Marcus Møller Thrane (14 October 1817 – 30 April 1890) was a Norwegian author, journalist, and the leader of the first labour movement 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 ...
. It was later known as the Thrane movement (''Thranebevegelsen'').
Early life
Thrane was born in Christiania, now
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 ...
, in 1817. Shortly after his birth, his father, a merchant and managing director in ''
Norges Rigsbank'', was arrested for involvement in corruption, which devastated the family's reputation. At only 15, Thrane was orphaned and had to move in with friends of the family.
In 1837, Thrane left Norway and traveled to
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
through
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
and
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
. Thrane stayed in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
for several months before returning to Norway in December 1837. After finishing the
examen artium (university admission exam) in 1840 and a brief period as a student of
theology
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
, Thrane and his new wife,
Maria Josephine Buch, moved to
Lillehammer
Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the municip ...
in 1841, where they ran a private school. In 1846, Thrane moved his teaching to
Åsgårdstrand.
In March 1847, Thrane came to
Ã…mot in
Modum
Modum is a municipality in Buskerud in Viken county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Vikersund. The municipality of Modum was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt).
The area has a long tr ...
, where he began work as a teacher for the workers' children at the large industrial company, ''
Blaafarveværket''. It was there that he experienced his first political awakening. In April, the year after the company was experiencing difficulties, Thrane, together with 250 workers, was sacked.
The family then moved to
Drammen, the hometown of his wife, where Thrane became the editor of the local newspaper , but because of his radical opinions, he was fired after only five months. He had already begun his political activities.
Labour movement
On December 27, 1848, Thrane founded (Drammen Labour Union) with 160 members. The following year, several other local unions joined a national organization, and Thrane printed the first edition of the union's paper, . In May 1850, the union delivered a
petition
A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication.
In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to some offici ...
to King
King Oscar II of Sweden and the Norwegian
Storting
The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years bas ...
(parliament), which was signed by 13,000 members. The union asked for universal voting, the extension of mandatory military service to those with property,
equality before the law
Equality before the law, also known as equality under the law, equality in the eyes of the law, legal equality, or legal egalitarianism, is the principle that all people must be equally protected by the law. The principle requires a systematic ru ...
, better schools, low or no border taxes on necessary goods, such as grains, and special support for poor farmers in the form of arable land on reasonable terms.
The union was primarily a union for agricultural workers and crofters and so it cannot be seen as a direct precedent for Norway's later labour movements.
In November, the government dismissed the petition. The union's national conference, in February 1851, sought a revolution. Although Thrane managed to stop it, the authorities seized the opportunity to have him arrested.
Thrane and 132 other members were sentenced on June 25, 1855. Thrane was sentenced to four years in prison, in addition to the four years that had already passed. The imprisonments and internal tension resulted in the end of the movement, and Thrane's attempts of revitalizing it after his release from prison were unsuccessful.
Later life
After the collapse of the movement, Thrane became a photographer and when his wife died in 1862, he emigrated to the United States. He restarted his political activities among
Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...
n immigrants and continued his career as a journalist. In 1865, Thrane started the Chicago-based newspaper . On May 2, 1866, John Anderson purchased the subscription lists of the foundering to start the Norwegian language newspaper
''
Skandinaven.''
In 1866, Thrane started a second Chicago newspaper, which he published until 1878.
In 1866, the
Norwegian Synod had felt sufficiently threatened to issue "A Warning to all Christians," which condemned his socialistic ideas, but the writings that he had put out in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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actually reached only a small number of fellow socialists. He published a satirical depiction of the visit of the Norwegian author
Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, which he called "The Old Wisconsin Bible" (). It was mainly directed against the church leaders in the Synod.
Among a number of more-or-less successful ventures in the United States, Thrane wrote and produced a number of plays for Norwegian-speaking audiences. The Norwegian Theater () was established by Thrane in Chicago in September 1866. Many of its plays were written by Thrane.
In 1883, he returned to Norway for a brief visit and held a number of lectures but, disappointed by the moderate interest, he returned to the United States, where he died in 1890, in
Eau Claire Eau Claire (French for "clear water", ''pl.'' ''eaux claires'') is the name of a number of locations and features in North America. The name is pronounced as if it were spelled "O'Clare".
Place names (Canada)
Communities
*Eau Claire, Calgary, a n ...
,
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
.
Years later in 1949, Thrane's coffin was sent to Norway, where he was buried and remains today in
VÃ¥r Frelsers Gravlund in Oslo.
Legacy
Although his movement existed for only a few years, Thrane's work was an important contribution in the politicisation of the Norwegian worker. 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 ...
(founded in 1887) refers to him as one of its founding fathers. Indeed, the Thrane movement united the rural and urban lower classes for a common cause for the first time in Norway.
Today, Thrane is remembered in Drammen, the city where he started Norway's first labour union, . On October 14, 2017, the city held a 200-year celebration for Thrane’s birthday. He is still recognized for his efforts and labor activism. A monument of him stands in his honor in Strømsø square.
References
Sources
*Karen Larsen, ''A History of Norway'' (Princeton University Press: Princeton, New Jersey, 1949)
*Leiren, Terje I. ''Marcus Thrane: A Norwegian Radical in America'' (Norwegian-American Historical Association. 1987)
*Leiren, Terje I. ''Selected Plays of Marcus Thrane'' (New Directions in Scandinavian Studies. University of Washington Press. 2008)
*Oddvar, Bjørklund ''Marcus Thrane, Socialist leder i et Utland''. (Oslo, Norway. 1970) Norwegian
*
Koht, Halvdan ''Arbeider-rørsla av 1848 i Noreg'' (Norske Folkeskrifter Nr. 60. Norigs Ungdomslag og Studentmaallaget. Oslo
ic.1914)Norwegian
External links
''Marcus Thrane Collection'' (published by Norwegian-American Historical Association''Marcus Møller Thrane'' (Store norske leksikon)Norwegian
''Thrane, Marcus Møller'' (Originalopslag fra pax Leksikon)Norwegian
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thrane, Marcus
1817 births
1890 deaths
People from Drammen
Norwegian expatriates in France
Norwegian schoolteachers
Norwegian newspaper editors
Norwegian politicians
Norwegian socialists
Norwegian emigrants to the United States
Norwegian prisoners and detainees
Prisoners and detainees of Norway
19th-century Norwegian photographers
19th-century American newspaper founders
American theatre managers and producers
19th-century American journalists
19th-century Norwegian writers
American male journalists
19th-century American male writers
Trade unionists from Oslo