Lars Helge Werner (25 July 1935 – 11 January 2013) was a Swedish socialist politician. Werner was born 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 ...

. He was a member of the

Riksdag The Riksdag ( , ; also or , ) is the parliament and the parliamentary sovereignty, supreme decision-making body of the Kingdom of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral parliament with 349 members (), elected proportional rep ...

from 1965 to 1994. A construction worker by profession, he was elected vice chairman of the Vänsterpartiet Kommunisterna (VPK) ("the Left Party - Communists") in 1967, and became party chairman in 1975. During his time as party leader, he worked to distance the party from the Soviet Union, a process that had been started by his predecessor as party leader, C.-H. Hermansson. In 1990, VPK changed its name to ''Vänsterpartiet'' ("the Left Party"), removing the term "Communists". Werner resigned as party leader in 1993, and was succeeded by

Gudrun Schyman Gerd ''Gudrun'' Maria Schyman (born 9 June 1948) is a Swedish politician. She served as leader of the Swedish Left Party (Sweden), Left Party from 1993 until January 2003. She remained a member of the Left Party until 2004, when she left to focus ...

. Werner died from a heart condition in 2013, at the age of 77.

References

1935 births 2013 deaths Politicians from Stockholm Swedish communists Leaders of political parties in Sweden Members of the Riksdag from the Left Party (Sweden) Members of the Riksdag 1970–1973 Members of the Riksdag 1974–1976 Members of the Riksdag 1976–1979 Members of the Riksdag 1979–1982 Members of the Riksdag 1982–1985 Members of the Riksdag 1985–1988 Members of the Riksdag 1988–1991 Members of the Riksdag 1991–1994 {{Sweden-politician-stub