The Workers' Federation of Sports ( no, Arbeidernes Idrettsforbund), often just called the AIF, was a

sport Sport pertains to any form of Competition, competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and Skill, skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to specta ...

ing organization in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

between 1924 and 1946.Heinemann, Klaus.
Sport Clubs in Various European Countries
'. Schorndorf: Hofmann .a. 1999. p. 272 As of 1935, AIF had around 50,000 members. AIF published the magazine '' Arbeideridrett''.

Foundation and early growth

The first explicit workers' sports club in Norway was Arbeidernes TIF, founded in 1909 and renamed to Fagforeningernes TIF in 1916. In the 1920s, the Norwegian Wrestling Federation banned fifteen members of this club for taking part in a "politicized" wrestling meet where "

The Internationale "The Internationale" (french: "L'Internationale", italic=no, ) is an international anthem used by various communist and socialist groups; currently, it serves as the official anthem of the Communist Party of China. It has been a standard of th ...

" was played. This helped spur the creation of a workers' federation of sports, although a Workers' Sports Opposition ( no, Arbeidernes Idrettsopposisjon) had existed since 1922. The decision to found AIF was taken (with 51 votes against 4) at the third national conference of the Workers' Sports Opposition in Folkets Hus in Oslo on June 8 and 9, 1924.

Harald Liljedahl Harald Liljedahl (19 November 1892 – 1940) was a Norwegian cigarmaker, trade unionist and sports official. He was born in Larvik. He was the first chairman of the labour movement's sports confederation Arbeidernes Idrettsforbund (AIF), fr ...

was elected as chairman of AIF, with 29 votes against 9 for

Olaf Thorsen Olaf or Olav (, , or British ; Old Norse: ''Áleifr'', ''Ólafr'', ''Óleifr'', ''Anleifr'') is a Scandinavian and German given name. It is presumably of Proto-Norse origin, reconstructed as ''*Anu-laibaz'', from ''anu'' "ancestor, grand-father" a ...

(a communist and executive member of the

Red Sport International The International Association of Red Sports and Gymnastics Associations, commonly known as Red Sport International (RSI) or Sportintern was a Comintern-supported international sports organization established in July 1921. The RSI was established i ...

). The conference unanimously decided to appeal for membership in the Red Sport International. AIF grew rapidly. Initially an

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

-based movement, AIF began forming clubs in different parts of the country. At the time of its foundation, the organization had affiliated clubs with a combined membership of 4,810. By the end of the year, it had 85 sports teams and a combined membership of 5,686. In 1925, AIF had 96 sports teams and a combined membership of 6,608. The stronghold was still Oslo and

Akershus Akershus () is a traditional region and current electoral district in Norway, with Oslo as its main city and traditional capital. It is named after the Akershus Fortress in Oslo. From the middle ages to 1919, Akershus was a fief and main county ...

, whereas

Sogn og Fjordane Sogn og Fjordane (; English: "Sogn and Fjordane") was, up to 1 January 2020, a county in western Norway, when it was merged to become part of Vestland county. Bordering previous counties Møre og Romsdal, Oppland, Buskerud, and Hordaland, the cou ...

did not have a single workers' sports club.

Political complications

The foundation of AIF was not met with complete enthusiasm in the

Norwegian Labour Party The Labour Party ( nb, Arbeiderpartiet; nn, Arbeidarpartiet; A/Ap; se, Bargiidbellodat), formerly The Norwegian Labour Party ( no, Det norske Arbeiderparti, DNA), is a social-democratic political party in Norway. It is positioned on the centr ...

Trygve Lie Trygve Halvdan Lie ( , ; 16 July 1896 – 30 December 1968) was a Norwegians, Norwegian politician, labour leader, government official and author. He served as Norwegian foreign minister during the critical years of the Nygaardsvold's Cabinet, N ...

opposed the idea of having a politicized sporting organization. The national party conference of 1925 did however decide that the party would back the new organization, rejecting Lie's criticism. At the AIF national conference of 1926, the communist and

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

ist Oskar Hansen was elected as new chairman with 56 votes against 31 for Rolf Hofmo. The new AIF board was dominated by communists. Political contradictions intensified in AIF after the Labour Party reunified with the

Social Democratic Labour Party of Norway The Social Democratic Labour Party of Norway (in Norwegian ''Norges Socialdemokratiske Arbeiderparti'') 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 ...

in 1927. The merger conference, the unified party declared that it would continue to support AIF but that their support was condition with the 'end to Communist Party cell activity' in AIF. At the AIF national conference in April 1927 the incumbent AIF leadership was severely criticized. The communist candidate for chairman, Kristoffer Mikkelsen, was defeated. The Labour Party-supported

Thor Jørgensen Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of humankind, hallowing, and ...

was elected chairman, with 68 votes against 42 for Mikkelsen.

