The Moderate Youth League was formed in 1934 as the Young Swedes (Swedish: Ungsvenskarna) as a consequence of the split between the Moderate Party (then the General Electoral Union) and its youth organization, the National Youth League of Sweden (Swedish: Sveriges nationella ungdomsförbund) which had turned into an openly pro-Nazi organization. In 1946 the organization changed its name to the Youth Association of the Right (Swedish: Högerns ungdomsförbund). The current name was adopted in 1969.
Organization
The Moderate Youth League is led by a national executive committee, elected every two 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.
The Moderate School Youth (Moderat skolungdom, MSU) is a part of the organisation and includes all MUF members between 12 and 20 years of age.
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 current chairman, since 2023, is Alice Landerholm.[6]
In 2008, the Moderate Students was founded as a student network within the Moderate Youth League and it has since then grown to become one of the largest student political organization in Sweden. It is the official student organization of the Moderate Youth League, the youth wing of the Swedish Moderate Party. It is not to be confused with the Free Moderate Students, founded in the 1940s and still active as an independent student wing of the Moderate Party.
Organization
Moderate Students is a national organization consisting of student associations on various universities and campuses in Sweden. Individual membership is sorted by district. Moderate Students originally existed as a party in the student union at Lund University, before the union was dissolved in 1998. Today, the Moderate Students exist as parties at other universities, such as Uppsala University and Umeå University.
Politics
Moderate Students focuses primarily on students' economical situations. They have advocated for an extended "work-tax reduction" for young people (Swedish: jobbskatteavdrag) and for removing taxes on work and studies in general. They specifically want to repeal the tax on students who take out a student loan and work in addition to their studies. They have also become involved in discussions about the availability of student housing.
Naturally many current politicians of the Moderate Party started their careers in the youth league. Two former chairpersons of the youth league have become leaders of the party and Prime Ministers of Sweden: Fredrik Reinfeldt was leader of the party 2003–2015 and Prime Minister 2006–2014 and Ulf Kristersson is the current leader of the party (since 2017) and Prime Minister (since 2022).
In 2002, Tove Lifvendahl became the first youth league chairperson 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, mostly in business.
Ideology
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 a free market and a world without borders. Against walls and regulations.
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. The League supports free trade, free immigration[7] and wants to abolish foreign aid.[8]
Like its opponents in the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League, 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 former leader between 25 October 2003 – 10 January 2015 of Moderate Party, was elected chairman, defeating the neoliberal Ulf Kristersson. In recent years, however, the division have largely disappeared. With the Moderates becoming more cosmopolitan, the traditionalist Conservatives have all but disappeared. Gay rights were 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 formed – Young Conservative Moderates (Unga konservativa moderater) – but did not gain widespread membership.
In foreign policy, MUF tends to support the United States, including the 2003 Iraq War and Swedish NATO membership. Chairperson Tove Lifvendahl proudly wore an "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. It is also strongly supportive of Israel.[9][10] Though generally supportive of the European Union, the Youth League does not support Sweden adopting the euro.[11]
^"Moderata Ungdomsförbundets strävan är att vinna unga människor för den samhällsåskådning som Moderata Samlingspartiet företräder, vilken är en syntes av liberala och konservativa idéer." §1 in the bylaws
^"Israel tar nu sitt ansvar och angriper terroristerna som bedrar, hjärntvättar och förstör livet för ett helt folk. Ingen demokrati kan acceptera att leva granne med en terrororganisation som högst upp på sin dagordning har att utrota." Niklas Wykman's blog 20 June 2007
