Olav Johannes Strøm (born 25 September 1866 in
Grue, died 24 August 1963 in
Kvinesdal
Kvinesdal is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Lister Region, Lister. The administrative centre of the municipality is the villa ...
) was a Norwegian trade union leader, and one of the pioneers of trade unions in Norway.
He worked as a young man at a brickyard, and in 1886, founded the first trade union for brickyard workers in
Kristiania
Oslo ( or ; ) 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 1,064,235 in 2022, an ...
.
Later in the 1890s, he worked as a construction worker on the new
railway to Brevik, and was active in
Skien
Skien () is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Grenland, although historically it belonged to Grenmar/Skiensfjorden, while Grenland referred the Norsjø area and Bø. The administrative ...
. There, he got the Labour Party and unions to set up their own municipal programme. When they did not get their own candidates on
Venstre's list, they set up their own list.
In 1893, together with
Sivert Larsen Lunde, he became a member of the Labour Party's social democratic society. At the Labour Party's national meeting in the autumn of that year, Strøm met with representatives of the new associations in the Skien district, and was elected secretary.
As party secretary, he began a comprehensive business as a travelling agitator among rallies and construction workers.
[Page 152. ''Det Norske arbeiderpartis historie 1887-1937'' (ed. Halvdan Koht), Det norske Arbeiderpartis forlag, bind I, 1937] In 1895, he stood behind the foundation of the Norwegian Road and Railway Association, which later changed its name to the
Norsk Arbeidsmandsforbund. He became the first chairman of the federation.
In 1903, he was reported to the police for defamation against the federation and lost his presidency. Later he lived in Finnmark and Kvinesdal.
He was also later active in party politics, both in the
Arbeiderpartiet
The Labour Party (; , A or Ap; ), formerly The Norwegian Labour Party (, DNA), is a social democratic political party in Norway. It is positioned on the centre-left of the political spectrum, and is led by Jonas Gahr Støre. It was the senior ...
and the
Norges Kommunistiske Parti
The Communist Party of Norway (, 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 the Soviet government while oppos ...
.
Strøm is portrayed in the novel ''
Dansen gjenom skuggeheimen'', where one of the main characters, Ølløv Skjølløgrinn, has a similar life to Strøm.
References
External links
Olav Strøm at the Norsk biografisk leksikon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strøm, Olav Johannes
Norwegian trade unionists
People from Grue, Norway
1866 births
1963 deaths