Kata Dalström

Kata Dalström
Born	18 December 1858 Emtöholm, Västervik Municipality, Kalmar County
Died	11 December 1923 Stockholm
Occupation	Socialist agitator

Anna Maria Katarina "Kata" Dalström, née Carlberg (18 December 1858, Emtöholm, Västervik Municipality, Kalmar County – 11 December 1923, ), was a Swedish socialist and writer. She belonged to the leading socialist agitators and leftist writers in contemporary Sweden, and has been referred to as "the mother of the Swedish socialist working class movement".

Kata Dalström was born in to a wealthy family as the daughter of professor Johan Oskar Carlberg and Maria Augusta Carlswärd. She was educated at the girls' school of Emilie Risberg in Örebro in 1868-72, and studied in preparation for a studentexamen. In 1878, she married civil engineer Gustav Mauritz Dalström (1837-1906). After her wedding she lived in Hultsfred in 1878-84, Stockholm in 1884-88, Visby in 1888-90, Näsbyholm Castle in 1890-94, and Stockholm from 1894 onward.

Kata Dalström engaged in social work in the 1880s, when she focused on children and culture history. She was a board member of the Arbetsstugor för barn (Working Houses for Children) in 1886, and co-founder of the Katarina arbetsstuga (Katarina Work House) in 1887. In 1887, she also became a member of the Kvinnoklubben (Women's Club) for professional middle class women. In 1889-94, she was a lecturer for the temperance association Nykterhetsorden Verdandi, where she was elected board member in 1894.

Opposed to authoritarian discipline and conservative views already as a child, she came to be a sympathizer of liberalism and then Marxism and socialism by her intellectual contacts, particularly Ellen Key, Knut Wicksell and Fridtjuv Berg. She studied socialism and contacted leading socialist such as Hjalmar Branting and Fredrik Sterky.

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