Anton Nilson

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Anton Nilson (November 11, 1887 – August 16, 1989) was a Swedish militant communist and also the last person to be sentenced to death in Sweden. The sentence was, however, never carried out.

Nilson was born and grew up in a peasant region in Skåne, the southernmost province of Sweden. He became a construction worker in 1906, and had already become a class conscious young socialist.

[edit] Amalthea bombing

In the summer of 1908 the workers in the docks of Malmö were on a strike for better conditions. The police and military were called in to keep order, and the employers took in British strikebreakers to do the job. This was considered highly provocative by the striking Swedish workers.

The British strikebreakers were temporarily living on a ship called Amalthea. On the night between July 11 and 12, three young unemployed workers, one of them being Anton Nilson, put a bomb outside Amalthea. The bomb exploded killing one and wounding 23 of the British strikebreakers.

Anton Nilson was sentenced to death. His two accomplices Algot Rosberg and Alfred Stern were sentenced to penal labor for life.

Eventually, before his execution, Anton Nilson was pardoned, also, like the others, to do forced labor for life.

At first, the reactions in Sweden on the bomb attack on Amalthea had been of horror and disgust followed by condemnation, including from the workers movement. However, after a while the public opinion sided with Anton Nilson, Algot Rosberg and Alfred Stern, and a massive campaign was launched to have them freed. Thousands of international meetings were held in their support, including 600 meetings amongst workers in the United States, organized by the I.W.W. and with Joe Hill as a leading participant.

A petition with the list of 130.000 names was handed to the government and Supreme Court of Sweden, asking for the release of the three young men.

An attempt to free Anton Nilson by force from the prison in Härnösand took place on May Day 1917, when 10.000 workers marched to the jailhouse. Guards with machine guns were stationed on the walls and the military was called in. The prison guards were ordered to shoot Anton Nilson if necessary rather than letting him escape. Eventually the masses demonstrating outside the prison gave up and walked away.

Finally, in October 1917, Anton Nilson and the two others were pardoned. It was the first decision made by the newly appointed coalition government of the Liberals and Social Democrats.

[edit] In the Russian Revolution

As Anton Nilson was released from jail, the Bolshevik Revolution had just started in Russia. Without hesitation, and nowhere else to go, Nilson went to visit Russia in company with the Swedish communist leader Ture Nerman.

Anton Nilson decided to join the Red Army, fighting as a pilot in the civil war. Nilson helped organize the air defense of Moscow, later taking command of the air-force on the Baltic Front. For his services his comrades elected him to receive an award from Leon Trotsky.

At the rise of Stalinism, Anton Nilson decided to move back to Sweden in 1926. He would always consider Stalin as a traitor to the revolution, saying: "Stalin took the state police, which had been formed against the counter-revolution, and turned it against socialists..."

But when Khrushchev took over the leadership of the Soviet Union in the 1950s, Anton Nilson considered it a positive development.

For the rest of his life, Nilson toured Sweden agitating for Swedish communist rule. He also became revered as one of the Swedish Labour Movement's heroes and his portrait is to be found at the headquarters of Landsorganisationen. His 100th birthday was celebrated by some Social-Democrat Cabinet Ministers.

Anton Nilson lived to be 101 years old.