Karl Kilbom
Swedish politician (1885-1961)
Karl Kilbom (8 May 1885 – 24 December 1961) was a Swedish politician and one of the founders of the Communist Party of Sweden.
Youth
The son of a blacksmith, Karl Kilbom grew up in a working class family of Walloon origin in the small town of Österbybruk outside Uppsala, where he started working in the steel mills at an early age.
In 1900, a socialist agitator visited Österbybruk to talk to the workers of the mills. Karl Kilbom, only 15 years old, was one of the 7 people who stayed after the meeting to participate in the formation of a socialist club in Österbybruk with the goal of establishing a union. However, company spies had been present at the meeting and soon Kilbom was told he would not only lose his job, but also that his family, who lived in a house owned by the company, would be evicted, if he didn't quit political activism. This time, Kilbom gave in to the threats.
Becoming a Socialist
In 1903, Kilbom moved to Sandviken where he joined a socialist club. However, soon after he found a job on a ship named Thetis, embarking from Gävle shipping lumber from Sweden to England and other places. The conditions for the workers on the boat were wretched and the pay was low, but Kilbom saw this as a great opportunity to explore the world, although, according to his autobiography, he had severe problems with seasickness.
In 1905, Kilbom disembarked the Thetis in Gävle.
The public source identifies “Karl Kilbom” as swedish politician (1885-1961). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Karl, Kilbom and Swedish.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1347810. VIAF identifies the subject as 66439126. The Library of Congress control number is no2021145690. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1885, 1961, 1900 and 1903.
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This entry incorporates text from “Karl Kilbom” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.