Swedish Social Democratic Youth League
Encyclopedia
The Swedish Social Democratic Youth League is a branch of the Swedish
social democratic
party Socialdemokraterna
and the Swedish Trade Union Confederation
. Its membership consists of young people.
organisation (SSU-kommun) that are grouped together in regional organisations, in general following the county subdivisions
, with the exceptions Stockholm County
(two districts: Stockholm and Stockholms Län) and Västra Götaland County
(five districts: Bohuslän, Göteborg, Norra Älvsborg, Södra Älvsborg, Skaraborg).
Every second year, the national organisation holds a congress, adopting policy documents and electing a national Board. The national head office is situated in Södermalm
in central Stockholm
.
The Swedish Social Democratic Youth League belongs to the European Socialist Youth Organisation (Ecosy) and the International Union of Socialist Youth
(IUSY).
, in the party split and formed the Swedish Social Democratic Left
. That division was between the left and right factions that the social democracy across Europe went through. Per Albin Hansson
led the fight against Zeth Höglund
and the left wing that had won a majority at the SDUF Congress 1910 which voted to remove Hansson from the Board. The party's leader and then President Hjalmar Branting
supported Hansson, and the party's board demanded a loyalty statement from the Youth League. The Youth League did not accept the statement's wording requiring it to be "...ready at all times to promote the party's activities in full compliance with the party and its subdivisions decisions", because the organisation believed this was intended to silence opposition within the party. They called this ultimatum
a Muzzled Charter. Then the split came, and the Youth League was forced to leave the party when a majority (136 votes against 42) at the Social Democratic Party Congress in 1917, voted in favour of Brant's proposal and adopted a resolution which separated the then the Youth League from the Social Democratic Party SAP
.
A new Youth League, the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League (SSU), was formed at the Congress 27–28 October 1917 when 45 representatives met in Stockholm people's houses. The participants included Per Albin Hansson, and Gustav Möller
. One of the major points in Congress was the issue of women's suffrage
.
in order to form a union school. During this period, SSU had over 100,000 members.
lectured on the subject of Bommersvik.
, a concept similar to that of the Welfare State
. SSU began to campaign on ways to solve the housing crisis, and ideas about housing policies that led to 'one million program' began to emerge.
(1961–1967) and Bosse Ringholm
(1967–1972) characterized this period as a time of success for Sweden, and social reforms could proceed rapidly. During this time, international issues became important, because SSU saw great injustice, especially abroad. It criticized foreign dictatorships and wars, including the Vietnam War
. SSU felt obliged to fight for democratic socialism. Ringholm said about this time: "An important task for SSU was to keep clean to the left and ensure that SSU is not ground into sects to the left of social democracy". The Federal Board did not agree on how to respond to the Vietnam War.
Everyone wanted to criticize the U.S., but Ingvar Carlsson and Ringholm wanted at the same time not be associated with the Communists in North Vietnam
. Olof Palme
believed that there was no risk that SSU would be misunderstood. The Board decided not to give any directives, but left it to each member / municipality / district to himself to decide whether it wanted to demonstrate against the Communists.
, SSU's President 1972–1978, campaigned in the SSU to try to get a majority vote for an exclusion of these people but the evidence was not strong enough. In the autumn of 1976, seven members were excluded.
At the Congress in 1978, enforced decisions about exclusion and a debate began on the offensive. The question of whether they were in the SSU shared federation. Lars Engqvist severely criticized an offensive in Congress. The board was shown to have a clear majority for exclusion. 1975–1977 was Jerry Smith, President of the IUSY, was the first Swede to the post and was elected to Congress in Brussels in Belgium. Nuclear energy was a major political issue in the 1970s, which would later lead to a referendum in 1980.
The left-wing was afraid that a purge would be used by the right-wing to remove those that the latter did not like. Over 100 members were excluded. The Congress in 1981 was also the basis for a compromise between the factions in SSU. Bo Bernhardsson
won the vote on the Federal secretarial post. Chairman Jan Nygren, who was re-elected, and Bernhardsson came after some mutual distrust, cooperated and fighting in the Federation calmed down. This solution was repeated at the 2005 congress when the president and secretary were taken from a separate wing in order to calm conflicts in the organization.
