Nils Flyg | |
---|---|
![]() Nils Flyg c. 1938 | |
Leader of the Socialist Party | |
In office 1929–1943 | |
Preceded by | Position created |
Succeeded by | Agaton Blom |
Leader of the Communist Party | |
In office 1924–1929 Servingwith Karl Kilbom | |
Preceded by | Zeth Höglund |
Succeeded by | Sven Linderot |
Leader of the Communist Youth League | |
In office 1921–1924 | |
Preceded by | Zeth Höglund |
Succeeded by | Unknown |
Member of the Riksdag's Second Chamber for Stockholm County | |
In office 1929–1940 | |
Constituency | Stockholm County |
Personal details | |
Born | Maria Magdalena parish,Stockholm Municipality,Stockholm County,Sweden [1] | 9 June 1891
Died | 9 January 1943 51) Nacka parish,Nacka Municipality,Stockholm County,Sweden [1] | (aged
Resting place | Nacka Church graveyard |
Political party | Socialist Party (1929–1943) |
Other political affiliations | Communist Party (1921–1929) Social Democratic Party [1] (before 1919) |
Profession | Book editor,politician |
Nils Svante Flyg (9 June 1891 –9 January 1943) was a Swedish Communist politician who turned pro-Nazi during World War II.
Nils Flyg was born and raised in Södermalm,a working-class area of Stockholm at the time. Early on he joined the Swedish Social Democratic Party's youth organization,the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League. In 1917,Flyg took part in the founding of a new leftist party,a group headed by Zeth Höglund and Karl Kilbom,which would soon become the Communist Party of Sweden.
Flyg became an important leader of the Communist Party,wrote books and went on political trips to the Soviet Union. In the general election of 1928,with the Flyg-dominated Communists cooperating with the dominant Social Democratic Party,he failed to achieve an influential position as voters failed to show substantial support for a Communist-Social Democratic coalition. In 1929 Flyg,along with the majority of the party's membership,was accused of insufficient loyalty to the Soviet-dominated Comintern and expelled from the party. The same year Flyg and Kilbom founded a new,parallel Communist Party,which claimed to be the real Communist Party of Sweden.
Initially Flyg and Kilbom attempted to reconcile with the Comintern,something that soon proved fruitless. Flyg and Kilbom who supported Nikolai Bukharin and his Right Opposition,gradually developed an animosity towards Stalinism. By 1934 the party had changed name to the Socialist Party (Socialistiska partiet). At first,the Socialist Party still supported the Soviet Union but condemned the Stalinist leadership. But by the end of the 1930s,the party had changed its view and criticized the whole of the Soviet Union,a stance that gradually developed to a foreign policy embracing Nazi Germany.
In 1937 Kilbom was expelled from the party after a few years of disputes and personal struggle between the two leaders. After the expulsion of Kilbom a majority of the members of the party left. The Socialist Party shrank dramatically and Flyg became more and more politically isolated.
At the beginning of World War II,Flyg came out in opposition to fascism,and the Nazi-Soviet pact in his eyes proved that Stalinism was just as bad as fascism. But when Hitler broke the pact with Stalin,and Germany launched the invasion against the Soviet Union,Flyg decided that he had to support the Nazis against Stalin,hoping it would lead to the end of Stalinism. [2] Financial constraints led him to approach the German High Commission in Stockholm.[ citation needed ] Initially,the Germans turned down his request for funding,but in the final stages of the war (when the Germans felt a more urgent need for allies in the Swedish politics) funding was granted.[ citation needed ] Gradually,Flyg and his party developed a pro-Nazi position.
Still,Nils Flyg never fully gave in to Hitlerism. [2] [3] He was neither an adherent of core fascist or racist policies,and considered himself a socialist until his death.[ citation needed ] He was against capitalism and imperialism and openly supported the basic ideas of Marx and Lenin. In one speech to a group of Swedish Nazis,he caused confusion when he declared:"Death to communism! Long live communism!"[ citation needed ]
Flyg killed himself in 1943 due to increasing heart problems. [4] [5]
The Communist International (Comintern),also known as the Third International,was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. It was led and controlled by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union,and maintained strict conditions of affiliation in order to exclude social democratic parties and more moderate or non-Marxist socialists. The international was intended as a replacement for the Second International,which had dissolved in 1916 during World War I.
