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Bommersvik
Bommersvik is a Union college (Swedish: Förbundskola from Förbund meaning union or association and skola meaning school or college) built by the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League (SSU) and is situated outside the municipality of Södertälje in Sweden. Parts of the college grounds encompass a conference centre and recreational facilities that are extensively used by social democratic organizations both in Sweden and abroad. An art gallery can also be found on the grounds.
The college was formed for the SSU and the Swedish Social Democratic Party to educate and train the next generation of trade union and political leaders by establishing an institution of higher learning to instruct young social democrats on political matters such as trade union agreements and laws. Today it offers many courses each year on political science. The curriculum is different from a regular political science academy in that the content of the courses is primarily focused on issues concerning the politics of the labour movement.
The backgrounds of the professors teaching at the college vary and, depending on the course, lecturers can be recruited from the party and from the unions and labour movement. Prime ministers or cabinet ministers sometimes lecture on subjects of political interest. The Swedish Prime Minister Per Albin Hansson lectured at Bommersvik as early as the summer of 1940.
Foreign lecturers also visit the college, starting with Willy Brandt who lectured on 1 December 1940 about the problems experienced by the social democrats in Nazi Germany and the occupied countries at the start of World War II.
In 2010, the college began cooperating with Uppsala University so that students from the university can now attend rhetoric classes at Bommersvik.
In 1934, ideas about creating a college for the Youth League began to form after Ivan Ohlson, one of the great leaders of the Swedish Labor movement, became inspired following a study trip to the Netherlands and Belgium and in 1936 work commenced to find an appropriate building. This was familiar territory for the SSU since the association already had gone through a similar process with another school, the Brunnsviks adult education college in Ludvika. Ivan Ohlson went on a late summer day to Bommersvik, with its beautiful natural surroundings, was sufficiently impressed with the place and recommended it as the future location for the school. His recommendation was officially adopted and in 1937 the decision was formalised. Ivan Ohlson is considered to be the founder of Bommersvik and one of the school's halls is named in his honour.
It was decided, after a search, that the school would be built on the grounds of a local farm. This property was owned by Colonel Lundeberg.
Only through a fundraising drive among the members and other organisations within the Labor Movement, including the social democratic women's association, the party and trade unions etc. could the Socialist Party and the SSU find sufficient funds to buy Colonel Lundeberg's farm. The colonel, however, thought that selling the farm directly to the SSU was a sensitive matter, (since he was a military man with no association with the socialists), so, officially, Ivan Ohlson bought the farm instead, for 127,000 sek and a down payment of 20 000 which was a lot of money at that time. Colonel Lundeberg also extracted a promise from the SSU that the Swedish flag would always be raised higher than the SSU banner. This promise has been kept by the SSU ever since.
Bommersvik
Bommersvik is a Union college (Swedish: Förbundskola from Förbund meaning union or association and skola meaning school or college) built by the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League (SSU) and is situated outside the municipality of Södertälje in Sweden. Parts of the college grounds encompass a conference centre and recreational facilities that are extensively used by social democratic organizations both in Sweden and abroad. An art gallery can also be found on the grounds.
The college was formed for the SSU and the Swedish Social Democratic Party to educate and train the next generation of trade union and political leaders by establishing an institution of higher learning to instruct young social democrats on political matters such as trade union agreements and laws. Today it offers many courses each year on political science. The curriculum is different from a regular political science academy in that the content of the courses is primarily focused on issues concerning the politics of the labour movement.
The backgrounds of the professors teaching at the college vary and, depending on the course, lecturers can be recruited from the party and from the unions and labour movement. Prime ministers or cabinet ministers sometimes lecture on subjects of political interest. The Swedish Prime Minister Per Albin Hansson lectured at Bommersvik as early as the summer of 1940.
Foreign lecturers also visit the college, starting with Willy Brandt who lectured on 1 December 1940 about the problems experienced by the social democrats in Nazi Germany and the occupied countries at the start of World War II.
In 2010, the college began cooperating with Uppsala University so that students from the university can now attend rhetoric classes at Bommersvik.
In 1934, ideas about creating a college for the Youth League began to form after Ivan Ohlson, one of the great leaders of the Swedish Labor movement, became inspired following a study trip to the Netherlands and Belgium and in 1936 work commenced to find an appropriate building. This was familiar territory for the SSU since the association already had gone through a similar process with another school, the Brunnsviks adult education college in Ludvika. Ivan Ohlson went on a late summer day to Bommersvik, with its beautiful natural surroundings, was sufficiently impressed with the place and recommended it as the future location for the school. His recommendation was officially adopted and in 1937 the decision was formalised. Ivan Ohlson is considered to be the founder of Bommersvik and one of the school's halls is named in his honour.
It was decided, after a search, that the school would be built on the grounds of a local farm. This property was owned by Colonel Lundeberg.
Only through a fundraising drive among the members and other organisations within the Labor Movement, including the social democratic women's association, the party and trade unions etc. could the Socialist Party and the SSU find sufficient funds to buy Colonel Lundeberg's farm. The colonel, however, thought that selling the farm directly to the SSU was a sensitive matter, (since he was a military man with no association with the socialists), so, officially, Ivan Ohlson bought the farm instead, for 127,000 sek and a down payment of 20 000 which was a lot of money at that time. Colonel Lundeberg also extracted a promise from the SSU that the Swedish flag would always be raised higher than the SSU banner. This promise has been kept by the SSU ever since.