The Mother Party decided to exclude the same on the party's meeting in April 1982. SSU published a book, 'Entrismen in Sweden 'of the SSU' by Anders Lidström and Henry Ohlsson where it criticized the newspaper offensive. At the 1984 Congress, German President Anna Lindh
was elected. Her time as chairman was marked by peace in League and she was SSU's first female president. She received SSU to test new methods to change society. 1989 had the International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) Congress on Bommersvik. Sven Eric Söder was elected president of the IUSY for the years 1989–1991.
) 1991 Roger Hallberg was elected President of the IUSY. The country has never had the presidency two terms of office. In 1994, SSU's website was launched.
In 1995, the first Congress in Norrköping
elected Niklas Nordstrom as Chairman. Also that year, the current conflict between the factions emerged. The party's right-wing wanted to distance itself from communism, for example, by leaving behind the symbols and words that can be related to Communism. This was largely because the Soviet Union had fallen and that abuses in the Eastern Bloc
damaged the reputation of democratic socialism. The left-wing thought that it would be contrary to the traditions within the movement; it would be a betrayal of the foundations to move that way. This conflict persisted into the 2000s.
In 1996, the Federal distance from the Socialist newspaper (run by people active from the newspaper Offensive) and decided that membership of the association journal Socialist would be incompatible with membership in SSU. In 1997, at the Congress in Gothenburg
, the conflict escalated. Two distinct factions emerged and voting for a Board became intense. The Election Committee could not find a compromise and left-wing vice-chairman Anders Ygeman
was forced to leave the Board when the post was abolished.
At Congress in 1999 in Västerås
, a left-wing candidate, Luciano Astudillo
, from SSU district Skåne, almost became president. Differences between factions and a loaded Congress defeated Astudillo, and Mikael Damberg
from Stockholm County
SSU-district, won with votes 126-124. The European Union (EU) and European Monetary Union (EMU) were important issues. SSU decided, at an extraordinary congress in 1994, to campaign against Swedish EU membership, but did not run any campaign for a referendum the same year. The union gradually became more positive toward the EU and in 2001 the Congress almost considered approving Swedish EMU membership. For several years, Lisa Pellinge was Secretary-General of the IUSY.
with approximately 2000 participants. The camp was the largest IUSY had organized to that date. At the 2001 Congress in Portsmouth
, Damberg was re-elected, as no other candidate stood. This was a very clear signal against right-wing governance and showed the conflict seriously. What the left-wing most criticized was that programs replaced the 'democratic socialism' with 'social democracy' which was thought a ideological formulation when it seemed clear that SSU was socialist. The right-wing had a large majority in Congress and had a two-thirds majority on the Board. The EMU was again an emotive issue.
SU in 2002 launched its website. On 21 January 2002, party member Fadime Sahindal
was murdered by her father in an honor killing
. She campaigned for equality and for the rights of young women with foreign backgrounds. In 2003, SSU began a memorial fund in her memory.
In 2003, the European Community Organization of Socialist Youth Congress was held in the Bommersvik. SSU won a battle against French President Youth. Anders Lindberg was elected as the first Swedish president of the Young Socialists.
At the 2003 Congress in Karlstad, right-wing presidential candidate was Ardalan Shekarabi
(SSU Uppland) and left-wing candidate Lina Afvander (SSU Jönköping). Afvander withdrew just before the president election on the morning on August 6 when she became the Nomination Committee's proposal, and Shekarabi was elected unanimously. Sara Heelge-Vikmång (SSU Östergötland) was elected Secretary-General. Congress also decided, about one month before the referendum, to offer no opinion on the Swedish introduction of the Euro. In media, it has been claimed that the choice of Shekarabi may have been surrounded by some irregularities, which created some problems for the federation. It was alleged that money from the Development Activities was used to finance Shekarabis's internal election campaign. This may have been one of the factors contributing to the factions seeking more consensus before Congress in 2005.
Shekarabis's writings led to the resignation of Congress in 2005 and the establishment of a future commission that recommended the Congress to share power between the right and left wings. 2004 Anna Sjödin
was elected Vice-President of the International Union of Socialist Youth in Budapest
. In 2004, the party campaigned to ban the fees for school food.
2005 revealed serious errors in SSU's members register. A large number of people were in the register without having paid a membership fee. The police launched an investigation when they suspected benefit fraud because SSU received financial assistance based on its membership. Records were updated and to Congress, the Federal proposed that central members should exercise better control, so that districts could not systematic cheating. The police closed the investigation for benefit fraud because the crime could not be proved and SSU free from all. Also at the 2005 Congress, the Board tried to achieve organizational unity by allowing the two factions to share the board equally. The federal leadership was divided up so that the right-wing got the chair Anna Sjödin and left-wing union secretarial post Mattias Vepsä.
