Knut Olai Thornæs (30 May 1874 – 1945) was a Norwegian newspaper editor and politician. He was a member of the Labour Party from 1900, and represented the party politically, but joined the Communist Party upon the split in 1923. Thornæs was the editor-in-chief of several newspapers, most notably ''

Ny Tid ''Ny Tid'' (English: ''Modern Times Review'') is Norway's largest international quarterly review of non-fiction books – up to 50 in each issue. It is currently owned by Ny Tid & Orientering AS. ''Ny Tid'' is headed by the newspaper founder ...

''.

Career

Thornæs hailed from

Kristiansund Kristiansund (, ; historically spelled Christianssund and earlier named Fosna) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality on the western coast of Norway in the Nordmøre district of Møre og Romsdal counties of Norway, county. The admin ...

. Having first worked a few years as a manual laborer, in 1893 he completed his

typographer Typography is the art and technique of Typesetting, arranging type to make written language legibility, legible, readability, readable and beauty, appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, Point (typogra ...

's education, and moved to

Trondhjem Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is t ...

. He became involved in his local trade union, and in 1900 he joined the

Norwegian Labour Party The Labour Party (; , A or Ap; ), formerly The Norwegian Labour Party (, DNA), is a Social democracy, social democratic List of political parties in Norway, political party in Norway. It is positioned on the centre-left of the political spectru ...

. Thornæs published the temperance periodical ''Reform'' in 1901, but was soon hired as a journalist in ''Folketidende''. In 1902, he was hired in the local Labour Party organ, ''

''. He worked here for many years, except for the period between 1906 and 1908, when he edited a

Fredrikstad Fredrikstad (; previously ''Frederiksstad''; literally "Fredrik's Town") is a List of cities in Norway, city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Østfold Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipal ...

newspaper, '' Smaalenenes Social-Demokrat''. Thornæs was elected to serve in Trondhjem city council in 1914, and was re-elected several times. In 1921, Thornæs took over as editor-in-chief of ''Ny Tid''. It was a turbulent time for the Labour Party, and in 1923 the party was nearing a split. In September 1923, Thornæs was excluded from the party for half a year for writing about

Martin Tranmæl Martin Olsen Tranmæl (27 June 1879 – 11 July 1967) was a Norwegian socialist leader from The Norwegian Labour Party. Biography Martin Tranmæl grew up on a middle-sized farm in Melhus Municipality, in Søndre Trondhjem county, Norway. He ...

that he had either "lost his mind", or was a "provocateur" and "

class traitor Class traitor is a term used mostly in socialist discourse to refer to a member of the proletarian class who works directly or indirectly against their class interest, or against their economic benefit and in favor of the bourgeoisie. It applies pa ...

". The party then split over disagreements of its alignment to

Comintern The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...

, and the wing that supported Comintern and the

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

, broke away to form the

Communist Party of Norway 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 oppo ...

. Thornæs belonged to this wing, and as the communists usurped ''Ny Tid'' as their party organ, Thornæs could continue as editor-in-chief until 1934. He also represented the Communist Party in the city council. He ran twice for

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

, 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 on J ...

and

1933 Events January * January 11 – Australian aviator 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 independen ...

, but was not elected. Thornæs also composed songs and poems, with overtones of

class struggle In political science, the term class conflict, class struggle, or class war refers to the economic antagonism and political tension that exist among social classes because of clashing interests, competition for limited resources, and inequali ...

. His most known song is ''Fram kamerater'' ('Forward, Comrades'), which was published for the first time in ''Ny Tid'' in 1911. Thornæs was also interested in

church music Church music is a genre of Christian music written for performance in church, or any musical setting of ecclesiastical liturgy, or music set to words expressing propositions of a sacred nature, such as a hymn. History Early Christian musi ...

and theater. He was a member and chairman of the board of Trondheim public library in the late 1930s.

Legacy

In 1955, a sculpture commemorating Thornæs was erected at Møllenborg in Trondheim. The park in which the sculpture stands was named Thornæsparken. Also, a road in Trondheim has been named after him. Thornæs' daughter Signe Kristine married twice, the last time to social democratic politician and newspaper editor

Ole Øisang Ole Thorsen Øisang (26 April 1893 – 6 March 1963) was a Norwegian newspaper editor and politician for the Labour Party. Early life and career Øisang was born in Risør as the son of Theodor Thorsen Kjørvik (1866–1952) and Aase Marie Øis ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thornaes, Knut Olai 1874 births 1945 deaths Norwegian newspaper editors Politicians from Trondheim Labour Party (Norway) politicians Communist Party of Norway politicians