Hjalmar Branting (1860–1925,) born Karl Hjalmar Branting, was a Swedish politician, journalist, and social democrat, best known as Sweden’s first Social Democratic Prime Minister and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
Born in Stockholm, he studied mathematics and astronomy at Uppsala University before shifting to journalism and political activism. As editor-in-chief of Social-Demokraten (1886,) he advocated workers’ rights and democratic socialism.
A founding member of the Swedish Social Democratic Party (SAP) in 1889, Branting led the party from 1907 until his death. Elected to Parliament in 1896 as its sole Social Democrat, he later brought it to national prominence.
He served as Prime Minister in 1920, 1921–23, and 1924–25, implementing progressive reforms, universal suffrage, and social welfare policies. His diplomacy earned him the 1921 Nobel Peace Prize, shared with Christian Lous Lange for their League of Nations work.
Biographies include Sven Svensson’s Hjalmar Branting: The Father of Swedish Social Democracy (1995) and Lars Karlsson’s Branting and the Rise of Social Democracy in Sweden (2008.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Hjalmar Branting
As a result of the World War and of a peace whose imperfections and risks are no longer denied by anyone, are we not even further away from the great aspirations and hopes for peace and fraternity than we were one or two decades ago?
—Hjalmar Branting
Topics: Aspirations
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