Eugène Olaussen
Encyclopedia
Ansgar Eugène Olaussen was a Norwegian
newspaper editor, educated as a typographer, and politician. As a politician he started in Norges Socialdemokratiske Ungdomsforbund, and notably edited Klassekampen
from 1911 to 1921. For the Labour Party
he was county leader, central board member and MP for slightly more than a year, until he joined the Communist Party
in 1923. After finishing his MP term there, and continuing his agitation for four years, he shifted to the far right
and associated himself with Nazism during the Second World War
.
as a son of Hannibal Olaussen (1848–1916) and Bella Sophie Johansen (1852–1918), and later lived in Hokksund
. He started his working career at the age of 13, and after some years as a laborer he learned the typographer's trade. His apprenticeship was spent in newspapers like Moss Avis
and Jarlsberg
. In 1907 he became editor-in-chief of Ung-Socialisten, and was a central board member of the Norges Socialdemokratiske Ungdomsforbund. From 1911 to 1921 he edited the publication of NSU, Klassekampen
. He recruited Nikolay Bukharin and Karl Radek
to write in the newspaper, and gained a personal acquaintance with Vladimir Lenin
.
In the summer of 1913 he applied unsuccessfully for the editor chair in Demokraten
. Later that summer he was hired as editor-in-chief of Haugesunds Folkeblad, but he continued in Klassekampen when asked by the central board of Norges Socialdemokratiske Ungdomsforbund to do so.
In 1918 he was a part of the left wing that assumed power in the Norwegian Labour Party
. He became a member of the party's central board. In 1921 NSU changed name to the Young Communist League of Norway
, as the social democrats
broke out of the Labour Party. In 1923 the communists broke out of the Labour Party to form the Communist Party
, and the Young Communist League followed. He remained central board member here until 1924. His central board membership in the Labour Party was ended in 1923 as he joined the Communist Party, so did his time as county leader in the Labour Party since 1920. His party change came in mid-term since being elected to the Parliament of Norway in 1921
.
Also in 1923 he wrote the propagandistic history book Den røde ungdom i kamp og seier. Norges kommunistiske ungdomsforbund gjennem 20 aar together with Arvid G. Hansen
and Aksel Zachariassen
. From 1924 to 1925 he edited the communist magazine Proletaren
. He was fired for opposing a semi-union with the Labour Party (some two months after the editor of Arbeidet
was fired for supporting such a union). He was also imprisoned for 120 days for antimilitaristic agitation. He also translated French poetry and published I det grønne bur and the novel Det røde slips in 1926.
to favoring a violent revolution
, when he in 1927 shifted from the extreme left to the far right
. He left the Communist Party in 1927, but unlike many others who then joined the Labour Party, he joined the far-right Fedrelandslaget
in 1928 and later the Conservative Party. From 1927 he wrote for the newspaper Tidens Tegn
. During the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany
he was refused membership in the Fascist party Nasjonal Samling. Nonetheless, he wrote extensively for the Nazi publications of the party.
, was sentenced for Nazi collaboration to two and a half year in prison. He died in January 1962.
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
newspaper editor, educated as a typographer, and politician. As a politician he started in Norges Socialdemokratiske Ungdomsforbund, and notably edited Klassekampen
Klassekampen (1909–1940)
Klassekampen was a Norwegian newspaper. It was established in 1909 as an organ for the youth movement of the Norwegian Labour Party, Norges socialdemokratiske ungdomsforbund. Its editor-in-chief from 1911 to 1921 was Eugène Olaussen.At the Labour-Communist party split in 1923, the newspaper was...
from 1911 to 1921. For the Labour Party
Norwegian Labour Party
The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in Norway. It is the senior partner in the current Norwegian government as part of the Red-Green Coalition, and its leader, Jens Stoltenberg, is the current Prime Minister of Norway....
he was county leader, central board member and MP for slightly more than a year, until he joined the Communist Party
Communist Party of Norway
The Communist Party of Norway is a political party in Norway without parliamentary representation. It was formed in 1923, following a split in the Norwegian Labour Party. The party played an important role in the resistance to German occupation during the Second World War, and experienced a brief...
in 1923. After finishing his MP term there, and continuing his agitation for four years, he shifted to the far right
Far right
Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...
and associated himself with Nazism during the Second World War
Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany
The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany started with the German invasion of Norway on April 9, 1940, and ended on May 8, 1945, after the capitulation of German forces in Europe. Throughout this period, Norway was continuously occupied by the Wehrmacht...
