Draft:Seskarö Uprising

Seskarö Uprising
Part of the Swedish hunger riots of 1917
Date May - June, 1917 Location Seskarö, Sweden Result Government victory
Belligerents
Sweden	Seskarö
Commanders and leaders
Wenzel Falk Erik Grafström
Units involved
Västernorrland Regiment Norrbotten Regiment Swedish Police
Strength
+550	~1000
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Unknown

As a consequence of the 1917 food shortage in Sweden, the residents of Seskarö would go against the authority of the Swedish government by forcibly purchase bread from local bakeries when the supplies from the mainland failed to reach demand. Later attempts by authorities to put the perpetrators of these forced purchases to justice would spark a confrontation with the Seskarö residents resulting in a temporary expulsion of all government power from the island by May 30th. However, later reinforcements from the Norbotten regiment would once again, put Seskarö in Government hands in June.

Background

Although hunger was a nationwide problem in Sweden in 1917, the situation on Seskarö was especially poor. The remote island of Seskarö was cut off from the mainland by a thick layer of ice which greatly decreased the already limited amount of supplies arriving from Sweden. The small number of provisions that were sent to the starving islanders was mostly rotten food that was just enough for 3-5 kg of potatoes per person as well as 2000 kg of turnips. This lack of supplies would result in the Seskarö residents holding a meeting at Folkets hus (the people's house) on the 25 of May, where the situation was discussed. The course of action eventually agreed upon would be to forcibly purchase bread from the local bakeries. Although, there was already much destained towards the local bakers on the island as many believed that they were selling their bread on the black market for a heftier price rather than giving it to their fellow islanders.

The next day, the baker Eriksson alerted the authorities of the forced purchases which were committed by around 300 residents.

The Uprising

Lawenforcments arrives

On the 28 of May, only 4 out of the 300 involved in the forced purchases would be called in for questioning by the recently arrived sheriffs due to Eriksson being only able to point out 16 perpetrators as well as the lack of resources available. However, this did not sit well with the Seskarö residents who refused to let their fellow countrymen be arrested as scapegoats. As a result, the Seskarö residents would help the arrested out of the building where they were kept, locking in the two sheriffs present in the building. The sheriffs were later forced to leave the island due to threats of strike from the workers at the local sawmill.

The next day, the sheriffs return accompanied by the county detective and the bailiff. Fearing that only a few scapegoats would be picked out for questioning again, the islanders gave the authorities a list of all who had admitted to being involved in the forced purchases with the names arranged in a circle to prevent any one name from looking more guilty than the other. However, the authorities ignore the list and continue to demand that they choose who will be interrogated. After a bit of back and forth, it was made clear to the authorities that the islanders would not let them have their way and that they can do little against them, the deployment of the military was determined to be the best course of action to subdue the Seskarö residents.

Military escalation

During the early hours of the 30th of May, 50 soldiers out of the Västernorrland Regiment arrive under captain Wenzel Falk to Seskarö. The islanders would yet again, hold a meeting at Folkets hus where they discussed how to respond to the military presence. At 12:00 the suspects would yet again be called in for questioning, the interrogations took place at Eriksson's bakery which was guarded by the armed soldiers of the Västernorrlands regiment. Meanwhile, a large crowd of 1000 islanders, men, women, and children alike, had gathered around the bakery throughout the afternoon, the islanders were very loud even playing Arbetets Söner (A Swedish worker's song) on a gramophone while demanding that their countrymen be released. Attempts by the authorities to make the islanders quiet down were ignored until, eventually, when the crowd got so loud and rougthy that the authorities could not continue their interrogations. The bailiff read out the riot act to the islanders and demanded that they disperse on three different occasions, upon being ignored, the bailiff determined that the use of the military against the islanders was now justified. But before the military can engage, the islanders charge them, but accounts of what happens next vary, some stating that the soldiers willingly gave up their weapons and others that their weapons were forcibly taken away from them. With the military unit unarmed, they had no other choice than to retreat to the mainland, they had lost 24 rifles and 2 revolvers, but only one was injured. The islanders suffered 2 injured, they had both been shot by captain Wenzel Falk before he disarmed and fled to the mainland.