Westman’s demand for legislative intervention on the labour market reflected the prevailing opinion in what was now a democratically elected parliament. On April 30, 1926 parliament requested that the government introduce as soon as possible a proposal for legislation for the preservation of industrial peace. The parliamentary law committee (Sw.lagutskottet) repeated a view that K GWestman and others had expressed, namely, that work on a proposal could not get stuck in the differences of opinion of the parties concerned.539 In the summer of 1926, the Social Democratic government was replaced by a Liberal and “liberal-minded” government under the leadership of C G Ekman, who immediately took the decisive initiative by speeding up the on-going labour legislation project. The minister of health and social affairs, Jakob Pettersson (1866-1957) had the matter be further prepared during the autumn, and on December 30, the government appointed three experts, namely, Henning Elmquist, Gunnar Huss, and the judge referee at the Supreme Court (Sw. revisionssekreterare) Arthur Lindhagen (1884-1950). The first two had participated in the formulation of the proposal of 1916 of the National Board of Health andWelfare.Arthur Lindhagen is of especial interest. He was chairman of the Central Arbitration Board that was set up in1920 and had before then, among other things, headed the arbitration board of Stockholm’s chamber of commerce.Two years later he would become the first chairman of the Swedish Labour Court when it commenced its activities on January1, 1929. The three experts presented the government with a reasoned draft for legislation which in all essentials was based on the proposals of 1911 (except that it lacked the regulation of individual contracts of employments) and of 1916.540 The draft was sent to p a r t i v, c h a p t e r 9 266 539 LU2:1926:18; FK1926:39, p. 93; AK1926:29, p. 57; RSkr 1926:167. 540 Utkast, inkommet till Statsrådet och Chefen för Kungl. Socialdepartementet, den 21 januari 1927 (Draft received on January 21, 1927 by the Ministry of health and social affairs). Socialdepartementet, ingående diarium1927; Konseljakt 25 november 1927 nr 33, 17 februari 1928,The National Archives, Stockholm.
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