.
Career in the labour movement
He was born in TønsbergTønsberg
is a city and municipality in Vestfold county, southern Norway, located around north-east of Sandefjord. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tønsberg....
as a son of Hannibal Olaussen (1848–1916) and Bella Sophie Johansen (1852–1918), and later lived in Hokksund
Hokksund
Hokksund is a town in the municipality of Øvre Eiker in the county of Buskerud in Norway.-History:Hokksund is the administrative centre, and largest town in Øvre Eiker, with a population of around 8,000. The river Drammenselva flows through the town, 500m from the centre. Hokksund has developed on...
. He started his working career at the age of 13, and after some years as a laborer he learned the typographer's trade. His apprenticeship was spent in newspapers like Moss Avis
Moss Avis
Moss Avis is a local newspaper in Moss, Norway. Having a rivalry with Moss Dagblad, it is published six days a week. The chief editor is Pål Enghaug....
and Jarlsberg
Jarlsberg Avis
Jarlsberg Avis is a local newspaper published in Holmestrand, Norway. It was established in 1843.It has a circulation of 3647, of whom 3499 are subscribers.Jarlsberg Avis is owned by Østlands-Posten, which in turn is owned 100% by A-pressen....
. In 1907 he became editor-in-chief of Ung-Socialisten, and was a central board member of the Norges Socialdemokratiske Ungdomsforbund. From 1911 to 1921 he edited the publication of NSU, Klassekampen
Klassekampen (1909–1940)
Klassekampen was a Norwegian newspaper. It was established in 1909 as an organ for the youth movement of the Norwegian Labour Party, Norges socialdemokratiske ungdomsforbund. Its editor-in-chief from 1911 to 1921 was Eugène Olaussen.At the Labour-Communist party split in 1923, the newspaper was...
. He recruited Nikolay Bukharin and Karl Radek
Karl Radek
Karl Bernhardovic Radek was a socialist active in the Polish and German movements before World War I and an international Communist leader after the Russian Revolution....
to write in the newspaper, and gained a personal acquaintance with Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
.
In the summer of 1913 he applied unsuccessfully for the editor chair in Demokraten
Arbeideren (Hamar)
Arbeideren was a Norwegian newspaper, published in Hamar, Hedmark county. It was started in 1909 as the press organ of the Labour Party in Hedemarken and its adjoining regions, and was called Demokraten until 1923...
. Later that summer he was hired as editor-in-chief of Haugesunds Folkeblad, but he continued in Klassekampen when asked by the central board of Norges Socialdemokratiske Ungdomsforbund to do so.
In 1918 he was a part of the left wing that assumed power in the Norwegian Labour Party
Norwegian Labour Party
The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in Norway. It is the senior partner in the current Norwegian government as part of the Red-Green Coalition, and its leader, Jens Stoltenberg, is the current Prime Minister of Norway....
. He became a member of the party's central board. In 1921 NSU changed name to the Young Communist League of Norway
Young Communist League of Norway
Young Communist League of Norway was until April 2006 the youth league of Norges Kommunistiske Parti . April 1st 2006 NKP declared that NKU was no longer its youth organization, and that all youths interested in joining the movement should contact the party directly...
, as the social democrats
Social Democratic Labour Party of Norway
The Social Democratic Labour Party of Norway was a Norwegian political party in the 1920s. Following the Labour Party's entry into the Comintern in 1919, its right wing left the party to form the Social Democratic Labour Party in 1921...
broke out of the Labour Party. In 1923 the communists broke out of the Labour Party to form the Communist Party
Communist Party of Norway
The Communist Party of Norway is a political party in Norway without parliamentary representation. It was formed in 1923, following a split in the Norwegian Labour Party. The party played an important role in the resistance to German occupation during the Second World War, and experienced a brief...