In 2006, Anna Sjödin was re-elected Vice-President of the International Union of Socialist Youth Congress in Esbjerg
. In December 2006, Sjödin resigned from the presidency after being sentenced for insult, violence against officials, violent resistance and an arbitrary act. She also was sentenced to pay 5,500 Swedish krona
in damages. The post of president remained vacant until the next Congress. Secretary Mattias Vepsä was task to be SSU's spokesperson in the meantime to Congress 2007. In January 2007 the Board's new membership figures were announced; it had changed from 20,500 to 4,300. Measures were introduced to prevent cheating, which led to the fall in membership by over two thirds over one and a half years, and SSU was no longer the country's largest political youth league. In May 2007, it published the candidates to Congress in August.
Mattias Vepsä was the only candidate for a federal secretary. Jytte Guteland from the Stockholm County SSU-district and considered right-wing was nominated for the office of Federal. Several right-district support, however, Laila Naraghi from SSU Kalmar Län. There was discontent in parts of the right-wing because the Stockholm County SSU-district and Jytte Guteland's other support district had handled the Inter-democracy poorly. In the spring, it was decided to hold a divided caucus to advocate Jytte Guteland to the Federal SSU. On August 8, at the Congress, Guteland was elected as chairman with 131 votes against 115 for Laila Naraghi.
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....
social democratic
Social democracy
Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...
party Socialdemokraterna
Swedish Social Democratic Party
The 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...
and the Swedish Trade Union Confederation
Swedish Trade Union Confederation
The Swedish Trade Union Confederation , commonly referred to as LO, is a national trade union centre, an umbrella organisation for fifteen Swedish trade unions that organise mainly "blue-collar" workers...
. Its membership consists of young people.
Organization
The members form local clubs, but also belong to a municipalMunicipalities of Sweden
The municipalities of Sweden are the local government entities of Sweden. The current 290 municipalities are organized into 21 counties...
organisation (SSU-kommun) that are grouped together in regional organisations, in general following the county subdivisions
Counties of Sweden
The Counties of Sweden are the first level administrative and political subdivisions of Sweden. Sweden is divided into 21 counties. The counties were established in 1634 on Count Axel Oxenstierna's initiative, superseding the historical provinces of Sweden to introduce a modern administration...
, with the exceptions Stockholm County
Stockholm County
Stockholm County is a county or län on the Baltic sea coast of Sweden. It borders Uppsala County and Södermanland County. It also borders Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The city of Stockholm is the capital of Sweden. Stockholm County is divided by the historic provinces of Uppland and Södermanland...
(two districts: Stockholm and Stockholms Län) and Västra Götaland County
Västra Götaland County
Västra Götaland County is a county or län on the western coast of Sweden.The county is the second largest of Sweden's counties and it is subdivided into 49 municipalities . Its population of 1,550,000 amounts to 17% of Sweden's population...
(five districts: Bohuslän, Göteborg, Norra Älvsborg, Södra Älvsborg, Skaraborg).
Every second year, the national organisation holds a congress, adopting policy documents and electing a national Board. The national head office is situated in Södermalm
Södermalm
Södermalm, often shortened to "Söder", is a district in central Stockholm. It covers the large island formerly called "Åsön". With a population of 99,685, it is one of the most densely populated districts of Scandinavia...
in central 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...
.
The Swedish Social Democratic Youth League belongs to the European Socialist Youth Organisation (Ecosy) and the International Union of Socialist Youth
International Union of Socialist Youth
The International Union of Socialist Youth encompasses socialist, social democratic and Labour Party youth organizations from more than 100 states of the world...
(IUSY).
Beginning
The Youth League was established in 1917 after the former Youth League, the Social Democratic Youth (SDUF)Young Left (Sweden)
Young Left is the youth organization of the Swedish Left Party.-Ideology:It is an organization that organizes the youth of today to fight for socialist and feminist social change. Young Left is a youth organization developed out of the labour movement, with influences from environmentalism, the...
, in the party split and formed the Swedish Social Democratic Left
Left Party (Sweden)
The Left Party is a socialist and feminist political party in Sweden, from 1967 to 1990 known as the Left Party – The Communists .On welfare issues, the party opposes privatizations...
