The impact of war on Scandinavia was not only devastation
and debt. It was not only psychological disillusionment. It was
revolution in political position. Scandinavia had been drawn
into the vortex of international conflict, and had little hope of
escape. The situation had been created by forces beyond her
control; her problem was one of adjustment.

The residue of war was an avalanche of "threats from
within": social and economic disorganization, overextension of
budgets, inflation, and the ever-present shadow of communism.

During the war a wise Norwegian woman worried about
what youth would do after the war -- youth trained in sabotage,
boys who had been encouraged to give full rein to their de-
structive inclinations. Instead, in Norway, Denmark, and Fin-
land, it appeared that the sobering discipline of the under-
ground and of national disaster actually created a more mature
and purposeful youth. After celebrating liberation through the
summer of 1945 the Norwegians settled down to work. But
restlessness pervaded the atmosphere, as illustrated by the youth
riots in Stockholm in 1948. These seemingly aimless outbreaks
could be explained only by the combination of youth and
spring, social uncertainty and postwar malaise.

Economic disorganization resulted from the abnormal chan-
nels into which industry and commerce had been thrown by
the war. The disorganization was to a large extent hidden or

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