Göran Persson was born on 20 January 1949 in Vingåker ( Södermanland County) in the family of a builder and grew with 4 siblings. As there was the lack of money in the family, resourceful 10-year-old Göran collected empty bottles in the local park and handed them to bottle redemption centre and got extra money.
Already in his youth he was active in the School Youth Union, preferring political debates to sports games and entertainment. The belief that politics plays an important role in the development and modification of society made him a member of the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League at the age of 15 and made him involved in public activities at the local level. In 1969 Persson finished technical gymnasium, and two years later he graduated from Örebro University and got diploma in engineering. However he hasn’t almost worked by profession.
He has in recent years revealed that he wanted to become a priest as a young man; however, he applied to the college in Örebro where he took courses in social science (mainly sociology). He completed 80 college credits (120 ECTS credits) in the subject before he left the college in 1971 without graduating. According to himself he had at the time almost completed an education in social and political sciences. As the college later received credentials as a full university, the renamed Örebro University gave him an honorary PhD in medicine in February 2005, an award that provoked some controversy.
Chairman Katrineholm Education Authority 1977-1979. Minister with special responsibility for schools and education, Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs since 1989. Vice-chairman Board Oppunda Savings Bank 1976-1989, Nordic Museum 1983-1989.
Chairman Sodermanland Co-operative Society 1976-1989. Chairman Sodermanland Company Board of Education 1982-1989. Accountant, Swedish Co-operative Wholesale Society 89.
Göran Persson was the 31st Prime Minister of Sweden. Persson was in office for more than ten years, making him the second-longest continuously-governing prime minister of Sweden second to Tage Erlander. He is known for his oratorical prowess, often dispensing with prepared speeches or preparing them without the aid of his staff During his time, he has faced several shocking incidents, such as the Gothenburg riots in 2001, the 2003 murder of the minister of foreign affairs, Anna Lindh, the tsunami disaster in 2004, and the conflict over the publication of satirical Muhammed cartoons in Danish newspapers, leading to threats of violence against Scandinavians and burning of embassies in the Middle East and the resignation of Swedish Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds.
"Den som är satt i skuld är icke fri" (1997)
"Tankar och tal" (2001)
"Kunskap och kärlek" (2002)
"Vägskäl" (2003)
The Social Democratic Party's position has a theoretical base within Marxist revisionism. Its party program interchangeably calls their ideology democratic socialism, or social democracy. The party supports social welfare provision paid for from progressive taxation. The party supports a social corporatist economy involving the institutionalization of a social partnership system between capital and labor economic interest groups, with government oversight to resolve disputes between the two factions. In recent times they have become strong supporters of feminism, equality of all kinds, and maintain a strong opposition to what they perceive as discrimination and racism.
Quotations: "Those who are in debt are not free" Hans Göran Persson
Pari. 1979-1984.
European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation
1976 - 1989
Swedish Cooperative Union and Wholesale Society (national auditor 1988-89).
1988 - 1989
Swedish Association of Christian Social Democrats
Married Gunnel Persson.