The Communist Party of Germany was a major far-left political party in the Weimar Republic during the interwar period,an underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany,and a minor party in West Germany during the postwar period until it was banned by the Federal Constitutional Court in 1956.
Ernst Johannes Fritz Thälmann was a German communist politician,leader of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) from 1925 to 1933,and is considered the greatest KPD leader.
The Right Opposition or Right Tendency in the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) was a label formulated by Joseph Stalin in autumn of 1928 for the opposition against certain measures included within the first five-year plan,an opposition which was led by Nikolai Bukharin,Alexei Rykov,Mikhail Tomsky,and their supporters within the Soviet Union that did not follow the so-called "general line of the party". It is also the name given to "right-wing" critics within the Communist movement internationally,particularly those who coalesced in the International Communist Opposition,regardless of whether they identified with Bukharin and Rykov.
Arbetarkommun alt. Arbetarekommun is the municipal unit of Sveriges Socialdemokratiska Arbetareparti. An arbetarkommun consists of several base level party units,workplace units,etc.
The Socialist Party,was a political party in Sweden active from 1929 to 1948. Led by Karl Kilbom and Nils Flyg,the party was founded in 1929 as a splinter group of the Communist Party of Sweden. Until 1934,the splinter group used the same name Communist Party of Sweden,so in order to keep the two factions apart,this faction was generally known as Kilbommare ("Kilbomiars") while those who stayed in the old party were known as Sillénare.
Ture Nerman was a Swedish socialist journalist,author,and political activist. He also wrote poems and songs.
Social fascism was a theory developed by the Communist International (Comintern) in the early 1930s which saw social democracy as a moderate variant of fascism.
Karl Kilbom was a Swedish politician and one of the founders of the Communist Party of Sweden.
Politiken,later named Folkets Dagblad - Politiken was a Swedish Communist newspaper that existed from April 1916 to August 1940.
Sven Olov Knutsson Lindholm was a Swedish Nazi leader,active in far-right politics from the 1920s to the 1950s. This included leading the Nazi party named Svensk socialistisk samling;despite its name,this party was widely regarded as propagating a fascist/Nazi ideology.
August Spångberg was a Swedish labor politician. He was a member of the Riksdag,elected initially as a Communist and later as a Social Democrat.
Ernst Arvid Olsson (1888–1958) was a Swedish politician and trade unionist. He was one of the foremost leaders of the Socialist Party.
Johan Viktor Herou was a Swedish politician from Österfärnebo. Herou dedicated a large part of his political career to the upliftment of the small peasantry.
Edoff Emanuel Andersson was a Swedish politician and trade unionist. He was a prominent union leader of the civilian employees in the defense sector as well as a communist member of parliament.
The Left Socialist Party was a left-wing political party in Sweden that existed between 1940 and 1963.
A popular front is "any coalition of working-class and middle-class parties",including liberal and social democratic ones,"united for the defense of democratic forms" against "a presumed Fascist assault". More generally,it is "a coalition especially of leftist political parties against a common opponent". However,other alliances such as the Popular Front of India have used the term,and not all leftist or anti-fascist coalitions use the term "popular front".
The Left Party is a socialist political party in Sweden. On economic issues,the party opposes privatizations and advocates for increased public expenditures. In foreign policy,the party is Eurosceptic,being critical of the European Union and opposing Sweden’s entry into the eurozone. It attempted to get Sweden to join the Non-Aligned Movement in 1980,but did not succeed. The party is eco-socialist,and supports republicanism. It stands on the left-wing of the political spectrum.
The Seventh World Congress of the Communist International (Comintern) was a multinational conference held in Moscow from July 25 through August 20,1935 by delegated representatives of ruling and non-ruling communist parties from around the world and invited guests representing other political and organized labor organizations. The gathering was attended by 513 delegates,of whom 371 were accorded full voting rights,representing 65 Comintern member parties as well as 19 sympathizing parties.
The Struggle Against Fascism in Germany is a 1971 compilation book based on the writings of Russian revolutionary,Leon Trotsky on the origin of fascism;his early warnings on Nazi Germany,his views on the Comintern,and his tactical support for a united front.