Carl Skoglund

Carl Skoglund
Born	(1884-04-10)April 10, 1884 Dalsland, Sweden
Died	December 11, 1960(1960-12-11) (aged 76)
Nationality	Swedish-American
Occupation	Trade unionist
Known for	Founder of the American Communist Party, co-founder of the Socialist Workers Party
Political party	Socialist Workers American Communist Socialist Party of America Swedish Social Democratic

Carl Skoglund (April 10, 1884 – December 11, 1960) was a

.

Early life in Sweden

As Carl entered his teens his father died, making it necessary for him, as the oldest child, to leave school and earn a living for the family. He found a job in a pulp mill. Wages were low and working conditions hard in the mill, so Skoglund organized a union and lead a strike for better conditions.

Through his experience in the

and could not find a job in Sweden. In 1911, he decided to go to the United States. His fiancée remained behind and they were never rejoined.

In America

In the United States, Skoglund joined the IWW and spent a period on a railroad construction gang after which he went into the woods working as a lumberjack. There he suffered a serious foot injury, after which the company fired him.

Skoglund went to Minneapolis where he sought medical care, maintaining himself by working as a janitor and boiler tender. As the injury mended and he could get around better, he worked as a mechanic and took job as a car repairman in the railway shop. Skoglund joined the Socialist Party of Eugene V. Debs in 1914 and became one of the left-wing leaders of the Party's Scandinavian Federation. Skoglund helped translate the works of Karl Marx from German to English.

In 1917, a split in the Socialist Party was caused by the

. Carl Skoglund was one of the founding members of the American Communist Party. In 1922, after having been the organizer and leader of a major strike, Skoglund was blacklisted on the railroads, and he had to turn to driving a coal truck for a living. ^[1]

Socialist Workers Party

Carl Skoglund was expelled from the Communist Party in 1928 for

References

Other sources

• Ross, Carl Radicalism in Minnesota, 1900–1960: a survey of selected sources (Minnesota Historical Society Press. 1994)