Lars Ohly
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Lars-Magnus Harald Christoffer Ohly (born 13 January 1957) is a Swedish politician, currently serving as party chairman of the Swedish Left Party. He was elected party chairman on 20 February 2004, succeeding Ulla Hoffmann.
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[edit] Early life and career
Lars Ohly was born in Spånga, Stockholm County. His father, like all his forefathers for six generations, was a priest.[1] He grew up in various places around Stockholm. After finishing his gymnasium (secondary) education in 1978, he started working at Statens Järnvägar (the Swedish state-owned railway company), where he later became a conductor (Swedish: tågmästare). He is still employed at SJ but is on leave of absence since 1994.
Ohly became a member of the Liberal Youth of Sweden, the youth wing of the Liberal People's Party, in 1970 but left shortly afterwards and became a communist. He joined the Communist Youth in 1978 and the Left Party in 1979. He became a member of board of the Communist Youth in 1980, was elected as a substitute of the party board in 1987 and became a full member of the party board in 1990. From 1994 to 2000 he was party secretary and in 2004 he was elected party chairman. He has been a Member of Parliament since 1998.
[edit] Personal life
Lars Ohly currently lives with his common-law spouse Åsa Hagelstedt. He has two children from a previous marriage.
[edit] Controversies
[edit] Nacka Skoglund
During his first weeks as party chairman, Ohly claimed in an interview to once have played football on the same team as Swedish football legend Nacka Skoglund. The newspaper Dagens Nyheter later revealed that this claim was most likely fictitious.[2] When confronted about this, Ohly claimed it to be an indeliberate error on his part.[3]
[edit] Uppdrag granskning
Lars Ohly used to be an outspoken communist. On October 5, 2005, Uppdrag granskning in Sveriges Television (the Swedish public service television) aired a programme about Lars Ohly's background and views on democracy.[4] In the programme, Ohly was accused of trying to rewrite his own history and of hiding his past. Several quotes by Ohly were found where he defended the political systems of the Eastern bloc.[5] Several prominent party members, among them former party leader Lars Werner, also witnessed about Ohly's views. It was also found that, in 2000, Ohly had reworded a letter of apology to the "Kiruna-Swedes" - victims of harassment from the Left Party after their return home from Soviet custody - with a number of critical references to Joseph Stalin being removed. The programme also showed that Ohly branded himself as a leninist as late as 1999.
Following this controversy, the leaders of all the other parliamentary parties have urged Ohly to drop his adherence to communism. On 30 October 2005, Ohly declared on Swedish TV that he would stop labeling himself a communist.[6] But he stressed at the same time that he would stay faithful to the ideals of communism and always would keep fighting for a "classless society".
[edit] Swedish-Cuban Association
During the controversy regarding Ohly's views on communism and his definition of socialism and socialist leadership, Ohly's membership in the Swedish-Cuban Association became known. The Swedish-Cuban Association supports the government of Fidel Castro in Cuba and does not want to label the country as a dictatorship. Ohly then released a statement that he considers Cuba to be a dictatorship and that he is critical of the lack of political freedom in Cuba, a statement which in response was criticized by the chairman of the Swedish-Cuban Association. In September 2005, Ohly declared that he had left the organisation.[7]
[edit] Raising the middle finger during a live debate
During a live debate in Swedish television channel TV4 on September 18, 2006, the day after the Swedish general election, Ohly caused some controversy when he raised his middle finger to the right-wing commentator Marie Söderqvist who called his leadership style typical of a communist.[8] Ohly later apologized and said that he experienced a "temporary blackout".[9]
[edit] References
- ^ Olsson, Karin. "Prästsonen som såg rött", Expressen, 2006-07-13. Retrieved on 2007-08-03. (Swedish)
- ^ Grimlund, Lars. "Mötte du Nacka, Ohly?", Dagens Nyheter, 2004-02-19. Retrieved on 2007-08-03. (Swedish)
- ^ Grimlund, Lars; Stenberg, Ewa. "Ohly: "Jag måste ha stått vid sidan av"", Dagens Nyheter, 2004-02-20. Retrieved on 2007-08-03. (Swedish)
- ^ Bagge, Peter (2004-10-05). Lars Ohlys syn på demokrati (Swedish). Uppdrag granskning. Retrieved on 2007-08-03.
- ^ Vad har Ohly sagt? Här är citaten (Swedish). Uppdrag granskning (2004-10-05). Retrieved on 2007-08-03.
- ^ "Lars Ohly slutar kalla sig kommunist", Sveriges Television, 2005-10-30. Retrieved on 2007-08-03. (Swedish)
- ^ Melzer, Herman. "Lars Ohly lämnar Kuba-förening", Ekot, 2005-09-24. Retrieved on 2007-08-03. (Swedish)
- ^ "Här ger Ohly fingret åt högerdebattören", Ekonominyheterna, 2006-09-18. Retrieved on 2007-08-03. (Swedish)
- ^ Kemilä, Alexander; Julander, Oscar. "Expressens krönikör fick fingret - av Ohly", Expressen, 2006-09-18. Retrieved on 2007-08-03. (Swedish)
[edit] External links
- Lars Ohly at the Left Party's website
- Lars Ohly at the Swedish parliament's website
| Preceded by Maggi Mikaelsson |
Party secretary of the Left Party 1994–2000 |
Succeeded by Pernilla Zethraeus |
| Preceded by Ulla Hoffmann |
Party chairman of the Left Party 2004–present |
Incumbent |
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ohly, Lars |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Ohly, Lars-Magnus Harald Christoffer (full name) |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 13 January 1957 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Spånga, Sweden |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
