1924 Elections
By 1924, the situation had largely improved. The Communists had entirely collectivized the economy and every factories and farm was run by workers’ councils. This had resulted in a large increase in the economic situation of many Scandinavians, and this despite heavy budget cuts, and had decreased in turn the political violence. The budget was also finally positive and the debts were being paid back.
Many former businessmen became ruined as a result of the reforms, but they were too few to matter. Without their money, their influence was also shrinking rapidly. They still had supporters, and the anti-socialists continued their protests, but there were less and less protesters. Some were happy enough under the Socialist State that they did not want to go back to the republic, or at least not by putting themselves at risk. All this despite the dismissive attitude of the government. The communists were openly ignoring the protesters and, behind close doors, they were even considering using armed force if the situation got out of hand.
But the most affected during the elections were the social democrats. While the opponents to socialism still stayed opposed to it, even if they were less violent in their means of opposition, many people that had supported the Labor Party by fear of the radicalism of the communism now believed they had been proved wrong. The Communist Party had largely improved their living conditions and the violence had actually decreased, while many had believed the opposite would happen. The moderate attitude of the Labor Party appeared less attractive. It also gave the party a perception of being too soft and passive. The crisis was blamed on them while the communists were credited with solving it. On the other hand, there were also moderates that believed the communists had gone too far in their reforms and as a result joined the coalition of the opposition.
The Communist Party came first with 34% of the votes, followed by the Labor Party at 26,6%, then Hoyre at 21,7% and finally Venstre at 17,5%. The communists had 102 seats, the social democrats 80, Hoyre 65 and Venstre 53. The coalition government with the Labor Party and the Communist Party continued.