Sven Aspling
Minister of Health and Social Affairs
In office
1962–1976
Prime Minister
Preceded byTorsten Nilsson
Succeeded byRune Gustavsson
Personal details
Born1912
Filipstad, Sweden
DiedFebruary 2000 (aged 87–88)
Sundbyberg, Sweden
Political partySocial Democratic Party
AwardsIllis quorum
1987

Sven Aspling (1912 – February 2000) was a Swedish social democrat politician who served as the general secretary of the Social Democratic Party and minister of health and social affairs. He was also a long-term member of the Swedish Parliament for the party.

Biography

left to right: Sven Andersson, Torsten Nilsson, Tage Erlander and Sven Aspling in 1960

Aspling was born in Filipstad, Värmland, in 1912.[1] He worked as a sawmill worker.[1] During the period 1937–1942, he was the local editor of Värmland Folkblad in Filipstad.[1]

In 1942 Aspling came to Falun as the ombudsman of the Social Democratic Party.[1] In this capacity he played a significant role in the transfer of Nordic refugees during World War II.[2] He served as the organizational secretary in the party board between 1946 and 1948.[1] He was the secretary of the party from 1948 to 1962.[1] During his term as the party secretary he launched a magazine in 1953, Aktuellt i Politiken, which is still in circulation.[3] When he was in office he was also appointed a board member to the advertising group, namely Förenade ARE-Bolagen, which was partly owned by the party.[4]

Aspling was a member of the Swedish Parliament for almost three decades, 1956–1985.[1] In 1962 he succeeded Torsten Nilsson as the minister of social affairs, a position he held until 1976.[1][5] Aspling served in the post in the cabinets led by both Tage Erlander and Olof Palme. One of the significant bills during Aspling's tenure was the retirement bill that became effective in July 1976. It changed the retirement age from 67 to 65.[6]

He was awarded the Illis quorum in 1987.[7]

Personal life and death

As of 2011 one of his children, Björn, was a public accountant in Falun.[5] Another, Anders, was the dean of the Swedish Institute of Management in 2010.[2]

Sven Aspling was one of the last persons who called and talked to Prime Minister Olof Palme on the evening of 28 February 1986 shortly before he was assassinated in Stockholm.[5][8][9] Aspling was the author of several books, including Med Erlander och Palme (1999).[10] He died at his home in Sundbyberg in February 2000.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Förre socialministern Sven Aspling död". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Karlstadt. 9 February 2000. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
  2. ^ a b Alistair Craven (February 2010). "Globally responsible leadership: an interview with Anders Aspling". Emerald Group Publishing. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
  3. ^ "Om Aktuellt i Politiken". Aktuellt i Politiken (in Swedish). Retrieved 9 October 2021.
  4. ^ Erik Lakooma (June 2020). "Advertising for the People: The History of the Social Democratic Party of Sweden's Own Advertising Company—Folkreklam and Förenade ARE-Bolagen, 1947–1997". Enterprise & Society. 21 (2): 539. doi:10.1017/eso.2019.39. S2CID 213920890.
  5. ^ a b c Ragna Fahlander (27 April 2011). "Olof var en fin familjefar". dt.se (in Swedish).
  6. ^ "Swedes debate Bill for retirement at 65". The Times. No. 59124. Stockholm. 27 June 1974. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
  7. ^ "Regeringens belöningsmedaljer och regeringens utmärkelse: Professors namn". Regeringskansliet (in Swedish). January 2006. Archived from the original on 2 November 2021. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  8. ^ Jan Bondeson (2005). Blood on the Snow. The Killing of Olof Palme. Ithaca, NY; London: Cornell University Press. p. 6. doi:10.7591/9780801470127. ISBN 9780801470127.
  9. ^ Ralf Lillbacka (2011). "Was Olof Palme Killed by an Intelligence Agency?". International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence. 24 (1): 130. doi:10.1080/08850607.2010.501705. S2CID 153349904.
  10. ^ Sven Aspling (1999). Med Erlander och Palme (in Swedish). Stockholm: Hjalmarson & Högberg. ISBN 978-91-89080-33-1.

External links

Swedish Social Democratic Party
Authority control databases
Categories