Elof Eriksson
Elof Eriksson | |
---|---|
Born | 30 July 1883 Sveriges Fascistiska Folkparti |
Movement | Nationella Samlingsrörelsen |
Parent | (father) |
Elof Eriksson (30 July 1883 – 9 December 1965) was a
Early years
Born in Stockholm, his father Jakob Eriksson was a well-known plant pathologist.[2] Raised on a large farm at Hyllie, Eriksson studied horticulture and agriculture before becoming farm manager of the family plot.[2]
Eriksson began his political career in 1914 in the agrarian movements connected to the Jordbrukarnas Riksförbund (Farmers National Federation), leading a highly reactionary faction that was suspicious of democracy and was supportive of eugenics.[3] He wrote a series for articles for Nya Dagligt Allehanda condemning liberalism and the Swedish party system, which he blamed for the problems facing Swedish agriculture and took part in the Farmers' March, a mass rally held on 6 February 1914.[2] A meeting with Mauritz Rydgren in 1914 helped to instill in Eriksson a strong belief in antisemitism and Swedish racial purity although initially these were privately held beliefs that did not manifest in his political activities.[2] He left active politics when the group as a whole merged with the Centre Party and became a writer and publisher, taking over the editing of the highly conservative Södertälje Tidning in 1923. It was whilst writing for this paper that he began to demonstrate his antisemitic opinions.[3]
Fascist politics
Eriksson was fired in 1925 for his extremist views and set up his own paper, the Nationen, which became the main outlet for his increasingly hard-line beliefs. The paper, which ran into the 1940s, averaged around 3000 in circulation and reached 10,000 at its peak, a high number for an extremist paper in Sweden at the time.[3] Within the Nationen Eriksson was soon promoting both antisemitism and his strong support for Italian fascism.[4] In 1926 he set up his own political movement, the National Unity Movement (Nationella Samlingsrörelsen), which espoused a strong state and anti-communism, but it proved short-lived.[2] Nationen was eventually banned as extremist in 1935.[2]
For a time he was a member of the
He continued to promote his antisemitic and racial purity goals in the post-war era, but had little influence in Sweden. Nonetheless he was close to the Carlberg Foundation and had contact with like-minded groups in Europe and North America, being active until his death in 1965.[2]
Ideology
A critic of
References
- ^ "Was ist Antisemitismus?". Amadeu Antonio Stiftung (in German). Retrieved 2020-11-15.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Philip Rees, Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890, Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1990, p. 116
- ^ a b c d e f g National Enlightenment: Traits in the History of Swedish Antisemitism
- ^ a b Roger Griffin & Matthew Feldman, Fascism: The "Fascist Epoch", 2004, p. 180