Joe Hill, meet Olof Palmer

One of the first questions I was asked when I moved to Sweden was "where were you when Olof Palmer was shot?", to their surprise the usual answer was a question...Who?

Ooops..yes indeed , years of tv discussions, documentrys, the missing weapon, the conspiracy theories including an international plot which included the South African secret service and the CIA.
You have to laugh when you see interviews with retired generals from the States calling Olof "a dirty commy rat" as he wasn't interested in feeding the arms industry.

Whatever you believe though, there is a kinda "History repeats itself" here.
Joe Hill.
Now , I reckon if you asked 9 outta 10 Swedes who Joe Hill was they wouldn't know.Indeed, if you asked the question "where were you when he was shot by firing squad" you'd get an even stranger percentage as most wouldn't have been born.

Joe Hill was shot by firing squad in Utah . He was a swedish immigrant who fought in the mexican war. In classic Swedish fashion he was a union organiser who wanted to abolish the wage system of capitalism. A workingman's Robert Burns was his tag.
This guy had morals and integrity and was loved by the workers of america and despised by the industrialists and politicians, his conviction of murder was based on very poor evidence and basically just an excuse to get rid of him.The Jimmy Hoffa of the era.

There seems to be a similar thread in both with conspiracys tied up with the same countries for possibly the same reasons in different generations.I wonder how many natives of this country know of Joe Hill?

áyé