a lecturer, now for the Communist party, using her ability and popularity to activate the mass movements during Sweden's final transition to democracy after the end of the war in 1917–1918. Dalström was a supporter of the Bolsheviks and the Russian Revolution, supporting the hope of an international social revolution and joining the Communist International. She was the Swedish delegate to the second Comintern congress of 1920, where she was celebrated as one of the veterans of the international working-class movement. However, she detested the anti-democratic development of the communist regime in Russia and regarded it as a betrayal of the true ideal of socialism, and in 1922, she sided with Zeth Höglund in his reconciliation with the Social Democrats. One reason why she abandoned communism at the end of her life, as well as one of the controversies Dalström was responsible for within the Swedish Communist group, was her view on religion. She wanted to see a more open approach towards Christianity, which according to her was entirely compatible with Socialism. This view was criticized, especially by the outspoken atheist Ture Nerman. Nerman was supported by Zinoviev, the leader of Communist International, who, although a supporter of religious freedom, declared that a communist politician had to be atheist to understand Marxism. Dalström found an interest in theosophy later in life. She was a Tolstoyan and a Christian Communist who opposed the atheism of the communist party: she regarded Jesus Christ as social rebel and his true Christianity to have been corrupted by churches and priests, and when her opponents asked her: "Can a communist be a Christian?", she replied: "Can a Capitalist be a Christian?" Already in 1907, she had held a famous debate with the priest on Christianity and Socialism, and the same year, she copied Martin Luther by nailing her opinions upon the church door in Åmål. Her "original Christianity" had much in common with Buddhism, and at her death, she declared herself to be a Buddhist. Literary career She also wrote books, mostly political texts, but also books about Norse mythology and Viking legends. In culture Dalström appears as a character in Dag Skogheim's novel Sulis (1980). References Further reading External links Illustrations for Nordiska Gudasagor berättelse för Ungdomen, published in serial form in Ungdomsvännen: Vols. 12-13, 1907-08. 1858 births 1923 deaths Buddhist feminists People from Västervik Municipality Swedish Buddhists Converts to Buddhism Swedish Social Democratic