The Famine of 1867–1869 was the last famine in Sweden, and (together with the Finnish famine of 1866–1868) the last major famine in Northern Europe. It contributed to the great rush of Swedish emigration to the United States. During the 1860s, Sweden had suffered poor harvests on several occasions: the spring and summer of 1867 were much colder than usual all over Sweden, to the point that it was known as ‘Storsvagåret’ (‘Year of Great Weakness’) and, in Tornedalen, as ‘Lavåret’ (‘Lichen Year’) because of the bark bread made of lichen, that caused chest pains and, in children, vomiting. In Burträsk, for example, it was not possible to start sowing before Midsummer: snow was still left in June. The late spring was followed by a very short summer and an early autumn: this caused not just bad harvests, but also made it difficult to feed the cattle. The consequence was rising food prices that caused widespread famine throughout Sweden, particularly severe in the colder northern provinces. Because of early ice and snow that disturbed communications, it was also hard to transport and distribute emergency food supplies to the starving areas. Further, a widespread drought occurred in 1868, which caused a failed harvest and starving animals: thus, the famine continued. In the autumn of 1867, the government of Sweden granted emergency loans to the Northern counties, and the county governors were given permission and encouraged to establish ‘undsättningskomitté’ (’emergency committee’) to collect the funds needed from volunteers and philanthropists. Two central emergency committees were created in Stockholm and in Gothenburg. The press published appeals for funds to help the needed, and charity concerts, charity plays and other similar events were hosted to collect money to pay for emergency help to the victims of the famine; funds from outside Sweden were also contributed both from Europe and America.
The help from the emergency committees was distributed by the local city councils, and the terms to receive help was not merely starvation: a starvation victim would have to be willing to work to receive help, otherwise they would not be given help. An exception was made for people who were physically unable to work (invalids and the elderly), but only 10% of the emergency help was allowed to be spent on “charity”. Therefore, road construction and home production of various forms of handicraft objects were organized to give people in need of the emergency help an opportunity to work for it: in practice, these work tasks were meant as a symbolic demonstration that the government would only help those willing to work and be productive. The authorities, in particular the local city councils, were exposed to harsh criticism from the press, most notably the paper ‘Fäderneslandet’, because of how ineffectively the relief funds from the emergency committees were distributed, and on which terms: those most in need of help were left without because of the unwillingness of the authorities to compromise the principle of help in exchange for work. Widespread criticism also focused on the belief that the famine in Sweden was caused by unjust distribution: this is supported by the fact that the year of 1867 was in fact a successful year for the Swedish cereal exports, with the largest of the farms and estates in Sweden exporting their harvests, mostly oats, to Great Britain, where it was used for horse drawn buses in London. Authorities were also criticized because they decided to impose a more strict interpretation than the Poor Care Regulation of 1847 would have allowed, thus making the famine worse than it needed to be. The great famine of 1867–68, together with the distrust and discontent over the way the authorities handled the relief help to the needy, is estimated to have contributed greatly to Swedish emigration to the United States, which skyrocketed around this time.
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