Axel Lille

Axel Johan Lille (28 March 1848 – 28 June 1921) was a Finland-Swedish journalist, lawyer and politician. He was a founder of the Swedish People's Party (Svenska folkpartiet, SFP) and its first chairman from 1906 to 1917. As editor-in-chief of Nya Pressen from 1883 to 1900 and again from 1906 to 1917, he made the newspaper a leading voice for the Finland-Swedish minority and one of the foremost constitutionalist organs during the Russification period under Russian imperial rule. After Nya Pressen was shut down by the censors in 1900, Lille lived in exile in Sweden from 1902 to 1905. He served as a member of the Diet of Finland for the Burgher Estate in every Diet between 1885 and 1900, and was elected to the Parliament of Finland in 1916. Under his chairmanship, the SFP in the spring of 1917 became the first Finnish political party to publicly call for Finland's independence.

Biography

Early life and studies Lille's parents were and Ida Gustava Waenerberg. He graduated from the Helsingfors privatlyceum in 1866, and in the same year he joined the illegal Nyländska nationen, which was legalized two years later as the Nyländska avdelningen. He contributed to the branch's newspaper, Nylands Dragon, and also published the humor magazine Myggan. In 1879, Lille succeeded Professor A. O. Freudenthal as curator of Nyländska avdelningen, a position he held until 1888. He belonged to the circle of Finland-Swedish students who gathered around Freudenthal, an association that would shape his political outlook throughout his career.

He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1872, a Master of Arts degree in 1873, and a Candidate of Laws degree in 1879, majoring in economic law. He was then enrolled as a junior clerk at the Turku Court of Appeal. He received his doctorate in 1882 after defending his thesis Försäkringsväsendet, dess historiska utveckling och nationalekonomiska betydelse. In 1917, he was elected secretary of the Städernas i Finland brandstodsbolag, and in 1918 he served for a short time as managing director of the Fennia Insurance Company.