. That division was between the left and right factions that the social democracy across Europe went through. Per Albin Hansson
Per Albin Hansson
Per Albin Hansson , was a Swedish politician, chairman of the Social Democrats from 1925 and two-time Prime Minister in four governments between 1932 and 1946, governing all that period save for a short-lived crisis in the summer of 1936, which he ended by forming a coalition government with his...
led the fight against Zeth Höglund
Zeth Höglund
Carl Zeth "Zäta" Konstantin Höglund was a leading Swedish communist politician, anti-militarist, author, journalist and mayor of Stockholm ....
and the left wing that had won a majority at the SDUF Congress 1910 which voted to remove Hansson from the Board. The party's leader and then President Hjalmar Branting
Hjalmar 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...
supported Hansson, and the party's board demanded a loyalty statement from the Youth League. The Youth League did not accept the statement's wording requiring it to be "...ready at all times to promote the party's activities in full compliance with the party and its subdivisions decisions", because the organisation believed this was intended to silence opposition within the party. They called this ultimatum
Ultimatum
An ultimatum is a demand whose fulfillment is requested in a specified period of time and which is backed up by a threat to be followed through in case of noncompliance. An ultimatum is generally the final demand in a series of requests...
a Muzzled Charter. Then the split came, and the Youth League was forced to leave the party when a majority (136 votes against 42) at the Social Democratic Party Congress in 1917, voted in favour of Brant's proposal and adopted a resolution which separated the then the Youth League from the Social Democratic Party SAP
Swedish Social Democratic Party
The 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...
.
A new Youth League, the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League (SSU), was formed at the Congress 27–28 October 1917 when 45 representatives met in Stockholm people's houses. The participants included Per Albin Hansson, and Gustav Möller
Gustav Möller
Gustav Möller was a prominent Swedish Social democratic politician, credited as the father of the social security system and the Welfare state, called Folkhemmet...
. One of the major points in Congress was the issue of women's suffrage
Women's suffrage
Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...
.
1930s
SSU's membership grew during the crisis years in the 1930s. Recognising that the members should be trained, it purchased a farm at BommersvikBommersvik
Bommersvik is a Union college built by the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League and is situated outside the municipality of Södertälje in Sweden. Parts of the college grounds encompass a conference centre and recreational facilities that are extensively used by social democratic organizations...
in order to form a union school. During this period, SSU had over 100,000 members.
1940s
By the 1940s, SSU became a national, fully functioning organization, and became closer to its parent organization. SSU criticized Nazism during the 1940s, helped refugees and had lectures about Nazism crimes. Willy BrandtWilly Brandt
Willy Brandt, born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm , was a German politician, Mayor of West Berlin 1957–1966, Chancellor of West Germany 1969–1974, and leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany 1964–1987....
lectured on the subject of Bommersvik.
1950s
The big question for SSU during the 1950s was whether Sweden should have nuclear weapons. Bertil Löfberg argued in favour of atomic weapons, and was opposed by Oskar Lindkvist. The party made efforts to reform itself during this period, and tried to build a folkhemmetFolkhemmet
Folkhemmet is a political concept that played an important role in the history of the Swedish Social Democratic Party and the Swedish welfare state. It is also sometimes used to refer to the long period between 1932-76 when the Social democrats were in power and the concept was put into practice...
, a concept similar to that of the Welfare State
Welfare State
The Welfare State is a commitment to health, education, employment and social security in the United Kingdom.-Background:The United Kingdom, as a welfare state, was prefigured in the William Beveridge Report in 1942, which identified five "Giant Evils" in society: squalor, ignorance, want, idleness...
. SSU began to campaign on ways to solve the housing crisis, and ideas about housing policies that led to 'one million program' began to emerge.
1960s
The presidents Ingvar CarlssonIngvar Carlsson
Gösta Ingvar Carlsson is a Swedish politician, Prime Minister of Sweden and leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party ....
(1961–1967) and Bosse Ringholm
Bosse Ringholm
Bo "Bosse" Ingvar Karchimirer Ringholm is a Swedish Social Democratic politician. He held the titles of Minister of Finance, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Policy Coordination, and Minister for Sport in the Persson administration.- Career :Ringholm was born in Falköping, a town in the west of...
