5. 2 The 1960s

During the post-war period youth was perceived as a problematic group
in both countries, needing special attention from society.
Simultaneously the standard of living increased, the education system
was extended and became accessible to other social groups, the period
of adolescence was prolonged, and youth cultures developed lifestyles
of their own. While these phenomena started after the Second World
War, they met and flourished in the 1960s.
The 1960s usually evoke connotations of a period in the history of
Western society in which the post-war generation protested against the
"establishment", i.e. the social structures and traditional patterns of
authority. This protest movement was a heterogeneous gathering with
diverse goals and styles. The peace movement, New Left factions,
bohemians, and so on existed side by side. The youth revolt was also to
a high degree an international phenomenon, and impulses and ideas
were mediated rapidly by backpackers, television, and pop music. In
both Sweden and the Netherlands drug use and in particular cannabis
and a hallucinogenic like LSD were part of that protest. However, the
national circumstances in which the youth protests occurred and their
consequences were quite different, as will be briefly depicted below.


Sweden

The social democratic ideal of "the People's Home" probably came to
its closest point of realisation during the sixties. In the elections in
1968, the Social Democratic Party even gained 50.1% of the votes. The
development of the People's Home was facilitated by the circumstance
that the Swedish post-war economy was running at an all-time high
with record growth and with unemployment record low. However, the
economic boom also had some negative side effects. A shortage of
labour in areas around Stockholm and Gothenburg led to an
acceleration of urbanisation. The shortage of labour was partly solved
by importing workers from Finland but also from Yugoslavia and
Greece.30 Another measure was an active labour market policy, which
was to support the movement of labour within Sweden as well. One
consequence of the process of urbanisation was a shortage of housing
and in 1965, the government proclaimed its so-called "million
programme". During a ten-year period 1,000,000 flats would be built
throughout the country. Another consequence was that some of the
young rural population that moved into the large cities went astray in
their new social environment. Especially the big cities encountered
social problems; alcohol abuse had increased sharply since the abolition
of the ration book system in 1955. Criminality, especially among youth,
had increased since the end of the 1950s and reached a new peak in the
1960s. Prostitution was still a problem. The incidence of gonorrhoea
was increasing. There were substantial numbers of homeless people and
a new problem was on the rise: drug abuse.
In addition to these problems the post-war generation started to make
itself heard. Youth riots had occurred in Stockholm at different times
after the war (1948, 1951, 1954, 1956, and 1957) (Ibid. 185). Of the
youngsters that were involved in the riot of summer 1965, the child
welfare board surveyed a few hundred.31 The results showed an
overrepresentation of youngsters from lower social classes, from
divided families and known to the child welfare board or the police.
Alcohol abuse was more prevalent than among average youth and drug
abuse was part of the picture. Police and justice faced an increasing
number of drug abusers and more and more cases of intravenous
amphetamine abuse were detected among criminals and clients of child
and temperance councils (Inghe 1968). It were these agencies for
formal social control that together with the medical profession were
approached by the media to state their opinions on drug abuse. They
were part of the policy network that influenced the action programme
against drug abuse. However, their influence was contested by other
opinions that questioned the expertise of medical professions, justice,
and police. This criticism resulted in the establishment of the Swedish
Association for Assistance to Drug Abusers (RFHL) on 26 February
1965. In the opinion of the RFHL, drug abuse was not a problem that
was a matter for police action but a social-medical problem. More
social-medical research on the cause of drug abuse was needed, not
prosecutors and police.32
An event that would become much debated was the start of a project
in April 1965 in which physicians prescribed drugs (opiates and