Oslo Winter Spartakiad

The timing of the political shift in AIF was problematic for the Red Sport International, as AIF was due to host the Winter Spartakiad in February 1928. The Winter Spartakiad was however held in Oslo, in a grand fashion, coorganized by AIF and the Red Sport International. However, the attempts by the Labour Party-wing of AIF to tone down the propagandistic character of the event was severely disliked by the Red Sport International, and the Winter Spartakiad marked a deterioration of the relations between the two bodies.

Communist come-back

At the April 1928 national conference, the communists decided to launch Thorvald Olsen. Olsen, a national wrestling champion, was a Labour Party member but seen as more sympathetic towards the Red Sport International. In the election, Olsen defeated the incumbent Jørgensen. Moreover, the communist managed to get their party comrade Johs. Mortensen elected as editor of ''Arbeideridrett''. Five out of ten members of the new board were communists. In the spring of 1929, Ola Brandstorp wrote an article in '' Den Røde Ungdom'' where he suggested that AIF would withdraw from the Red Sport International. The article sparked a debate, and at a Red Sport International executive meeting in

Kharkiv Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine.Norwegian Trade Union Confederation. According to the decision passed at the conference, AIF became subordinated to these two bodies. Brandstorp was elected new editor of ''Arbeideridrett''.

Split and Labour Party hegemony

The communist sector of AIF began to organize itself an oppositional tendency, and had direct links with the Red Sport International. The AIF national conference of May 1931 decided that AIF withdrew from the Red Sport International. Trygve Lie was elected AIF chairman. The communists responded by forming their own sporting organization, '' Rød Sport''. AIF sent 42 athletes to the 1931 Workers' Olympiad in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, organized by the

Socialist Workers' Sport International Socialist Workers' Sport International (german: Sozialistische Arbeitersport Internationale, SASI) was an international socialist sporting organisation, based in Lucerne. It was founded in 1920, and consisted of six national federations (with a co ...

Reunification

During the 1930s, there were several fruitless negotiations with ''Rød Sport'' (initiated on behalf of the communist side) regarding unity between the two organizations. In the end, the issue was settled after direct talks between AIF and the Soviet High Council of Physical Culture in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

in 1934. The reunification between AIF and ''Rød Sport'' was finalized at the 1935 AIF national conference. The reunification of the Norwegian workers' sport movement has been described as an early expression of the

popular front A popular front is "any coalition of working-class and middle-class parties", including liberal and social democratic ones, "united for the defense of democratic forms" against "a presumed Fascist assault". More generally, it is "a coalition ...

line.
NKUs historie i korte trekk
'' In 1935 the Norwegian government instituted a sports commission, trying to achieve unity between AIF and the bourgeois federation NLI. In 1936, the effort bore fruit and an agreement of cooperation between AIF and NLI came into force.
Sport Policy: A Comparative Analysis of Policy Stability and Change
'. Amsterdam: Elsevier / Butterworth-Heinemann, 2007. p. 60 During the

German occupation of Norway The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until the ...

in 1940-1945, erstwhile rivals AIF and NLI joined forces in a sports boycott. The 'sportsfront', the opposition to the occupation from the sports movement, can be seen as an early expression of the

Norwegian resistance The Norwegian resistance (Norwegian: ''Motstandsbevegelsen'') to the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany began after Operation Weserübung in 1940 and ended in 1945. It took several forms: *Asserting the legitimacy of the exiled government, ...

. NLI and AIF merged in 1946, forming the

Norwegian Confederation of Sports The Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports ( no, Norges idrettsforbund og olympiske og paralympiske komité; NIF) is the umbrella organization for sport in Norway. It is the largest volunteering organization in No ...

(NIF).

References

{{Authority control Sports governing bodies in Norway Red Sport International Sports organizations established in 1924 Organizations disestablished in 1946