National Youth League of Sweden

The National Youth League of Sweden (Sveriges nationella ungdomsförbund, SNU) was the first youth organisation of the General Electoral Union of Sweden. It was dislodged from its mother party in 1934 due to its pro-Nazi stance. It was then reconstructed as a separate political party, the National League of Sweden. After the Second World War, the political fortunes of the group dwindled.

SNU was founded on October 16, 1915 at Hotell Kronprinsen in . The organisation, though never formally recognized, became the youth referent of the General Electoral Union.

During the late 1920s SNU became politically radicalized. The radicalization was accentuated by the election of Elmo Lindholm as the SNU chairman. In 1931 the organization had 35 460 members, and was steadily growing. Eventually SNU organised a militant kamporganisation (struggle organisation, modelled after the German SA) which were supposed to combat political enemies in the streets. The kamporganisation had grey shirts, blue ties and blue armbands. The League supported the German Nazis after Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933.

The 1930s saw many harsh conflicts within the Conservative movement in Sweden on how to relate to the emerging Nazism. During 1933 the General Electoral Union arranged a number of demonstrations against both Nazism and communism.Arvid Lindman, the leader of the party, clearly stated that Nazis were not accepted within his party.

Another issue of contention was whether there should have been any age limit for SNU membership. The General Electoral Union pushed for 35 years as an upper limit for SNU members, as well as a formal understanding that the role of SNU was to recruit young people for the General Electoral Union. SNU however refuted the idea of an age limit, as the organization wished to exert more political influence of its own.

Due to this, Arvid Lindman declared that the National Youth League no longer was considered the youth organisation of the Swedish right in 1934. While a new right-wing youth league emerged - what later became the Moderate Youth League - the National Youth League eventually re-organised as a political party named the National Youth League and League of Sweden (Sveriges Nationella Ungdomsförbundet och Förbund, SNUoF).

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