Arvid Olsson (1888–1958) was a Swedish

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

and

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

ist. He was one of the foremost leaders of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

.Blomqvist, Håkan.
Gåtan Nils flyg och nazismen
''

Youth

Olsson hailed from a

statare ''Statare'' were contract-workers in Swedish agriculture who, contrary to other farmhands, were expected to be married, were provided with a simple dwelling for their family, and instead of eating at the servants' table were paid in kind with foo ...

family. He became a

gunsmith A gunsmith is a person who repairs, modifies, designs, or builds guns. The occupation differs from an armorer, who usually replaces only worn parts in standard firearms. Gunsmiths do modifications and changes to a firearm that may require a very h ...

for the Swedish Navy and a labour activist, living in Ramundeboda outside

Laxå Laxå is a locality and the seat of Laxå Municipality in Örebro County Örebro County ( sv, Örebro län) is a county or '' län'' in central Sweden. It borders the counties of Västra Götaland, Värmland, Dalarna, Västmanland, Södermanlan ...

. A delegate at the 1914 congress of the

Social Democratic Youth League The Swedish Social Democratic Youth League ( sv, Sveriges Socialdemokratiska Ungdomsförbund ; SSU) is a branch of the Swedish Social Democratic Party and the Swedish Trade Union Confederation in Sweden. The president has been Lisa Nåbo, since ...

, Olsson was thereafter one of the first Swedish communists to undergo political training in Soviet Russia.

Communist labour leader

Olsson served as party secretary of the Communist Party. He also presided over the Trade Union Committee of the party and was the trade union affairs editor of ''

Folkets Dagblad Politiken ''Politiken'', later named ''Folkets Dagblad - Politiken'' was a Swedish Communist newspaper that existed from April 1916 to August 1940. History and profile ''Politiken'' was launched in 1916, first issue published on 27 April that year, by th ...

''. However, after the sixth Congress of the Communist International the party suffered a factional conflict. Olsson belonged to the same grouping in the

Central Committee Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of Communist party, communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party org ...

Karl Kilbom Karl Kilbom (8 May 1885 – 24 December 1961) was a Sweden, Swedish politician and one of the founders of the Left Party (Sweden), Communist Party of Sweden. Youth As the son of a blacksmith, Karl Kilbom grew up in a working class family of Wall ...

and

Nils Flyg 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 ...

.Kennerström, Bernt.
Mellan två internationaler - Socialistiska Partiet 1929-37
' In August 1929, Olsson and Kilbom visited Moscow and were given the opportunity to express self-criticism. In October 1929 the split was final, as Kilbom, Olsson, Flyg and their followers were expelled from the party by the

Executive Committee of the Communist International The Executive Committee of the Communist International, commonly known by its acronym, ECCI (Russian acronym ИККИ), was the governing authority of the Comintern between the World Congresses of that body. The ECCI was established by the Foundin ...

(through its representative Kullervo Manner). The expellees regrouped as a separate Communist Party of Sweden, later renamed Socialist Party. Olsson became the spokesperson on trade union affairs of the new party.

In parliament

Olsson became a member of Parliament in 1934, replacing Edoff Andersson (who had died). He was elected to parliament in 1936. In the socialist parliamentary group, Olsson was Flyg's sole supporter in the controversy over the debate on the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

(Flyg was accused by others in the party of adopting a too ambivalent line towards the defense of the

Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII, and was dissolved on 1 A ...

).Kennerström, Bernt.
Socialistiska partiet och spanska inbördeskriget – den problematiska principfastheten
' In 1937, Olsson and communist parliamentarian Knut Senander presented a joint motion to repeal the 1899 Åkarp Law, that was perceived as anti-labour. The motion was passed in both chambers of parliament in 1938. Olsson was one of the two parliamentarians that remained in the Socialist Party until the 1940 election (the other was Flyg).

Editor

When ''Folkets Dagblad Politiken'' reappeared in 1942, Olsson was again named editor of trade union affairs of the newspaper. When Flyg died in 1943, Olsson was named as the new chief editor of the newspaper.

Political legacy

Olsson was one of the architects of the process of shifting the Socialist Party towards nationalist positions. He employed Marxist terminology to justify these positions. Olsson argued that in circumstances such as the war between Finland and the Soviet Union the party ought to support the

right of self-determination The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a ''jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It stat ...

of smaller nations.

Later life

After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Olsson retreated from political life. He worked at the

Public Employment Service A public employment service is a government's organization which matches employers to employees. History One of the oldest references to a public employment agency was in 1650, when Henry Robinson proposed an "Office of Addresses and Encounters" ...

office in

Södermalm Södermalm, often shortened to just Söder, is a district and island in central Stockholm. Overview The district covers the large island of the same name (formerly called ''Åsön''). Although Södermalm usually is considered an island, wat ...

for a few years.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Olsson, Arvid Members of the Riksdag from the Left Party (Sweden) Socialist Party (Sweden, 1929) politicians Swedish trade unionists 1888 births 1958 deaths Members of the Andra kammaren Swedish communists