Emil Løvlien (22 September 1899 – 4 June 1973) was a Norwegian

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

worker, trade unionist and politician from

Løten Løten is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Hedemarken. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Løten. Other villages in the municipality include Ådalsbruk, He ...

. He represented the Labour Party until the split in 1923, and the

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 ...

thereafter. He was the chairman of the Communist Party from 1946 to 1965, and served three terms in 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 ...

Pre-war life and career

Emil Løvlien was born in Løiten as the son of

smallholder A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technology ...

Herman Løvlien (1858–1941) and his wife Oline (1857–1932).. Retrieved on 28 December 2008. He was the younger brother of Ole H. Løvlien. Emil Løvlien attended secondary modern school from 1913, but left in 1914 to become a forest worker. In 1918 Løvlien joined the local branch of the

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

Norwegian Union of Forestry and Land Workers The Norwegian Union of Forestry and Land Workers ( no, Norsk Skog- og Landarbeiderforbund, NSLF) was a trade union in Norway, organized under the national Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions. It was founded in 1927 after the Julussa Conflict, ...

. He also became involved in politics, and was selected as a member of the board of the local chapter of the Labour Party. In 1922 Løvlien was selected to the national board of the Union of Forestry and Land Workers. He was elected to serve in Løten

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counci ...

, but left the board of the Labour Party chapter, only to return in 1923 as a board member of the local

chapter. The Communist Party had split from the Labour Party in 1923, due to the latter's unwillingness to 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 ...

, leading to exclusion from the

Comintern The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet Union, Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to ...

. The next year, in 1924, Løvlien left the national board of the Union of Forestry and Land Workers, but began a two-year stint as board member of the Communist Party in

Hedmark Hedmark () was a county in Norway before 1 January 2020, bordering Trøndelag to the north, Oppland to the west, Akershus to the south, and Sweden to the east. The county administration is in Hamar. Hedmark and Oppland counties were merged i ...

. Løvlien stood for parliamentary election in

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be ...

and 1933, but unsuccessfully. In 1931, he was again elected to the municipal council. He was re-elected in 1934, and in the same year he became the party secretary of the Communist Party nationwide. Due to this position, he was also a member of the party's central committee, and served as a member of the board of the party newspaper ''

Arbeideren ''Arbeideren'' ("The Worker") was a daily newspaper published in Oslo, Norway. It was started on 2 November 1929 as the official party newspaper from the Communist Party of Norway, Communist Party. It lent its name from a Hamar-based Arbeideren ( ...

'' from 1934. From 1936 he was also a member of the party politburo. He left all positions in 1940, the year that Norway was invaded by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, and the Communist Party declared illegal.

Post-war career

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. Januar ...

, at the first elections after the liberation of Norway from

German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...

, Løvlien was elected to the

Norwegian Parliament 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 base ...

from Hedmark. He was a member of the Standing Committee of Finance and Customs and the Election Committee, served as Vice President of the

Odelsting 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 ...

and as a representative to the

Inter-Parliamentary Union The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU; french: Union Interparlementaire, UIP) is an inter-parliamentary institution, international organization of national parliaments. Its primary purpose is to promote democratic governance, accountability, and coop ...

. He also took over as party chairman of the Communist Party, in 1946. Løvlien was not re-elected to Parliament in

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Luis ...

, but returned in

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito i ...

and

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

to serve two more terms. During both these terms he continued as a member of the Standing Committee of Finance and Customs and the Election Committee. He stood for re-election in

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

, but lost out to

Karen Grønn-Hagen Karen Grønn-Hagen (27 November 1903 – 19 December 1982) was a Norwegian politician for the Centre Party. She was born in Tynset. She was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Hedmark in 1961. From August to September 1963 she served ...

of the Centre Party (Norway), Centre Party. The margin was extremely small by Norwegian standards; only 16 votes. As such Løvlien was the last member of parliament to be elected from the Communist Party ticket (Reidar T. Larsen was elected in 1973 Norwegian parliamentary election, 1973, but as a part of the Socialist Left Party (Norway), Socialist Electoral League). Løvlien stepped down as chairman of the Communist Party in 1965. He continued as a member of Løten municipal council until his death. His brother Ole Løvlien became mayor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lovlien, Emil 1899 births 1973 deaths People from Løten Members of the Storting Labour Party (Norway) politicians Communist Party of Norway politicians Hedmark politicians Norwegian trade unionists 20th-century Norwegian politicians International Lenin School alumni