Lars Johan Hierta

Lars Johan Hierta (born Jan. 23, 1801, Uppsala, Swed.—died Nov. 20, 1872, Stockholm) was a journalist and politician who became a leading agitator for Swedish political and social reform.

Hierta’s work as a clerk for the noble estate of the Riksdag (estates assembly) in the 1820s acquainted him with the operation of the increasingly conservative Swedish regime and made him its critic. He established the Aftonbladet (“Evening Press”) in 1830, remaining its owner-editor until 1851. Under him the newspaper gained a large and loyal following for its wide-ranging liberal opposition to the regime (causing conservatives to refer to Hierta as “King Lars”). In the 1830s he countered numerous attempts of the government to suppress the paper by reissuing it under such slightly different names as Second Aftonbladet, Fourth Aftonbladet, etc., until censorship was ended in 1844.

The main issues Hierta fought for were extension of the franchise, a modern parliament, mass public education, and free choice of occupation. He was elected to the third (middle-class) chamber of the Riksdag in 1859, and, as a leader in that body, he continued to press for reform, which culminated in the establishment of a modern two-chamber parliament (still called the Riksdag) in 1865. From 1866 to 1872 he served as president (ålderspresident) of the lower chamber.