PREFACE<br > "Proletarians of the world un re"， wrote Karl Mar:<br > in his manifesto 150 years ago. Marx has beet<br > misinterpreted and used for all manner of things otheJ<br > than good over the years. But his works have also<br > served as an important instrument of analysis for<br > understanding the development of capitalism.<br > When I look around Sweden and the world I see<br > how globalisation of the world economy puts great<br > strain on democracy~ International finance exerts<br > strong indirect and direct pressure on governments<br > and the trade union movement for lower taxes on<br > capital， less security of employment and a Smaller<br > public welfare sector. Workers in different countries<br > are set against each other and against the<br > unemployed.<br > I have the privilege of leading the Swedish Trade<br > Union Confederation at its centenary in 1998. We<br > who are active in the trade union mOVement today<br > are to pass on the baton in the next millennium after<br > a century of trade union struggle for work， welfare<br > and democracy. This entails a responsibility.<br > The trade union movement holds the future in its<br >own hands. We cannot blame technological<br >development or neoqiberal economic hegemony. If<br >history can teach us anything it is that trade union<br >successes are possible even<br > ~ when the opponent seems<br >SUperior. But we have also learned that successes are<br >