Martin Olsen Tranmæl (27 June 1879 – 11 July 1967) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

leader from The Norwegian Labour Party.

Biography

Martin Tranmæl grew up on a middle-sized farm in

Melhus Melhus is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Gauldalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Melhus. Other villages include Gåsbakken, Hovin, Korsvegen, Kvål, Ler, Lundamo, S ...

, in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. He started working as a painter and

construction worker A construction worker is a worker employed in the physical construction of the built environment and its infrastructure. Definition By some definitions, workers may be engaged in manual labour as unskilled or semi-skilled workers; they may be sk ...

. In the early 20th century, Tranmæl lived for a while in the United States where he came into contact with the American workers movement, and even though he joined the AFL, he was also present at the founding congress of the

Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines general ...

, whose revolutionary syndicalist ideology he continued to be influenced by after returning to Norway. Upon his return, he eventually joined Norwegian Labour Party where he soon became one of the main leaders of the Party's left wing and worked for many different socialist papers. Tranmæl became a Communist after learning of the

Russian Revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...

, and he attended Comintern meetings in Russia and encouraged the Norwegian Labour Party to join the Communist International organization and accept the

Twenty-one Conditions The Twenty-one Conditions, officially the Conditions of Admission to the Communist International, refer to the conditions, most of which were suggested by Vladimir Lenin, to the adhesion of the socialist parties to the Third International (Comintern ...

for membership. Eventually Tranmæl led the Norwegian Labour Party out of the Comintern after a conflict with its chairman

Zinoviev Zinoviev, Zinovyev, Zinovieff (russian: Зино́вьев), or Zinovieva (feminine; Зино́вьева), as a Russian surname, derives from the personal name Zinovi, from Greek '' Zenobios''. Notable people with the surname include: * Alexand ...

in 1923. The Party was split in two and the Communist Party of Norway was formed that year by people who wanted to stay in the Comintern. He participated in the Left Communist Youth League's military strike action of 1924. He agitated for it through the newspaper ''

Arbeiderbladet ''Dagsavisen'' is a daily newspaper published in Oslo, Norway. The former party organ of the Norwegian Labour Party, the ties loosened over time from 1975 to 1999. It has borne several names, and was called ''Arbeiderbladet'' from 1923 to 1997. ...

'', and was convicted for this crime and sentenced to 5 months days of prison. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and the

Nazi 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 th ...

, Tranmæl had to leave Norway and exiled in Stockholm, Sweden. He had many friends there like

Zeth Höglund Carl Zeth "Zäta" Konstantin Höglund (29 April 1884 – 13 August 1956) was a leading Swedish communist politician, anti-militarist, author, journalist and mayor (''finansborgarråd'') of Stockholm (1940–1950). Höglund can be credited as t ...

and

Ture Nerman Ture Nerman (18 May 1886, in Norrköping – 7 October 1969) was a Swedish socialist. As a journalist and author, he was a well-known political activist in his time. He also wrote poems and songs. Nerman was a vegetarian and a strict teetotale ...

. After the war he returned to Norway, and while still a socialist, had more moderate views and supported the Norwegian membership in

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

in 1949.

Selected works

* ''De faglige kampmidler og organisasjonsformer'', (1911) * ''Hvad fagopposisjonen vil'', (1913) * ''Hvem vil borgerkrig?'', (1915) * ''Socialisme og de socialistiske fremgangslinjer'', (1918) * ''Revolutionær fagbevægelse'', (1920) * ''Cellebetragtninger'', (1922) * ''Arbeiderungdom! Et alvorsord fra fengslet, arbeiderungdommen og kommunismen'', (1925)

Sources

*Olsen, Bjorn Gunnar (1991) ''Tranmæl og hans menn'' *Zachariassen, Aksel (1979) ''Martin Tranmæl'' *Lie, Haakon (1988) ''Martin Tranmæl''

References

External links

Photographs of Martin Olsen Tranmæl
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tranmael, Martin 1879 births 1967 deaths Labour Party (Norway) politicians Norwegian communists Norwegian Comintern people Norwegian newspaper editors Norwegian temperance activists Members of the Executive of the Labour and Socialist International Norwegian prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Norway People from Melhus Syndicalists Dagsavisen editors