Anton Nilson, Sweden's first modern terrorist
Anton Nilson (1887–1989) was a Swedish socialist and activist who became a central figure in the Swedish labor movement. His most famous – and controversial – act was his involvement in the bombing of the ship Amalthea in Malmö on 11–12 July 1908. This incident is often seen as Sweden's first terrorist attack and was a desperate protest against strikebreakers during an intense harbor conflict.
The strike in Malmö
In the summer of 1908, a major strike was underway among dock workers in Malmö and other Swedish ports. The workers demanded better working conditions, higher wages and shorter working hours. The employers responded by "importing" British strikebreakers from Great Britain to keep the port going. These strikebreakers lived temporarily on the British sailing ship Amalthea, which was anchored in Malmö harbor. The ship housed about 73 British workers, and their presence was seen as a profound provocation by the striking Swedish workers, who felt betrayed by international capital.
The political atmosphere in Sweden was charged.
Nilson, then 20 years old and unemployed, was a member of the radical youth socialist movement in Malmö. He had grown up in a poor farming family in Skåne and had been radicalized by early contact with socialist ideas. Together with two other young, unemployed comrades – Karl Axelsson and Edvard Persson – he planned an action to "stop" the strikebreakers.
The bomb explodes
On the night of July 11–12, the three men sneaked aboard the Amalthea. They placed a homemade bomb—a primitive charge made of dynamite and detonators—on the ship’s stern, near the sleeping berths of the sleeping British workers. They probably intended to cause symbolic damage to the ship to force the strikebreakers to leave, but they underestimated the danger to those on board. The bomb exploded shortly after midnight, with devastating consequences: One British strikebreaker, Walter Close from Hull, died from his injuries.
About 23 other British workers were injured, several seriously. The explosion tore open the hull and caused chaos on board.
Nilson and his accomplices fled the scene but were arrested shortly afterwards. They confessed to the act during interrogation and justified it as a political protest against strike-breaking activities. Nilson later described in his memoirs how they acted in a state of desperation and class struggle, without fully realizing the risks to innocent lives.
The three were convicted in a hasty trial of murder and aggravated assault. Nilson received the death penalty – the first such sentence in Sweden in eight years – while the others received life imprisonment. The sentence sparked enormous protests both in Sweden and internationally. The labor movement, including the Social Democrats, mobilized massive campaigns for clemency. On May 1, 1917, as many as 10,000 workers marched to the prison in Härnösand in an unsuccessful liberation attempt, where the military and machine guns were deployed to protect the prison. After extensive public pressure, Nilson and the others were pardoned in October 1917. The death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, but they were soon released completely in connection with the so-called "Potato Revolution" and the formation of the first Social Democratic-Liberal government. Nilson became an icon in the labor movement: he trained as a pilot, traveled to the Soviet Union to support the Red Army (where he was given a leather jacket by Lenin, although they never met in person), and later wrote memoirs. He lived to the age of 101 and was celebrated as a hero by the LO, despite the initial condemnation of the attack.
The assassination attempt on Amalthea shocked Sweden and led to a broad debate about the role of violence in the class struggle. Initially, it was unanimously condemned, even within the labor movement, as unnecessary and counterproductive. Today, the event is seen as an example of how social conflicts can escalate into violence, and it has been documented in books, films (such as The Filmen om Anton Nilson from 1980) and exhibitions. Nilsson's involvement was thus not just an isolated act, but part of a broader struggle for workers' rights – one that ended in tragedy but also shaped the Swedish trade union movement.
(Lars Gyllenhaal (historian) has called Anton Nilson "The First Terrorist".)