in Stockholm) was a Swedish trade union organizer. A carpenter by profession, he belonged to the Swedish Wood Industry Workers' Union. Strand was the chairman of the Swedish Trad ...

, the head of the

Swedish Trade Union Confederation The Swedish Trade Union Confederation ( sv, Landsorganisationen i Sverige ; literally "National Organisation in Sweden"), commonly referred to as LO (), is a national trade union centre, an umbrella organisation for fourteen Swedish trade unions ...

, as minister of supply. He declined, however and took over the post for six months before the ministry and thus the post ceased on 30 June 1950.

List of officeholders

References

Notes

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* * * * * * * * * * * {{Government ministries of Sweden Lists of political office-holders in Sweden 1939 establishments in Sweden 1950 disestablishments in Sweden