Anton Nilson - Amalthea Bombing

Amalthea Bombing

In the summer of 1908 the workers in the docks of Malmö went on strike for better conditions. The police and military were called in to keep order, and the employers took in British strikebreakers to do the job. This was considered highly provocative by the striking Swedish workers.

The British strikebreakers were temporarily living on a ship called Amalthea. On the night between July 11 and 12, three young unemployed workers, including Anton Nilson, put a bomb outside Amalthea. The bomb exploded, killing one and wounding 23 of the British strikebreakers.

Anton Nilson was sentenced to death. His two accomplices Algot Rosberg and Alfred Stern were sentenced to penal labor for life.

Before his execution, Anton Nilson was pardoned and, like the others, given forced labor for life.

The first reactions in Sweden to the bomb attack on the Amalthea were those of horror and disgust followed by condemnation, including from the workers movement. However, after a while public opinion sided with Anton Nilson, Algot Rosberg and Alfred Stern, and a massive campaign was launched to have them freed. Thousands of international meetings were held in their support, including some 600 meetings amongst workers in the United States, organized by the Industrial Workers of the World and with Joe Hill as a leading participant.

A petition containing some 130,000 names was handed to the government and Supreme Court of Sweden, asking for the release of the three young men.

An attempt to free Anton Nilson by force from the prison in Härnösand took place on May Day 1917, when 10,000 workers marched to the jailhouse. Guards with machine guns were stationed on the walls and the military was called in. The prison guards were ordered to shoot Anton Nilson if necessary rather than letting him escape. Eventually the masses demonstrating outside the prison gave up and walked away.

Finally, in October 1917, Anton Nilson and the two others were pardoned. It was the first decision made by Nils Edén's appointed coalition government of Liberals and Social Democrats, which under the following two years would institute democracy and women's suffrage in Sweden.