(1967–1972) characterized this period as a time of success for Sweden, and social reforms could proceed rapidly. During this time, international issues became important, because SSU saw great injustice, especially abroad. It criticized foreign dictatorships and wars, including the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. SSU felt obliged to fight for democratic socialism. Ringholm said about this time: "An important task for SSU was to keep clean to the left and ensure that SSU is not ground into sects to the left of social democracy". The Federal Board did not agree on how to respond to the Vietnam War.
Everyone wanted to criticize the U.S., but Ingvar Carlsson and Ringholm wanted at the same time not be associated with the Communists in North Vietnam
North Vietnam
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...
. Olof Palme
Olof Palme
Sven Olof Joachim Palme was a Swedish politician. A long-time protegé of Prime Minister Tage Erlander, Palme led the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 to his assassination, and was a two-term Prime Minister of Sweden, heading a Privy Council Government from 1969 to 1976 and a cabinet...
believed that there was no risk that SSU would be misunderstood. The Board decided not to give any directives, but left it to each member / municipality / district to himself to decide whether it wanted to demonstrate against the Communists.
1970s
After the left wing lost several congresses in 1972, they started organizing themselves as the Thursday Club. Thursday Club's name came from the 40 left-wing delegates who met on a Thursday in Congress in 1972 and decided to maintain contact, including through political seminars, until the next congress. After a while, this group dispersed and a small group began to gather behind the newspaper offensive, which started in 1973. In 1976, it was revealed that secret Trotskyite activities had occurred within the SSU, but it would take four years before this could be proved. The proof finally came when two female members independently told the Board. Lars EngqvistLars Engqvist
Lars Engqvist is a Swedish politician. He served as chairman of the youth organization of the Swedish Social Democrats from 1972 to 1978, and then worked as a journalist and editor-in-chief...
, SSU's President 1972–1978, campaigned in the SSU to try to get a majority vote for an exclusion of these people but the evidence was not strong enough. In the autumn of 1976, seven members were excluded.
At the Congress in 1978, enforced decisions about exclusion and a debate began on the offensive. The question of whether they were in the SSU shared federation. Lars Engqvist severely criticized an offensive in Congress. The board was shown to have a clear majority for exclusion. 1975–1977 was Jerry Smith, President of the IUSY, was the first Swede to the post and was elected to Congress in Brussels in Belgium. Nuclear energy was a major political issue in the 1970s, which would later lead to a referendum in 1980.
1980s
In 1980, it was clear that the hidden organization existed and that it had about 100 members of the organization in ten departments, and three people who worked full-time for the organization. Chairman Jan Nygren (1978–1984) said: "It was pure James Bond story. In one of the papers, I saw my own name and a report on a conversation with me. It was about SSU's military service activities and how we would activate SSU: are in the military. Then I could understand mentally that it was not something Fuales". Some exclusions came as a result. Lars Engqvist and later Jan Nygren stressed that they were not trying to silence the opposition. The Congress in 1981, it was established that they had to clear out Trotskyists from SSU.The left-wing was afraid that a purge would be used by the right-wing to remove those that the latter did not like. Over 100 members were excluded. The Congress in 1981 was also the basis for a compromise between the factions in SSU. Bo Bernhardsson
Bo Bernhardsson
Bo Gösta Ingemar Bernhardsson is a Swedish social democratic politician, member of the Riksdag 1991–1995 and then again in 2002.-References:*...
won the vote on the Federal secretarial post. Chairman Jan Nygren, who was re-elected, and Bernhardsson came after some mutual distrust, cooperated and fighting in the Federation calmed down. This solution was repeated at the 2005 congress when the president and secretary were taken from a separate wing in order to calm conflicts in the organization.
The Mother Party decided to exclude the same on the party's meeting in April 1982. SSU published a book, 'Entrismen in Sweden 'of the SSU' by Anders Lidström and Henry Ohlsson where it criticized the newspaper offensive. At the 1984 Congress, German President Anna Lindh
Anna Lindh
Ylva Anna Maria Lindh was a Swedish Social Democratic politician, Chairman of the Social Democratic Youth League 1984-1990, Member of Parliament 1982-1985 and 1998-2003...
was elected. Her time as chairman was marked by peace in League and she was SSU's first female president. She received SSU to test new methods to change society. 1989 had the International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) Congress on Bommersvik. Sven Eric Söder was elected president of the IUSY for the years 1989–1991.
