Moderate Youth League
The
Moderate Youth League (
Moderata Ungdomsförbundet, abbreviated MUF) is the
youth organization of the
Swedish Moderate Party.
The Moderate Youth League was formed in
1934 under the name the
Young Swedes (
Ungsvenskarna), as a consequence of the split between the
General Electoral Union (
Allmänna valmansförbundet) and the
National Youth League of Sweden (
Sveriges nationella ungdomsförbund, SNU). In
1946 the organization changed name to the
Right Wing Youth League (
Högerns ungdomsförbund, HUF) and in
1969 to their current name.
The Moderate Youth League is led by a national executive ("förbundsstyrelsen"), elected every second years at the national congress. The President is supported by two vice-chairmen. Normally, members of the national executive have served at district level first. The current chairman, for example, used to be chairman of the
Stockholm district. The national chairman also sits on the national board of the
Moderate Party.
Districts follow county borders. The largest one is
Stockholm, followed by
Skåne. They maintain a rivalry, sometimes staging competitions on who can recruit the most members. Other large districts include
Uppsala and
Östergötland.
Moderate School Youth, (
Moderat skolungdom, MSU) is a part of the organisation and includes all MUF members who still attend school. Some districts, like the one in
Östergötland, have abolished MSU while districts like Stockholm still feel the side organisation has some importance. At the annual conference, a national executive is elected. They are not decision-makers but more of an elite campaigning team which travel around Sweden. The national chairman has a place on the national executive of the Youth League.
The
Moderate Party has no nominally affiliated student organisation. The
Free Moderate Student League (
Fria moderata studentförbundet, FMSF) was dislodged from the party because of its
radical neoliberalism. Therefore many students join the Youth League instead. This results in the age of members spanning the whole age-spectrum from roughly 15 to 30. There is, however, widespread cross-membership between the youth and student leagues. In Uppsala, a traditional student town, the
radicalism of the Student League has also spread to the local MUF district due to almost all local leaders also being active in the Free Moderate Student League.
Naturally many current politicians of the
Moderate Party, started their careers in the Youth League. The most famous being the current leader of the party,
Fredrik Reinfeldt, who is a former chairman. The last chairman,
Christofer Fjellner, was elected to the
European Parliament before resigning from his Youth League position. The Moderate Youth League played a great part in this, lobbying for him inside the party and campaigning for him in the election. In 2002,
Tove Lifvendahl became the first Youth League chairman to be elected to the national board of the party directly after resigning from the Moderate Youth League. Many former leaders left politics but gained prominence in other spheres of society, most of all in
business.
The Moderate Youth League has around 9,500 members (
2004/
05).
The Moderate Youth League defines its ideology in four statements. Apart from these, the Youth League publishes no manifestos or political programmes of any sort. These are:
* For the freedom of the individual. Against political oppression and coercion.
* For every human's responsibility for his/her own future. Against
paternalism and the
nanny state (
förmynderi och politisk klåfingrighet).
* For
diversity and respect for differences. Against
intolerance and
conformism.
* For a
free market and a world without borders. Against walls and regulations.
Like its opponents in
SSU, the Moderate Youth League has suffered from divisions between different factions. The 1990s saw many battles between modernising
neoliberals and
conservatives. At the Congress in
Lycksele in
1992,
Fredrik Reinfeldt, the current leader of the
Moderate Party, was elected chairman, defeating the neoliberal
Ulf Kristersson. That congress have come to be known as
The Battle of Lycksele. In recent years, however, the division have largely disappeared. With the Moderates becoming more cosmopolitan, the traditionalist
Conservatives have all but disappeared.
Gay rights was a source of division, but now almost all of the Moderate Youth League supports equal rights of marriage and adoption for homosexuals. A
conservative fringe group, however, was recently formed.
Young Conservative Moderates (
Unga konservativa moderater) have so far been unable to make any impact on the ideological direction of the League. While being united on economics there is still a large divide on some social issues, especially on drugs since
MUF includes both libertarians who want to legalize some or almost all drugs and people who think drug-related crime should be a top-priority for the police and be severely punished.
The modern Moderate Youth League are staunch supporters of
capitalism,
deregulation and lower
taxes. They also adhere to
individualism, which extends to wide-reaching support for gay rights. MUF also tends to support the
United States, including the
2003 Iraq War.
Tove Lifvendahl proudly wore a "I Love Bush" shirt after
George W. Bush's
election in
2000, although she was quick to criticise him for the
steel tariffs he later imposed.
*
Torgil von Seth,
1934–
1941*
Folke Kyling,
1941–
1945*
Ebbe Olsson,
1945–
1949*
Gunnar Heckscher,
1949–
1952*
Bengt Lind,
1952–
1954*
Birger Isacson,
1954–
1957*
Sven Johansson,
1957–
1959*
Paul Brundin,
1959–
1961*
Gunnar Hillerdal,
1961–
1963*
Birger Hagård,
1963–
1965*
Eric Krönmark,
1965–
1966*
Anders Björck,
1966–
1971*
Per Unckel,
1971–
1976*
Per-Arne Arvidson,
1976–
1979*
Gunnar Hökmark,
1979–
1984*
Beatrice Ask,
1984–
1988*
Ulf Kristersson,
1988–
1992*
Fredrik Reinfeldt,
1992–
1995*
Thomas Idergaard,
1995–
1998*
Gunnar Strömmer,
1998–
2000*
Tove Lifvendahl,
2000–
2002*
Christofer Fjellner,
2002–
2004*
Johan Forssell,
2004–present
*
Moderata Ungdomsförbundet (in Swedish)