amphetamines) to drug users. While physicians had prescribed narcotics
to patients before, the new feature was the maintenance prescription of
drugs (amphetamines and opiates) on the indication of drug addiction
and for intravenous use. The basic idea was that drug users would end
their criminal activities or at least decrease criminality by taking away
the need to obtain money for drugs by crime. Another presumption was
that drug addicts would eventually mature out of their addiction. The
project was very controversial even before it started, and a police doctor
in Stockholm, Bejerot, started a research project at the Central House of
Detention in Stockholm. By noting and counting fresh needle marks
among new detainees he wanted to demonstrate that the prescription
project would cause an increased prevalence of drug abuse in society.
In Bejerot's opinion, the project would speed up an epidemic of
intravenous abuse of amphetamines in Sweden.
The events as described above received attention from the media. In
autumn 1965 a series of documentaries Dokument 65, about drug abuse
was broadcast on television. In the documentaries drug abusers were
depicted as victims of addiction, not as criminals. The programmes
came under heavy criticism from the traditional experts, partly because
they felt ignored by the programme but also because wrong opinions
had been expressed that even could cause a further dissemination of
drug abuse (Hirschfeldt 1974: 27).
However, not just asocial categories kept the authorities busy. From
1966, demonstrations against the Vietnam War were held in Stockholm
and brutally clubbed down by the police. Eventually, a national FNL
movement was established and led by a central committee.33 It built a
unified front in which all protest movements could participate. Around
1968 protests against the war in Vietnam called large groups into the
streets in many cities in Sweden. The protest movement reached its
peak in 1972 when 2.7 million Swedes (including political parties)
signed a petition against the bombing of Vietnam. A salient feature of
the FNL movement in Sweden, according to the historian Kim Salomon
(1996), was its dissociation from the use of alcohol and drug use, an
ideal of purity that can be traced back to the tradition of temperance that
was part of the labour parties' history. Tim O'Dell (1997: 161) also
noticed an adoption of traditional forms of organising protests. Anti-
war as well as New Left movements, for example, organised study
circles following traditions of temperance and labour movements.
While the anti-war movement was a single-issue movement, New Left
movements had a change of Swedish politics and society in mind. They
were inspired by Marxist theories ranging from Trotskyism to Maoism
and set themselves to lead the working class to victory. It was closely
related to the third group that also revolted, namely university students.
Inspired by their French colleagues in Paris in 1968, they occupied the
student union's building at the University of Stockholm in 1968 in
protest against the old-fashioned authoritarian structure of the higher
education system and the proposal for a new system presented by the
Minister of Education, Olof Palme. A fourth group that protested
against society was the hippies, the flower power generation. They did
not establish organisations led by a central committee but protested by
adopting a different lifestyle oriented towards non-materialistic values.
An important part of the hippie lifestyle was using drugs. In all major
cities in Sweden hash scenes emerged, i.e. groups of youth gathering in
public smoking cannabis, or tripping on LSD. The hippie lifestyle was
spread along different roads. O'Dell points to the importance of records
and especially the covers of albums in mediating the message of peace,
love and understanding (Ibid. 205). The hippie scene seemed to be
separated from the other drug scene of amphetamine abusers (SOU:
1969:189). The hash scene also seemed to provide itself with cannabis
and not from an organised criminal organisation.
While anti-war movements, student protests, and even New Left
factions were comprehensible to the older generations, although their
goals and methods sometimes were unacceptable, the hippies gave
authorities a headache. A state committee on narcotic drugs concluded,
somewhat surprised, that security, solidarity and education options
offered by society obviously had failed to prevent more and more
people from having difficulties in finding their place in society (Ibid.
200).