1990s
At the 1990 Congress, Karl-Petter Thorwaldson was elected Chairman. The internal fighting was not strong. The right-wing won an election in election in 1991, and SSU was in opposition. Between 1991 and 1993, SSU's membership increased. I Sec (then CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
) 1991 Roger Hallberg was elected President of the IUSY. The country has never had the presidency two terms of office. In 1994, SSU's website was launched.
In 1995, the first Congress in Norrköping
Norrköping
Norrköping is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County. The city has a population of 87,247 inhabitants in 2010, out of a municipal total of 130,050, making it Sweden's tenth largest city and eighth largest...
elected Niklas Nordstrom as Chairman. Also that year, the current conflict between the factions emerged. The party's right-wing wanted to distance itself from communism, for example, by leaving behind the symbols and words that can be related to Communism. This was largely because the Soviet Union had fallen and that abuses in the Eastern Bloc
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
damaged the reputation of democratic socialism. The left-wing thought that it would be contrary to the traditions within the movement; it would be a betrayal of the foundations to move that way. This conflict persisted into the 2000s.
In 1996, the Federal distance from the Socialist newspaper (run by people active from the newspaper Offensive) and decided that membership of the association journal Socialist would be incompatible with membership in SSU. In 1997, at the Congress in 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...
, the conflict escalated. Two distinct factions emerged and voting for a Board became intense. The Election Committee could not find a compromise and left-wing vice-chairman Anders Ygeman
Anders Ygeman
Anders Ygeman, born 1970, is a Swedish social democratic politician, member of the Riksdag since 1996.- References :...
was forced to leave the Board when the post was abolished.
At Congress in 1999 in Västerås
Västerås
Västerås is a city in central Sweden, located on the shore of Lake Mälaren in the province Västmanland, some 100 km west of Stockholm...
, a left-wing candidate, Luciano Astudillo
Luciano Astudillo
Luciano Astudillo is an ordinary member of the Swedish Riksdag. He is a member of the Social Democratic party and represents the City of Malmö. Elected in 2006 he is currently a member of the Labour committee. Prior to 2006 he worked in Deputy Prime Minister's office as a substitute.-References:...
, from SSU district Skåne, almost became president. Differences between factions and a loaded Congress defeated Astudillo, and Mikael Damberg
Mikael Damberg
Lars Mikael Damberg is a Swedish Social Democratic politician. He is member of the Swedish parliament since 2002, representing the Stockholm County constituency...
from Stockholm County
Stockholm County
Stockholm County is a county or län on the Baltic sea coast of Sweden. It borders Uppsala County and Södermanland County. It also borders Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The city of Stockholm is the capital of Sweden. Stockholm County is divided by the historic provinces of Uppland and Södermanland...
SSU-district, won with votes 126-124. The European Union (EU) and European Monetary Union (EMU) were important issues. SSU decided, at an extraordinary congress in 1994, to campaign against Swedish EU membership, but did not run any campaign for a referendum the same year. The union gradually became more positive toward the EU and in 2001 the Congress almost considered approving Swedish EMU membership. For several years, Lisa Pellinge was Secretary-General of the IUSY.
2000s
2000 was SSU hosted the International Union of Socialist Youth's World camp in MalmoMalmö
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...
with approximately 2000 participants. The camp was the largest IUSY had organized to that date. At the 2001 Congress in Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
, Damberg was re-elected, as no other candidate stood. This was a very clear signal against right-wing governance and showed the conflict seriously. What the left-wing most criticized was that programs replaced the 'democratic socialism' with 'social democracy' which was thought a ideological formulation when it seemed clear that SSU was socialist. The right-wing had a large majority in Congress and had a two-thirds majority on the Board. The EMU was again an emotive issue.
SU in 2002 launched its website. On 21 January 2002, party member Fadime Sahindal
Fadime Sahindal
Fadime Şahindal was a Kurdish immigrant who moved to Sweden from Turkey at the age of seven. She was murdered by her father, Rahmi, in January 2002 in an "honor killing".-Life:...
was murdered by her father in an honor killing
Honor killing
An honor killing or honour killing is the homicide of a member of a family or social group by other members, due to the belief of the perpetrators that the victim has brought dishonor upon the family or community...
. She campaigned for equality and for the rights of young women with foreign backgrounds. In 2003, SSU began a memorial fund in her memory.
In 2003, the European Community Organization of Socialist Youth Congress was held in the Bommersvik. SSU won a battle against French President Youth. Anders Lindberg was elected as the first Swedish president of the Young Socialists.
