Karl Hjalmar Branting

Karl Hjalmar Branting
(1860-1925)


Swedish statesman and pioneer of social democracy whose conciliatory international diplomacy in the first two decades of the 20th century was recognized by the award of the 1921 Nobel Prize for Peace, which he shared with Norwegian diplomat Christian Lous Lange.
After studying science in Stockholm and Uppsala, Branting in 1883 began work for the radical newspaper Tiden, becoming its editor shortly thereafter. In 1886 he assumed the editorship of the Social-Demokraten, and, when the Social Democratic Party was formed in 1889, he was prominent among its founders. Elected to the lower chamber of the Riksdag (parliament) for the first time in 1896, he was until 1902 its only Social Democratic member. After the unilateral withdrawal of Norway from union with Sweden in 1905, together with other Socialists and Liberals, Branting played an important part in quieting Swedish revanchist sentiment.

In 1907 Branting became leader of his party, mobilizing the working classes in support of the demand for adult, equal, and direct suffrage but at the same time facilitating cooperation with progressive Liberal elements. From this tactic resulted the Liberal-Socialist coalition government of 1917, in which he was minister of finance, and a constitutional reform of 1918 that facilitated the spread of social democracy throughout Sweden. An advocate of Swedish neutrality during World War I, he was a delegate to the Paris Peace Conference (1919) and to the London discussions on the future of the Aland Islands (1920), over which Sweden was in conflict with Finland. He was also the first Swedish representative at the League of Nations and chairman of the Berne conference of the Second (Socialist) International (1919).

In March 1920 Branting formed Sweden's first Social Democratic government, but elections held the following September went against him. He returned to power in September 1921, retaining office until April 1923. In October 1924 he formed a third government, but illness led to his resignation on January 25.