Jeanette Martine Olsen (22 October 1873 – 23 September 1959) was a Norwegian editor and politician for the Labour and

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

parties. She was born in Kristiania. Her first political position was as leader of the local women's branch in Skien Labour Party from 1907 to 1912. From 1911 to 1913 she was a national board member of the Labour Party women's association. She was also a board member of the county branch in Bratsberg. In 1913 she was hired as manager of the newspaper ''

Haugesunds Folkeblad ''Haugaland Arbeiderblad'' was a Norwegian newspaper, published in Haugesund in Rogaland county. It was affiliated with the Norwegian Labour Party. ''Haugaland Arbeiderblad'' was started in 1907 under the name ''Arbeiderbladet''. It stopped in 1908 ...

'', and she became editor-in-chief in the same year. The family moved to Tromsø in 1914, where she became manager in '' Nordlys'' and then secretary of ''Nord-Norsk Fiskerforbund'' from 1917 to 1919. She was also a member of Tromsø city council from 1916 to 1919. In 1919 she was hired as manager in '' Fremover'', and sat for some time as a member of

Narvik ( se, Áhkanjárga) is the third-largest municipality in Nordland county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Narvik. Some of the notable villages in the municipality include Ankenesstranda, Ball ...

city council. While living in Northern Norway she was also involved in smuggling from the Russian SFSR. She was a national board member of the Labour Party from 1918 to 1923, and was a delegate at the Third

Comintern The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet Union, Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to ...

Congress in 1921, but in September 1923 she was excluded for half a year for writing an "open letter" to

Martin Tranmæl Martin Olsen Tranmæl (27 June 1879 – 11 July 1967) was a Norway, Norwegian socialist leader from Labour Party (Norway), The Norwegian Labour Party. Biography Martin Tranmæl grew up on a middle-sized farm in Melhus, in Sør-Trøndelag county, ...

, in which she stated that if not Tranmæl subordinated himself to Comintern, he would pave way for Fascism. Before the exclusion was lifted, the Communist Party had formed as a splinter party, and she joined it. From 1923 to 1928 she led the women's secretariat in the party, succeeding Olga Andersen in that position. She was a delegate at the Fifth

Congress, and also edited the party's magazine for women, ''

Gnisten ''Gnisten'' ("The Spark") was a Norwegian periodical published by the Communist Party. ''Gnisten'' was started in March 1925 after a lengthy fund-raising campaign. It was started by women in the Communist Party who were not satisfied with the cov ...

'', from 1925. In 1928 she resigned her party membership, together with high-profile politicians

Emil Stang, Jr. Emil Stang, Jr. (22 September 1882 – 21 December 1964) was a Norwegian jurist and politician for the Norwegian Labour Party and for the Communist Party of Norway. He was later the 13th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Norway. Stang fi ...

and Olav Scheflo, since the Communist Party was against the formation of

Hornsrud's Cabinet Hornsrud's Cabinet governed Norway between 28 January 1928 and 15 February 1928. The first Labour Party cabinet in Norway, it was defeated by the other parliamentary parties on a vote of no confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously ...

. She joined the ''Revolusjonære fagopposisjon'', Clarté and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. She rejoined the Communist Party in 1936, but was excluded after three months (in September) for defending Lev Trotsky. She was now a Trotskyist, and edited the periodical '' Oktober'' from April 1937 to September 1939. She also worked as a seamstress. She was married to Aksel Olsen (1869–1928), and had seven children. She died in September 1959 in Oslo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Olsen, Jeanette 1873 births 1959 deaths Writers from Oslo Norwegian newspaper editors Norwegian women editors Norwegian magazine editors Politicians from Tromsø Nordland politicians Labour Party (Norway) politicians Communist Party of Norway politicians Norwegian Trotskyists Norwegian women writers Norwegian socialist feminists Women's International League for Peace and Freedom people Women newspaper editors Women magazine editors