At the 2003 Congress in Karlstad, right-wing presidential candidate was Ardalan Shekarabi
Ardalan Shekarabi
Ardalan Shekarabi is a Swedish politician and former chairman for the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League.-References:...
(SSU Uppland) and left-wing candidate Lina Afvander (SSU Jönköping). Afvander withdrew just before the president election on the morning on August 6 when she became the Nomination Committee's proposal, and Shekarabi was elected unanimously. Sara Heelge-Vikmång (SSU Östergötland) was elected Secretary-General. Congress also decided, about one month before the referendum, to offer no opinion on the Swedish introduction of the Euro. In media, it has been claimed that the choice of Shekarabi may have been surrounded by some irregularities, which created some problems for the federation. It was alleged that money from the Development Activities was used to finance Shekarabis's internal election campaign. This may have been one of the factors contributing to the factions seeking more consensus before Congress in 2005.
Shekarabis's writings led to the resignation of Congress in 2005 and the establishment of a future commission that recommended the Congress to share power between the right and left wings. 2004 Anna Sjödin
Anna Sjödin
Anna Margareta Sjödin is a Swedish Social Democratic politician, and elected president of the Social Democratic Youth League from August 3, 2005 to December 16, 2006. She was also elected vice president of the International Union of Socialist Youth at the congress in January 2006...
was elected Vice-President of the International Union of Socialist Youth in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
. In 2004, the party campaigned to ban the fees for school food.
2005 revealed serious errors in SSU's members register. A large number of people were in the register without having paid a membership fee. The police launched an investigation when they suspected benefit fraud because SSU received financial assistance based on its membership. Records were updated and to Congress, the Federal proposed that central members should exercise better control, so that districts could not systematic cheating. The police closed the investigation for benefit fraud because the crime could not be proved and SSU free from all. Also at the 2005 Congress, the Board tried to achieve organizational unity by allowing the two factions to share the board equally. The federal leadership was divided up so that the right-wing got the chair Anna Sjödin and left-wing union secretarial post Mattias Vepsä.
In 2006, Anna Sjödin was re-elected Vice-President of the International Union of Socialist Youth Congress in Esbjerg
Esbjerg
Esbjerg Municipality is a municipality in Region of Southern Denmark on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in southwest Denmark. Its mayor is Johnny Søtrup, from the Venstre political party...
. In December 2006, Sjödin resigned from the presidency after being sentenced for insult, violence against officials, violent resistance and an arbitrary act. She also was sentenced to pay 5,500 Swedish krona
Swedish krona
The krona has been the currency of Sweden since 1873. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it, but especially in the past, it sometimes preceded the value...
in damages. The post of president remained vacant until the next Congress. Secretary Mattias Vepsä was task to be SSU's spokesperson in the meantime to Congress 2007. In January 2007 the Board's new membership figures were announced; it had changed from 20,500 to 4,300. Measures were introduced to prevent cheating, which led to the fall in membership by over two thirds over one and a half years, and SSU was no longer the country's largest political youth league. In May 2007, it published the candidates to Congress in August.
Mattias Vepsä was the only candidate for a federal secretary. Jytte Guteland from the Stockholm County SSU-district and considered right-wing was nominated for the office of Federal. Several right-district support, however, Laila Naraghi from SSU Kalmar Län. There was discontent in parts of the right-wing because the Stockholm County SSU-district and Jytte Guteland's other support district had handled the Inter-democracy poorly. In the spring, it was decided to hold a divided caucus to advocate Jytte Guteland to the Federal SSU. On August 8, at the Congress, Guteland was elected as chairman with 131 votes against 115 for Laila Naraghi.
Presidents
- Harry Svensson (1917–1919)
- Bertil Eriksson (1919–1922)
- Rickard Lindström (1922–1928)
- Adolf Wallentheim (1928–1934)
- Torsten NilssonTorsten NilssonHarald Torsten Leonard Nilsson was a Swedish Social Democratic politician. He served as Minister for Defence from 1951 to 1957, and as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1962 to 1971. Nilsson also served as Minister of Social Affairs and Minister of Communications.- References :...
(1934–1940) - Ossian Sehlstedt (1940–1943)
- Bertil JohanssonBertil JohanssonBertil "Bebben" Johansson is a former Swedish football striker and football manager.After starting his career playing for the local club Sävedalens IF, he joined IFK Göteborg in 1955 and won a Swedish Championship with the club...
