Hjalmar Branting

Karl Hjalmar Branting {{Audio|sv-Hjalmar_Branting.ogg|listen}} (November 23, 1860 – February 24, 1925) was a Swedish statesman and the country's chief Social Democratic leader.

Related Topics:
November 23 - 1860 - February 24 - 1925 - Swedish - Social Democrat

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His education was in mathematical astronomy, and he was an assistant at the Stockholm Observatory; but he gave up scientific work to become a journalist in 1884. He began editing the newspaper Social-Demokraten in 1886, was one of the organizers of the Swedish Social Democratic Party in 1889, and was its first Member of Parliament from 1896, and for six years the only one.

Related Topics:
Stockholm Observatory - 1886 - Swedish Social Democratic Party - 1889 - 1896

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He led the Social Democrats in opposing a war to keep Norway united 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 a general strike against a war, and are credited with a substantial share in preventing one.

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Hjalmar Branting accepted Eduard Bernstein's revision of Marxism and became a reformist socialist, advocating a peaceful transition from capitalism towards socialism. He believed that if workers were given the vote, this could be achieved by parliamentary ways.

Related Topics:
Eduard Bernstein - Marxism - Reformist - Socialist - Capitalism

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He was Prime Minister of Sweden, serving for three separate periods in 1920, 1922-1923, and 1924-1925. He was the first Swedish Social Democrat to be head of government.

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As Prime Minister he brought Sweden into the League of Nations and was personally active as a delegate within it. Laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1921.

Related Topics:
League of Nations - Nobel Peace Prize - 1921

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Branting supported the February Revolution in Russia in 1917. He was pro-Menshevik and defended the government of Kerensky, who he even personally visited in Petrograd.

Related Topics:
February Revolution - Russia - 1917 - Menshevik - Kerensky - Petrograd

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When the October Revolution broke out the same year, Branting condemned the Bolshevik seizure of power.

Related Topics:
October Revolution - Bolshevik

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1917 also so a split in the Swedish Social Democratic Party, those who supported the Mensheviks and remained with Hjalmar Branting and the mother party, and those who supported the Bolsheviks and broke away to form the Left Social Democratic Party, headed by Zeth Höglund and Ture Nerman. This group soon became the (original) Swedish Communist Party.

Related Topics:
Zeth Höglund - Ture Nerman - Communist

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Zeth Höglund later wrote a two-volume biography about Hjalmar Branting.

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