Karl Hilding Hagberg (28 October 1899 – 17 December 1993) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

communist politician. He was the leader of the

Communist Party of Sweden The name Communist Party of Sweden ( sv, Sveriges Kommunistiska Parti, link=no, abbreviated SKP) has been used by several political parties in Sweden: * Left Party (Sweden), known as the Communist Party of Sweden from 1921 to 1967 ** Communist Par ...

from 1951 to 1964.

History

Hagberg was born in

Gällivare Gällivare (; fi, Jällivaara; se, Jiellevárri or ; smj, Jiellevárre or ; fit, Jellivaara) is a locality and the seat of Gällivare Municipality in Norrbotten County, province of Lapland, Sweden with 8,449 inhabitants in 2010. The town wa ...

in Norrbotten County. As a miner working in

Malmberget Malmberget ("The Ore Mountain", Finnish and Meänkieli: ''Malmivaara'') is a locality and mining town situated in Gällivare Municipality, Norrbotten County, Sweden. It had 5,590 inhabitants in 2010, reduced to 927 by December 2020. It is situate ...

he joined the

in his youth. He was editor of the communist newspaper '' Norrskensflamman'' from 1930 to 1935, and political editor of the Communist Party's main newspaper '' Ny Dag'' from 1943 to 1964. He was a member of the executive board of the Communist Party of Sweden from 1930 to 1964, and a member of the lower house of the

Parliament of Sweden The Riksdag (, ; also sv, riksdagen or ''Sveriges riksdag'' ) is the legislature and the supreme decision-making body of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members (), elected proportionally and se ...

from 1933 to 1964. As leader of the Communist Party of Sweden, Hagberg upheld a clearly pro-

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

line. He supported the Soviet crushing of the

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...

and he also defended the building of the Berlin Wall as "serving the cause of peace". In the municipal elections in 1962, the Communist Party hit a record low of 3.8% of the votes, and critics within the party blamed this on the party's pro-Soviet line. In 1964, Hagberg was replaced as party chairman by

C.-H. Hermansson Carl-Henrik "C.-H." Hermansson (14 December 1917 – 26 July 2016) was a Swedish politician who served as chairman of the Communist Party of Sweden (during his leadership renamed ''the Left Party – Communists'') from 1964 to 1975 and member of ...

. When a pro-Soviet faction broke away from the party in 1977 to form the Workers' Party - the Communists, Hagberg joined them. Hagberg died in his home in Luleå on 17 December 1993. His memoirs, titled ''Jag är och förblir kommunist'' ("I am and will remain a communist"), were published in 1995.

References

1899 births 1993 deaths People from Gällivare Municipality Members of the Riksdag from the Left Party (Sweden) Swedish communists Leaders of political parties in Sweden Members of the Andra kammaren Swedish miners Swedish newspaper editors {{Sweden-politician-stub