BRANTING, KARL HJALMAR Swedish statesman, was born in Stockholm Nov. 23, 186o, and had a distinguished scientific career as a student at Stockholm and Uppsala. In 1884 he associated himself with the Radical news paper Tiden and shortly afterwards became editor. From 1886 to 1917 he was editor of the Socialdemokraten, between 1887-90 and 1892-96, being obliged, for economic reasons, to combine his editorship with work on the Liberal newspaper Dagens Nyheter.
When the Social Democratic Labour Party was formed in 1889, Branting was generally considered the greatest intellectual force in the movement. He wished to make the movement a power which, on the one side, would be useful to the working classes in their economic struggle, and on the other of service to political democracy. It is chiefly due to Branting that the Swedish trade-union movement has always been of a pronounced social democratic character, and as an organization still keeps in close touch with the Social Democratic Party. The first task of the new party was to mobilise the working-classes in support of adult, equal and direct suffrage, and Branting became a leader in the franchise movement. As early as 1890 he linked up the policy of the Labour Party with that of the progressive middle-class party and made co-operation between them possible. The result was a Liberal-Socialist government in 1917, and in 1918 the constitutional reform which facilitated the spread of social democracy throughout Sweden. He became leader of the party in 1907.
As early as 1897 Branting was a member of the second chamber, where till 1902 he was the only Social Democrat. In face of a powerful Chauvinistic group, Branting, strongly supported by the Labour Party, demanded a peaceful settlement of the question of the separation of Norway from the Swedish crown, and his con tributions to the cause of peace when the union was dissolved in 1905, together with his work in the same cause during and after the World War, qualified him for the Nobel Prize which was awarded him in 1921. During the World War he energetically supported the demand for strict neutrality on the part of Sweden, although he displayed a marked sympathy for the Allies.
At the end of the War great hopes were placed on Branting's ability to re-unite the ranks of international social democracy. An attempt had been made in this direction in 1917 at the Swedish-Dutch conference known as the Stockholm Conference, over which Branting presided. He was chairman of the first post-war conference of the Socialist International, held in Bern 1919, and was a member of the permanent international corn mission for reconstruction within the International.
Branting was appointed delegate to the Peace Conference in Paris in the spring of 1919 and at the negotiations concerning Aland 1919-21. After the entry of Sweden into the League of Nations, Branting was the first representative of his country on the League Assemblies, and in 1922 was a member of the Council.
His defence of the Council of Ambassadors on the occasion of the Corfu incident and his handling of the English-Turkish con flict over Mosul enhanced his reputation.
Branting was Minister of Finance in the Liberal-Socialist cabinet of 1917, and in the spring of 1920 formed Sweden's first Social Democratic ministry. The parliamentary elections in the autumn went against him,. but after the election of 1921 he formed a Government which remained in power until April 1923, when it was defeated over the unemployment relief question. After the election of 1924 Branting formed his third ministry, but on Jan. 25, 1925, M. Sandler was appointed prime minister in his place, on account of Branting's ill-health. He died in Stockholm, Feb. 24 1925.