The Liberal Youth of Sweden ( sv, Liberala ungdomsförbundet, LUF) is the

youth wing A youth wing is a subsidiary, autonomous, or independently allied front of a larger organization (usually a political party but occasionally another type of organization) that is formed in order to rally support for that organization from members ...

of the

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 ...

Liberals. The Liberal Youth of Sweden has a long tradition of international cooperation and is a full member of the

International Federation of Liberal Youth The International Federation of Liberal Youth (IFLRY) is an international liberal youth organization. It consists of a global membership of national youth organizations. These are often but not exclusively affiliated with political parties that ...

(IFLRY) and the

European Liberal Youth European Liberal Youth (abbreviated as LYMEC) is an international organisation of liberal youth movements – mostly the youth wings of members of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party but also individual members. LYMEC holds ...

(LYMEC). They have published the magazine ''Liebling - Liberal Youth'' since 1961.

History

The Liberal Youth of Sweden traces its roots back to Verdandi, a radical student organisation founded in 1882 by

Karl Staaff Karl Albert Staaff (21 January 1860 – 4 October 1915) was a Swedish liberal politician and lawyer. He was chairman of the Liberal Coalition Party (1907–1915) and served twice as Prime Minister of Sweden (1905–1906 and 1911–1914). Staaff ...

, the future prime minister and leader of the

Liberal Coalition Party The Liberal Party of Sweden ( sv, Sveriges Liberala Parti) was a political party in Sweden. It was formed in 1923 by the anti-prohibition minority of the Free-minded National Association as a consequence of the split over the issue on alcohol prohi ...

. In 1910 the Swedish Freeminded Youth League ( sv, Sveriges frisinnade ungdomsförbund) was formed as the youth wing of the Freeminded National Association, Sweden's first grassroots liberal organisation, with

Eric Festin The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse languag ...

as its first chairperson. The youth league was active during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, but lost members afterwards. In 1923 the Freeminded National Association split over the

prohibition of alcohol Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

, and though the youth league tried to stay together it too split in 1927. The two liberal parties reunited in August 1934 as the People's Party. The youth league was reunited in the same year as the Youth League of the People's Party ( sv, Folkpartiets ungdomsförbund, FPU) with

Bertil Ohlin Bertil Gotthard Ohlin () (23 April 1899 – 3 August 1979) was a Swedish economist and politician. He was a professor of economics at the Stockholm School of Economics from 1929 to 1965. He was also leader of the People's Party, a social-liberal ...

as its first chairperson. When it was founded it had 1000 members in about 100 local associations, but many new members soon joined. In the 1930s FPU campaigned on issues such as the abolition of school fees, and in the 1950s began to demand that a proportion of GDP should go to aid. FPU also campaigned for Sweden to join

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

and for the TV and radio monopolies to be abolished. In the 1960s FPU became prominent under the leadership of among others

Per Ahlmark Per Axel Ahlmark (15 January 1939 – 8 June 2018) was a Swedish politician and writer. He was the leader of the Liberal People's Party from 1975 to 1978, and Minister for Employment and Deputy Prime Minister in the Swedish government from 1976 ...

and

Ola Ullsten Stig Kjell Olof "Ola" Ullsten (23 June 1931 – 28 May 2018) was a Swedish politician and diplomat who was Prime Minister of Sweden from 1978 to 1979 and leader of the Liberal People's Party from 1978 to 1983. He also served as Deputy Prime ...

and influenced its mother party in a radical direction. However, a time of internal battles followed in the early 1970s, culminating in the chairmanship election of 1971 where the incumbent Per Gahrton was defeated by

Lars Leijonborg Lars is a common male name in Scandinavian countries. Origin ''Lars'' means "from the city of Laurentum". Lars is derived from the Latin name Laurentius, which means "from Laurentum" or "crowned with laurel". A homonymous Etruscan name was born ...

by one vote's margin. At the congress in 1991 the youth league changed its name to the Liberal Youth of Sweden after the People's Party had renamed itself the Liberal People's Party the previous year. LUF was (and is) noted for its support of Swedish membership of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

, which Sweden joined in 1995. After the mother party's success in the general election of 2002 the membership of LUF increased significantly. On 28 February 2016 the Stockholm branch of the party passed a motion calling for the legalization of

incest Incest ( ) is human sexual activity between family members or close relatives. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by affinity (marriage or stepfamily), adoption ...

and

necrophilia Necrophilia, also known as necrophilism, necrolagnia, necrocoitus, necrochlesis, and thanatophilia, is sexual attraction towards or a sexual act involving Cadaver, corpses. It is classified as a paraphilia by the World Health Organization (WHO) ...

Organisation

LUF has 21 districts, the three largest being Stockholm, Väst and Skåne. The highest decisionmaking authority is the congress, which is held every year. 99 congress delegates are elected by the districts, with one seat for each district and the remainder allocated in proportion to their number of members. Once every two years the congress discusses and amends the Liberal Youth's policy programme. The most recent such congress was held in 2019 in

Västerås Västerås ( , , ) is a city in central Sweden on the shore of Mälaren, Lake Mälaren in the province of Västmanland, west of Stockholm. The city had a population of 127,799 at the end of 2019, out of the municipal total of 154,049. Västerås ...

Districts

List of chairpersons

References

External links

* (in Swedish) {{Swedish Youth Leagues Youth organizations established in 1934 Youth wings of political parties in Sweden Youth wings of liberal parties Liberals (Sweden) 1934 establishments in Sweden