(1943–1946) - Frans Nilsson (1946–1952)
- Bertil Löfberg (1952–1958)
- Curt Ward (1958–1961)
- Ingvar CarlssonIngvar CarlssonGösta Ingvar Carlsson is a Swedish politician, Prime Minister of Sweden and leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party ....
(1961–1967) - Bosse RingholmBosse RingholmBo "Bosse" Ingvar Karchimirer Ringholm is a Swedish Social Democratic politician. He held the titles of Minister of Finance, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Policy Coordination, and Minister for Sport in the Persson administration.- Career :Ringholm was born in Falköping, a town in the west of...
(1967–1972) - Lars EngqvistLars EngqvistLars Engqvist is a Swedish politician. He served as chairman of the youth organization of the Swedish Social Democrats from 1972 to 1978, and then worked as a journalist and editor-in-chief...
(1972–1978) - Jan Nygren (1978–1984)
- Anna LindhAnna LindhYlva Anna Maria Lindh was a Swedish Social Democratic politician, Chairman of the Social Democratic Youth League 1984-1990, Member of Parliament 1982-1985 and 1998-2003...
(1984–1990) - Karl-Petter Thorwaldsson (1990–1995)
- Niklas Nordström (1995–1999)
- Mikael DambergMikael DambergLars Mikael Damberg is a Swedish Social Democratic politician. He is member of the Swedish parliament since 2002, representing the Stockholm County constituency...
(1999–2003) - Ardalan ShekarabiArdalan ShekarabiArdalan Shekarabi is a Swedish politician and former chairman for the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League.-References:...
(2003–2005) - Anna SjödinAnna SjödinAnna Margareta Sjödin is a Swedish Social Democratic politician, and elected president of the Social Democratic Youth League from August 3, 2005 to December 16, 2006. She was also elected vice president of the International Union of Socialist Youth at the congress in January 2006...
(2005–2006) - Mattias Vepsä (provisional, 2006–2007)
- Jytte Guteland (2007–2011)
- Gabriel Wikström (2011–)
Secretaries
- Karl Hovberg (1928–1931)
- Joel Ljungquist (1931–1935(until 1/4))
- Folke Thunborg (1935(1/4)–1940)
- Bertil JohanssonBertil JohanssonBertil "Bebben" Johansson is a former Swedish football striker and football manager.After starting his career playing for the local club Sävedalens IF, he joined IFK Göteborg in 1955 and won a Swedish Championship with the club...
(1940–1943) - Hilding Färm (1943–1948(until feb))
- Essen Lindahl (1948(6-7/3)–1949)
- Bertil Löfberg (1949–1952)
- Frans Nilsson (1946–1952)
- Bertil Löfberg (1952–1958)
- Oskar Lindkvist (1952–1955)
- Sture Hollman (1955–1958)
- Rune Molin (1958–1962(31/7))
- Sven Hulterström (1962(from 31/7)–1964)
- Thage Pettersson (1964–1967)
- Bo Toresson (1967–1969(until 31/7))
- Ulf Karlsson (1969(from 21/4)–1972)
- Christer Lindström (1972–1975)
- Håkan Bystedt (1975–1981)
- Bo BernhardssonBo BernhardssonBo Gösta Ingemar Bernhardsson is a Swedish social democratic politician, member of the Riksdag 1991–1995 and then again in 2002.-References:*...
(1981–1984) - Leif Linde (1984–1988(until 1/10))
- Anders Teljebäck (1988(from 1/10)–1990)
- Lars Ericson (1990–1994)
- Carin JämtinCarin JämtinCarin Jämtin is a Swedish Social Democratic politician and the party-Secretary of the Social Democratic Party since 26 March 2011. She was Minister for International Development Cooperation in the Swedish government between 2003 and 2006.-Early career:She has briefly studied at Stockholm...
(1994–1995) - Pernilla Mobeck (1995–1999)
- Lena HallengrenLena HallengrenLena Hallengren is a Swedish Social Democratic politician. She has been a member of the Riksdag since 2006.-External links:* at the Riksdag website...
(1999–2002(until 21/10)) - Caroline Waldheim (2002–2003(until aug))
- Sara Helge-Vikmång (2003–2005)
- Mattias Vepsä (2005–2011)
- Ellinor Eriksson (2011-)