Martin Gunnar Knutsen (29 September 1918 – 23 February 2001) was a Norwegian politician, chairman of the

Communist Party of Norway The Communist Party of Norway ( no, Norges Kommunistiske Parti, NKP) is a communist party in Norway. The NKP was formed in 1923, following a split in the Norwegian Labour Party. It was Stalinist from its establishment and, as such, supported t ...

(NKP) 1975–1982. Knutsen was born in Skien. He was active in the resistance during the German occupation of Norway. While being a teaching student he published the clandestine bulletin ''Fritt fram'' (Norwegian for "Freely forward"). Knutsen, along with a group of colleagues, was arrested in 1944 and ''Fritt fram'' ceased publication. He edited the newspaper '' Vardø Framtid'' from 1949 to 1950. During the 1950s he stayed in Moscow, and worked as a newsreader for the Norwegian-language broadcasts of Radio Moscow. On 5 March 1953 he was the first to read out the news of the death of Joseph Stalin to a Norwegian audience. Knutsen headed the orthodox group inside NKP, which resisted the moves by the party chairman

Reidar T. Larsen Reidar Thoralf Larsen (8 October 1923 – 16 February 2012) was a Norwegian politician. He was chairman of the Communist Party of Norway from 1965 to 1975, when he resigned from his position, left the party and joined the Socialist Left Party ( ...

to merge the party into the

Socialist Electoral League The Socialist Left Party of Norway ( no, Sosialistisk Venstreparti or SV) was founded in 1975. Its history shows a long-term rise in political influence, resulting in part from its emergence from older left-wing parties, especially the Socialist ...

(SV). Knutsen replaced Larsen as party chairman in 1975, and pulled the party out of SV. After the rupture with SV the marginalization of NKP continued. Knutsen had been a deputy member of the

Parliament of Norway 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 ...

during the term 1973–1977, and met during 2 days of parliamentary session. He headed the NKP candidate slate in

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 ...

in the 1977 legislative election, but was not elected, as the party obtained only 0.4% of the votes nationwide. Knutsen was also a member of the executive committee of Skedsmo municipal council from 1971 to 1975. Knutsen was a recipient of the Soviet

Order of Friendship of Peoples The Order of Friendship of Peoples (russian: oрден Дружбы народов, translit=orden Druzhby narodov) was an order of the Soviet Union, and was awarded to persons (including non-citizens), organizations, enterprises, military unit ...

. He stepped down from the NKP chairmanship in 1982. Knutsen left NKP in September 1990, after five decades of membership in the party. He met his wife Nina in 1977, a translator and teacher from Zlatoust.NRK.
Atomoffer – uten å vite
' He died in 2001.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knutsen, Martin Gunnar 1918 births 2001 deaths Place of death missing Politicians from Skien People from Skedsmo Norwegian educators Norwegian resistance members Norwegian torture victims Grini concentration camp survivors Deputy members of the Storting Akershus politicians Communist Party of Norway politicians Norwegian expatriates in the Soviet Union Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples