Adrian Molin

Adrian Leopold Molin (5 March 1880 - 10 August 1942) was a Swedish far-right writer and political activist.

Early ideas

Born in Varberg, Molin attended the University of Gothenburg and received his doctorate from the institution in 1906.[1] He then joined the right-wing Göteborgs Aftonblad, then the Svenska Dagbladet before setting up his own paper in 1907, the Det nya Sverige, which continued until 1926.[1] The young Molin was a disciple of Rudolf Kjellén and a leading figure in the so-called 'Young Right' movement.[2] Ideologically he was highly conservative socially but also anti-capitalist.[3] Molin flirted with corporatism by supporting an occupational franchise as well as some state intervention designed to bring the working class into a national consensus. He combined these ideas with a hatred of both socialism and the Russian Empire.[4]

Fascism and Nazism

His main political involvement was a founder and leading figure in the National Society Against Emigration, set up in 1907 to oppose the drain of Sweden's population to, mainly, the USA.[5] In this capacity he advocated widespread home ownership and the settlement of northern Sweden to stem the flow of migrants from the country.[6] He also supported the building of traditional rural dwellings based on the use of indigenous architecture as part of his fascination with traditional ruralism.[7] Heavily influenced by the philosopher Vitalis Norström, he became highly pro-Germany and showed characteristics of an early form of fascism.[1]

During the 1920s and 1930s his ruralism began to develop along lines reminiscent of the blood and soil rhetoric of the Nazi Party.[8] Soon Molin became a supporter of Nazism and hoped to apply its principles to Sweden, although he dismissed the indigenous Nazi leader Birger Furugård as a 'parody' of the ideology.[8] His own political activity was restricted to the National Youth League of Sweden, where he became a leading voice on the far right, Nazi wing.[8]

Near the end of his life Molin's enthusiasm for Adolf Hitler cooled as he became disillusioned with some of the excesses of Nazi Germany.[8] However he retained his admiration for their anti-Semitism, hierarchical society and especially the ruralism endorsed by the likes of Richard Walther Darré.[8] It was these themes, as well as his desire for a union of Sweden and Norway as a defensive move against the Soviet Union, that dominated his writings until his death in Lidingö.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Franklin Daniel Scott, Trans-Atlantica, 1979, p. 317
  2. ↑ Michael Bravo & Sverker Sörlin, Narrating the Arctic, 2002, p. 90
  3. ↑ Bravo & Sörlin, Narrating the Arctic, p. 91
  4. ↑ Philip Rees, Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890, 1990, p. 266
  5. ↑ George Malcolm Stephenson, The Religious Aspects of Swedish Immigration, 1969, p. 443
  6. ↑ Franklin Daniel Scott, Scandinavia, 1975, p. 288
  7. ↑ Hildor Arnold Barton, Sweden and visions of Norway, 2002, p. 143
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rees, Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right, p. 267
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