August Palm
Encyclopedia
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
activist and a key person in introducing the social democratic labour movement
Labour movement
The term labour movement or labor movement is a broad term for the development of a collective organization of working people, to campaign in their own interest for better treatment from their employers and governments, in particular through the implementation of specific laws governing labour...
in Sweden, leading it in a reformist
Reformism
Reformism is the belief that gradual democratic changes in a society can ultimately change a society's fundamental economic relations and political structures...
direction.
Early activism
The son of a school teacher near MalmöMalmö
Malmö , in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County...
, he was orphaned at the age of 10, after which he was trained to be a tailor. At the age of 18, he made an educational trip through Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
and Germany
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
, after which, in 1874, he settled as a tailor in Haderslev
Haderslev
Haderslev is a town and municipality on the east coast of the Jutland peninsula in south Denmark. Also included is the island of Årø as well as several other smaller islands in the Little Belt. The municipality covers and has a population of 56,414 . Its mayor is Jens Christian Gjesing,...
in Northern Schleswig. Also in 1874 he married Johanna Larsson.
During his travels in Germany, he learnt about socialist ideas, and in 1877 he was expelled from that country because of his socialist agitation. He then stayed in Storheddinge in Denmark until 1881, when he returned to his native Sweden. On 6 November of the same year, while in Malmö, Palm gave the first socialist speech ever in Sweden, and started on a political tour to Gothenburg
Gothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
and Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
.
Agitator
In March 1882, Palm started the newspaper Folkviljan (Will of the People) in Malmö, and acted as its editor until 1885, when it was discontinued. Palm moved to Stockholm and on 25 September 1885 began printing the newspaper Social-Demokraten (The Social Democrat), acting as its editor for its first year. From the fall of 1886, Hjalmar BrantingHjalmar Branting
was a Swedish politician. He was the leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party , and Prime Minister during three separate periods . When Branting came to power in 1920, he was the first Social Democratic Prime Minister of Sweden...
took over as editor-in-chief. The government sent him to prison for three months in 1889 on account of statements made in the socialist press.
Palm's greatest contribution was as an agitator for trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
and socialist ideas, constantly touring around the country, often making speeches by the roadside - since he was barred from using lecture halls. Another of his messages, and perhaps the most important, was to expose the liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
middle-class discourse, with its claim to originate with "friends of the workers", as self-seeking and power-hungry careerism. Palm's constant argument was that working-class members were fully competent to look after their own interests.
Visit to the US
In 1900, August Palm was invited by the ScandinaviaScandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n club of the Socialist Labor Party of America
Socialist Labor Party of America
The Socialist Labor Party of America , established in 1876 as the Workingmen's Party, is the oldest socialist political party in the United States and the second oldest socialist party in the world. Originally known as the Workingmen's Party of America, the party changed its name in 1877 and has...
in Providence, Rhode Island
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
, in co-operation with similar clubs in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, to visit the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, as a means to attract more members to these clubs. The trip started on 1 September 1900 and is described in the Swedish book Ögonblicksbilder från en tripp till Amerika (Snapshots from a Trip to America), published in 1901.
Books by August Palm
- Några drag ur mitt lif ("Some Excerpts from My Life"), 1899
- Ögonblicksbilder från en tripp till Amerika ("Snapshots from a Trip to America"), 1901
- Ur en agitators lif ("From the Life of an Agitator"), 1904
See also
- Swedish Social Democratic PartySwedish Social Democratic PartyThe Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party, , contesting elections as 'the Workers' Party – the Social Democrats' , or sometimes referred to just as 'the Social Democrats' and most commonly as Sossarna ; is the oldest and largest political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 1889...
- Swedish labour movementSwedish labour movementThe labour movement in Sweden dates back to at least the 1850's, when Swedish workers initiated the organizing of previously spontaneous food riots into strikes, hence acting as an autonomous group. Modern types av labour unions emerged in the 1870's...
- Atterdag WermelinAtterdag WermelinAtterdag Wermelin was a Swedish revolutionary socialist, writer and poet, a pioneer of the labor movement, who, together with August Palm, introduced Marxism to Sweden in the 1880s....
- The Branting MonumentThe Branting MonumentThe Branting Monument is a monument in Stockholm, Sweden, with a statue of the Swedish Social Democratic leader Hjalmar Branting . The monument is 5 meters tall and 6 meters wide....
External links
- August Palm Internet Archive at Marxists.org