The Netherlands

The post-war generation was standing on the threshold of adult society
and did not like what it saw. This was not a typical Dutch phenomenon;
in all Western countries large numbers of young people protested
against the materialised Western lifestyles. The drug of the
establishment (alcohol) was rejected and replaced by "alternative"
drugs like cannabis and LSD that widened the mind. The phenomenon
of large groups of "normal" youth exposing a deviant "youth culture"
by different clothing, long hair, using illegal drugs, another attitude
towards work, sex, and other values was viewed by older generations as
very worrying. Amsterdam became a centre for the international youth
culture. Authorities in Amsterdam chose a liberal strategy to meet large
groups of young people that invaded the city every summer and earned
the nickname "paradise of permissiveness" (Roegholt 1973: 680). The
liberal strategy on the use of cannabis that many foreigners supposed to
reign in the city made many youngsters stay in Amsterdam a little
longer. Police authorities at the end of the sixties reported that in almost
half of all drug cases foreigners were involved.
Drug use and the youth problem were not the only social issue
discussed by public opinion. A discussion started on the difference
between welfare and well-being. Industrialisation had brought about
welfare indeed but also pollution and a commercialised society based
on consuming commodities. The quality of life became a frequently
discussed issue, not just in relation to environmental matters but also
about the way of living. Other hot items were pornography, the right to
decide on abortion (as part of women's liberation), homosexuality. As
in Sweden, protests were organised against the US war in Vietnam.
Compared to other countries, protests moved into the streets of
Amsterdam and other cities quite early. In 1962, the anti-smoke
magician Jasper Grootveld started his actions against the
commercialised society that had turned people into slaves of
consumption. The tobacco industry that was allowed to sell its cancer-
causing products was a symbol of this commercialised society. From
the perspective of public health, marijuana was a better alternative.
When Grootveld's anti-smoke temple burned down, he moved his
actions to a little square in the very centre of Amsterdam. He organised
the weekly happenings, which drew attention of the police, whose
violent reactions, covered by television, led to an increased curiosity
(and criticism) among the public. From 1964, the public gathered in
large numbers every Saturday to witness the happenings in Amsterdam.
From 1965, the anarchist inspired "Provo" movement attracted
youngsters in protests against the materialised and hierarchical society.
Against the "Homo Faber" (the working man) they posed "Homo
Ludens" (the playful, creative man). They received a lot of public
support, especially in Amsterdam, and even won a seat in the municipal
elections in 1966. Eventually, the Provo movement liquidated itself
because it had become an institution, which was against its anarchistic
character. Its successor the "Gnome" party gained 5 seats in the City
Council in 1970, winning support not only from youngsters but also
from the older generations. Unlike the Provo movement, they
participated in the established political arena but on their own terms.
Council members of the Gnomes were, for example, replaced every
year to prevent them from being compromised by the system.
The Provo movement, although receiving much public attention, was
not the only social movement in action. Social criticism emerged in
practically all sections of society, at universities, in the unions, among
physicians, military conscripts, the juridical profession, social workers,
and political parties. In the spring of 1969, students occupied the
administration building of the University of Amsterdam in protest
against the old-fashioned authoritarian education system. Women's
liberation movements demanded freedom and equal rights for women.
In all sectors action groups demanded a voice in matters of all kinds.
Other events involved massive protest from the older generations. In
1965, Princess Beatrix announced her wedding to the German Claus
von Amsberg, with a past as an officer in the German Wehrmacht. Not
surprisingly, the wedding in 1966 in Amsterdam was accompanied by
riots. The marriage also indirectly led to the inclusion of LSD in the
Opium Act. When the rumour was spread that Provo planned to prepare
sugar cubes with LSD to make police horses go crazy at the wedding,
the Minister of Health acted very fast and within a few days LSD was
on the list of prohibited substances.
The description of events in the Netherlands shows that there was
more going on than youth protests. In the words of Göran Therborn, a
cultural landslide had occurred that would leave no part of society
untouched (Therborn 1989: 211). The Dutch historian Roegholt
describes this era as one of anti-hierarchical revolution that would not
leave any order in Dutch society unstirred (Roegholt 1973: 671).
Authorities had lost their authority in a period when the process of
depillarisation was almost completed. An era had ended in which the
pillars had controlled their members so efficiently and in which the
state had taken care of those who were out of control.
The Dutch political scientist Tonkens offers a different explanation
for the anti-hierarchical spirit that emerged in the 1960s (Tonkens
1999). The crisis of authority in the 1960s (and the following decades)
can be explained as a heritage from World War II. First, the post-war
generation had been taught that at least one attitude was fatally anti-
democratic: the "Befehl ist Befehl" mentality, i.e. an uncritical bending
to the will of what at a particular time happen to be "the authority".
Provo and other protest movements now practised this lesson (Ibid. 55­
56). Another aspect of traumatic war experiences became topical when
the imagined role of authorities and large parts of the Dutch population
was revealed as untrue. The image of a brave people, taking active part
in the resistance movement, appeared to be a myth. The remembrance
of the Holocaust also made it clear that Dutch authorities just followed
orders when they assisted German authorities in transporting 75% of
the Jewish population in the Netherlands to concentration camps.
Another shocking experience was the trial in Israel against Adolf
Eichmann for his war crimes. The media intensively covered the trial
and instead of the expected picture of a perverted sadist, they showed a
pale, soulless servant of a monstrous system who had only obeyed
orders from authorities (Ibid. 50).
Due to these events and developments, the idea emerged that it was
wrong and even dangerous to adjust the individual to society. Instead,
the individual should become a strong personality that dared to stand up
against a society that obviously was not very civilised. After all, had it
not allowed the Holocaust to happen, the Vietnam War or the
bloodshed by the Soviet Union in Czechoslovakia? The idea of the
primacy of the individual in relation to society was not confined to the
protest movement but was also carried out by many intellectuals and is
essential for an understanding of the Dutch policy on drugs. The era of
non-conformity that started in the sixties would also comprise drug use
and drug users. Marginalised groups and individuals should not be
adjusted to society but society to them (Duyvendak 1999: 65).


30 Between 1961 and 1965 the number of immigrants from these and other countries
was 170,000 (Hedenius 2000: 128).
31 The same procedure was followed after riots on New Year's Eve 1956 (Inghe:
185).
32 RFHL also started outreach activities and treatment group therapy, based on the
ideas of Maxwell Jones and from 1970 received state funds (Hirschfeldt 1974: 21).
33 Front National de Libération, the Vietnamese liberation movement.