Ådalen Shootings Memorial

A simple monument in Lunde, on the west bank of the Ångerman river, marks the site where soldiers fired into a march of striking workers in May 1931. The memorial — five tall stones for the five dead — sits in a small park beside the road, with information boards explaining the events.

The shootings are remembered as a turning point in Swedish labour history. The director Bo Widerberg's 1969 film Ådalen 31 won the Cannes jury prize and made the story known internationally. The setting today is quiet and rural, which only sharpens the contrast with what happened here.

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A story
On 14 May 1931, troops opened fire on a peaceful procession of striking sawmill workers in Lunde, killing five and wounding five more. The shock prompted a national rethink of how labour disputes were handled — within a few years the army was forbidden from intervening in strikes, and the event helped pave the way for the Social Democratic dominance of 20th-century Swedish politics.