Sigurd Simensen (19 February 1888 – 27 April 1969) 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 the ...

newspaper editor and politician for the

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and 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. He was born in

Vestfossen Vestfossen is a village in the municipality of Øvre Eiker in the county of Buskerud, Norway. Vestfossen is a former industrial city with traditions dating back to the 16th century. As of 2008 Vestfossen had a population of 2,867 according to Sta ...

. He started his career as an iron and metalworker, working at

Thunes Mekaniske Verksted Thunes Mekaniske Værksted A/S, Thune for short, was a Norwegian manufacturing company that among other things built locomotives. The production facilities were last located at Skøyen. History Thune traced its roots to a workshop founded by And ...

. He first joined the Union of Iron and Metalworkers in 1907, and was politically organized from 1908. He became a leading member of Norges Socialdemokratiske Ungdomsforbund, and was elected to their central board in 1916. He became subeditor of their newspaper ''

Klassekampen ''Klassekampen'' ( en, The Class Struggle) is a Norwegian daily newspaper. It describes itself as "the newspaper of the Left." The paper's net circulation is 34,000 (2021), and it has around 111,000 daily readers on paper (160,000 on Saturdays). ...

'' in 1917. In 1918 he was elected to the Labour Party central board, and was hired as travelling secretary for Northern Norway. He also chaired the national association of ''worker's councils'' which sprang up in the same year, post-

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), 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 ad ...

. He left the Labour Party's central board in 1919. In 1920 he moved on to being subeditor in '' Folkeviljen''. He then edited '' Vestfinmarkens Social-Demokrat'' from 1920 to 1922. In 1921 he was the leader of a seamen's and dockworkers' strike in

Hammerfest Hammerfest (; sme, Hámmerfeasta ) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. Hammerfest is the northernmost town in the world with more than 10,000 inhabitants. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Hammerfe ...

, which saw intervention by the military. "Hammerfest was the only city where something resemblant to a revolutionary situation ensued", wrote historian

Per Maurseth Per Maurseth (7 June 1932 – 10 May 2013) was a Norwegian historian and politician for the Socialist Left Party. He was an associate professor at the University of Oslo from 1971, and was appointed professor at the University of Trondheim fro ...

. After the strikers had been subdued, Simensen was sentenced to 120 days of prison. Simensen was hired as editor-in-chief in ''Folkeviljen'' in 1922. While he was in prison, Naftali Nilsen was acting editor. He joined the new

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

in 1923, and when the Communist Party failed to gain control over the

Harstad ( se, Hárstták) is the second-most populated municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It is mostly located on the large island of Hinnøya. The municipal center is the Harstad (town), town of Harstad, the most populous town in Centra ...

newspaper ''Folkeviljen'', and also failed to run the

Tromsø Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Tromsø (city), city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies ...

newspaper '' Troms Fylkes Kommunistblad'',Lorenz, 1983: pp. 168–169 they started their own newspaper ''

Dagens Nyheter ''Dagens Nyheter'' (, ), abbreviated ''DN'', is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It is published in Stockholm and aspires to full national and international coverage, and is widely considered Sweden's newspaper of record. History and profile ''Da ...

'' in Harstad in 1924. Simensen became editor-in-chief. He was also a member of the city council from 1926 to 1955 (except World War II), serving as deputy mayor of Harstad from 1929 to 1930 and mayor from 1946 to 1947. He unsuccessfully stood for parliamentary election in

1927 Events January * January 1 – The British Broadcasting ''Company'' becomes the British Broadcasting ''Corporation'', when its Royal Charter of incorporation takes effect. John Reith becomes the first Director-General. * January 7 * ...

and

1933 Events January * January 11 – Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independence, against the wis ...

. During the Second World War's

German 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 the ...

, Simensen was engaged with

forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...

. He died in 1969.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simensen, Sigurd 1888 births 1969 deaths Norwegian newspaper editors Labour Party (Norway) politicians Communist Party of Norway politicians Mayors of Harstad People from Harstad Norwegian prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Norway