Author Archives: Alfred Kämpe

Johan Alfred Teodor Kämpe was a Swedish writer and newspaperman. Kämpe came from humble beginnings. His parents were tenant farmers on the Fyllingarum estate. He began working at the estate early, as a herdsman and a day labourer. He then came into close contact with labour conflicts and was influenced in the 1890s by the temperance movement and the labour movement, which then came to the Ostgötland countryside.

In the 1910s, Kämpe devoted much time to historical studies. The result was The Struggles for Freedom of the Swedish Ommogens, from Earliest Times to the Present, published in three volumes in 1918-20. In this work, Kämpe attempts to describe history primarily from the perspective of the poor rural population. For the first time, for example, the history of the Swedish peasant uprisings is depicted.

Vilhelm Moberg used Kämpe's information about the common weapon, the morning star, when he wrote his novel Rid i natt! (1941). Especially in the two later parts, on the history of the 18th and 19th centuries, Kämpe's contribution was pioneering. Allmogens's history had previously been very incompletely researched.