ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the myth of the Golden Age of Progress in the Nordic countries by looking back at the 20th century and asking: when did the progressive project of the future become a lost land of bliss in the past? As the hegemonic narrative of the welfare state as a success story conquers the liberal press in Sweden and Finland – exemplified by editorials in Dagens Nyheter and Helsingin Sanomat from the early 1930s to the late 1990s – the critique of the utopian aspects of the project takes on new forms. Its success is proven by the way that its critics accept its defence when it is already imagined to have passed away. The ironic terms for the initially mocked utopia – lyckolandet, lintukoto – now become unquestioned epithets for the lost land of bliss. Liberal anti-utopianism becomes liberal welfare state nostalgia.
