Hjalmar Branting
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Karl Hjalmar Branting (; 23 November 1860 – 24 February 1925) was a Swedish politician who was the leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party (SAP) from 1907 until his death in 1925, and three times Prime Minister of Sweden. When Branting came to power in 1920, he was the first Social Democratic Prime Minister of Sweden. When taking office for a second term after the general election of 1921, he became the first
social democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...
head of government in Western Europe elected under universal suffrage. An early supporter of modern social democracy and democratic socialism, he led the SAP through a transformation from a radical socialist movement to Sweden's dominant party; the Social Democrats have been Sweden's largest party in every election since 1914, and formed government for 44 continuous years from 1932 to 1976. In 1921, Branting shared the Nobel Peace Prize with the Norwegian secretary-general of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Christian Lous Lange. Banting was supporter of the racist campaign of E. D. Morel claiming that French colonial troops were committing mass rapes during the occupation of the Rhineland. On 10 May 1920, Branting, declared that he believed Morel, saying that as a white man he was outraged that the French would deploy Senegalese troops in the Rhineland.


Biography

Born to the professor Lars Gabriel Branting and the noblewoman and pianist Emma af Georgii, Branting was educated in
Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
and at Uppsala University. He developed a scientific background in mathematical astronomy and was an assistant at the Stockholm Observatory, but gave up his devotion to scientific work to become a journalist in 1884 and began editing the newspapers ''Tiden'' and ''Social-Demokraten''. The latter was official media outlet of the Swedish Social Democratic Party. His decision to publish an article by the more radical socialist Axel Danielsson, a piece denounced by opponents as insulting to religious sensitivities, resulted in political convictions for blasphemy and imprisonment for both men.Enander, Crister (14 December 2009)
"I krigarens lofliga uppsåt att såra och döda"
. ''Tidningen Kulturen''. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
Branting was imprisoned for three months in 1888. Together with August Palm, Branting was one of the main organizers of the Swedish Social Democratic Party in 1889. He was its first Member of Parliament from 1896 and for six years the only one. In the early years of the 20th century, Branting led the Social Democrats in opposing a war to force
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
to remain in a personal union with Sweden. When the crisis came in 1905, he coined the slogan "Hands off Norway, King!" The Social Democrats organized resistance to a call-up of reserves and made preparations for a general strike against a war; historians now acclaim this as a major factor in Norway's peaceful independence. In 1908 Branting established a monthly theoretical political journal entitled '' Tiden'' which is still in publication. Branting accepted
Eduard Bernstein Eduard Bernstein (; 6 January 1850 – 18 December 1932) was a German Marxist theorist and politician. A prominent member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), he has been both condemned and praised as a "Revisionism (Marxism), revisi ...
's revision of Marxism and became a reformist socialist, advocating a peaceful transition from capitalism towards
socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
. He believed that if workers were given the vote through universal suffrage, socialist legislation could be brought through the Riksdag. Branting supported the February Revolution in Russia in 1917. He supported the moderate Mensheviks against Lenin's more extreme
Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...
and defended the government of Alexander Kerensky, whom he even personally visited in Petrograd. When the October Revolution broke out in the winter of that year, Branting condemned the Bolshevik seizure of power. 1917 saw a split in the Swedish Social Democratic Party on this question, and the youth league and the revolutionary sections of the party broke away and formed the Social Democratic Left Party of Sweden, initially headed by Zeth Höglund, which soon reorganized as the Swedish Communist Party. Höglund later returned to the Social Democratic Party after Branting's death, and wrote a two-volume biography of Branting. As prime minister, Branting brought Sweden into the
League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...
and was personally active as a delegate within it. When the question of whether Ã…land should be handed over to Sweden after the independence of
Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
from
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was brought up, he let the League decide upon the issue; the islands became an autonomous region of Finland. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1921 for his work in the League of Nations, sharing the prize with the Norwegian Christian Lous Lange. Branting died in Stockholm at the age of 64 on 24 February 1925, four months after being sworn in for a third term as prime minister following the SAP's victory in the 1924 general election. He was succeeded as prime minister by Rickard Sandler; Per Albin Hansson became party chairman, later serving as prime minister from 1932 to 1946.


Monuments and memorials

Branting is commemorated by the Branting Monument in Stockholm. Additionally in
Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...
, there is a tram and bus interchange named after Branting ( Swedish: Hjalmar Brantingsplatsen). Stockholms Plads (Stockholm Square) in
Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
was renamed Hjalmar Brantings Plads in 1925.


See also

* 1921 Swedish general election


References


External links

*
Hjalmar Branting Archive
at marxists.org * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Branting, Hjalmar 1860 births 1925 deaths People convicted of blasphemy Politicians from Stockholm Prime ministers of Sweden Leaders of the Swedish Social Democratic Party Members of the Executive of the Labour and Socialist International Members of the Riksdag from the Social Democrats Racism in Sweden Nobel Peace Prize laureates Swedish democracy activists Ministers of finance of Sweden Ministers for foreign affairs of Sweden Swedish Nobel laureates Uppsala University alumni 20th-century Swedish politicians 19th-century Swedish politicians Swedish newspaper editors Swedish magazine founders White supremacists