, and the Young Communist League followed. He remained central board member here until 1924. His central board membership in the Labour Party was ended in 1923 as he joined the Communist Party, so did his time as county leader in the Labour Party since 1920. His party change came in mid-term since being elected to the Parliament of Norway in 1921
Norwegian parliamentary election, 1921
-Results:-References:*...
.
Also in 1923 he wrote the propagandistic history book Den røde ungdom i kamp og seier. Norges kommunistiske ungdomsforbund gjennem 20 aar together with Arvid G. Hansen
Arvid G. Hansen
Arvid Gilbert Hansen was a Norwegian newspaper editor and politician for the Labour and Communist parties.-Early life and Labour Party career:...
and Aksel Zachariassen
Aksel Zachariassen
Aksel "Azach" Zachariassen was a Norwegian politician, newspaper editor, secretary and writer.He was born in Porsgrunn as a son of ship captain Aksel Zachariassen from Luleå and Karen Nilsen from Ulefoss. He began his journalistic career in Bratsberg-Demokraten...
. From 1924 to 1925 he edited the communist magazine Proletaren
Proletaren
Proletaren was a Norwegian periodical published by the Communist Party.Proletaren was started in September 1923 during the fraction in-fighting in the Labour Party which resulted in the breakaway of the Communist Party. Its purpose was to deliver ideological articles to party members. The first...
. He was fired for opposing a semi-union with the Labour Party (some two months after the editor of Arbeidet
Arbeidet
Arbeidet was a Norwegian newspaper, published in Bergen in Hordaland county.Arbeidet was started in Bergen as a socialist newspaper on 6 December 1893, by a grouping called . It was the first socialist daily newspaper in Norway...
was fired for supporting such a union). He was also imprisoned for 120 days for antimilitaristic agitation. He also translated French poetry and published I det grønne bur and the novel Det røde slips in 1926.
Shift to the far right
Olaussen had already undergone change from antimilitarismAntimilitarism
Antimilitarism is a doctrine commonly found in the anarchist and, more globally, in the socialist movement, which may both be characterized as internationalist movements. It relies heavily on a critical theory of nationalism and imperialism, and was an explicit goal of the First and Second...
to favoring a violent revolution
Dictatorship of the proletariat
In Marxist socio-political thought, the dictatorship of the proletariat refers to a socialist state in which the proletariat, or the working class, have control of political power. The term, coined by Joseph Weydemeyer, was adopted by the founders of Marxism, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, in the...
, when he in 1927 shifted from the extreme left to the far right
Far right
Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...
. He left the Communist Party in 1927, but unlike many others who then joined the Labour Party, he joined the far-right Fedrelandslaget
Fedrelandslaget
The Fatherland League was a political organisation in Norway, which was founded on 25 January 1925. By the initiative of young industrialist Joakim Lehmkuhl, the organisation was co-founded with polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen and former Prime Minister Christian Michelsen...
in 1928 and later the Conservative Party. From 1927 he wrote for the newspaper Tidens Tegn
Tidens Tegn
Tidens Tegn is a former Norwegian newspaper, issued in Oslo from 1910 to 1941.-Editors:The founder and first editor-in-chief of Tidens Tegn was Ola Thommessen, who edited the newspaper until 1917. Thommessen had recently left the editor chair of Verdens Gang in protest, bringing much of Verdens...
. During the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany
Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany
The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany started with the German invasion of Norway on April 9, 1940, and ended on May 8, 1945, after the capitulation of German forces in Europe. Throughout this period, Norway was continuously occupied by the Wehrmacht...
he was refused membership in the Fascist party Nasjonal Samling. Nonetheless, he wrote extensively for the Nazi publications of the party.
Post-war
Olaussen wrote the memoirs Fra Kreml til Youngstorget, "From Kremlin to Youngstorget". The memoirs were printed, but because of the war's end, his kind was not longer tolerated and the book was not published. In 1947, Olaussen, during the legal purge in Norway after World War IILegal purge in Norway after World War II
When the occupation of Norway ended in May 1945, several thousand Norwegians and foreign citizens were tried and convicted for various acts that the occupying powers sanctioned...
, was sentenced for Nazi collaboration to two and a half year in prison. He died in January 1962.