"The labour movement must build strong cadres where the movement can fetch its storm troops for the revolutionary struggle that lays ahead for us. These troops must be permeated with a relentless hate to citizenry. Support the anti-military action. Do what ever you can to increase the insecurity in the army and for dissolution of the army."

[hate, they did not like ordenairy people only Jews and Communists.  The rest were their , the labour movements, enemies.]

All the leading men and women in the Labour Party spoke as Lie did. Well known words if one look retrospective on the last decades before WWII.
     Many of the leading men of the party were arrested for un-military actions. They were activist outside the various army camps and calling on the soldiers to throw their guns away or ruin the guns so they could not be used again.
     The military were the power out the upper class and as such the enemies of the workers, was slogans used by the activists.
     Norway had been spared for most of the vicious class struggle rest of Europe were engaged in. But we had some small accidents in which The Norwegian Workers Party, DnA, (Det norske Arbeiderparti) sat the tone. DnA had been members of the International Communist Union, ICU, since 1919. You know the tasks of that organisation.
     Through the 20-ties the ICU had financed the building up of DnA, and as such they decided the policy of the party. DnA spoke for disarmament, freedom for women, kinder garden and were very pro-Soviet. None of the other parties sat any footsteps in the history. They were more or less all singing the same songs as DnA did.

POLITICAL PARTIES

The main parties were:

ARBEIDERPARTIET  (The Labour Party), DnA.

A traditional leftist party. It's leading men will be given through out the story.

KOMMUNISTPARTIET  (The Communist Party), NKP

Founded in 1924 after DnA officially broke with the International Communist Union, Comintern.

You will probably know of the international intentions of that organisation, to cause mass international revolution and create an international Soviet State.

HØYRE - HOEYRE  (the Conservative Party)

The leading person in the years prior to WWII was I.C. Hambro, kinsman to the banking family of Hambro in London, UK. He was president of Stortinget before WWII and one of the leading politicians in pre-WWII Norway.

VENSTRE (the Liberal Party.)

The leading man was Mowinkel a man who left few traces in Norway's pre-WWII's history.

BONDEPARTIET (The Farmers Party)

A conservative party with some thoughts that were equal to other conservative parties all over Europe.

All above parties had seats in all parliament elections before WWII.

The legislative period was before WWII three years.

NASJONAL SAMLING (Nasional assembling, (Quislings Party) founded Mai 17, 1933) NS. Quisling had written a book, "Russland og vi" (Russia and we), as he came home after helping Nansen during the famine in Ukranian and Belarus (White Russia). This made him a well know person in political man in Norway. Before founding his own party Quisling was member in Fedrelandslaget.
     Quisling had been secretary of legation at the Norwegian Embassy in Russia before and after the communist revolution. He was awarded the British order Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his achievement by looking after British interests after Britain broke it's diplomatic contract with Soviet Union.
     This order was taken from him by Winston Churchill during WWII
     Hans Fredrik dahl, a Norwegian historian, wrote in 1991 a biography on Quisling, here Dahl says the following about "Russland og vi"

"Russland og vi is a remarkable text, undoubtedly one of the most notable intellectual document covering Soviet in Norwegian inter-war years. The book deal with Soviet's sad experience after 13 years under communist control/rule. Quisling warns the Norwegian Labour Party what might happen if they want to expose Norway if they import the politics of the communists. Quisling statements about the situation in Soviet is importunately since his knowledge is so enormous and the text so eminent. His characteristic of the Soviet system are equal to that of Alexander Solsjenitsyn and Aleksje Zinovjev 40 years after Quisling wrote his book."

Quisling predicts Soviet's fall in 1940-41. History have told us that Soviet would have fallen had not WWII saved the regime.
     As Bondepartiet was forming government after the election in 1930 they asked Quisling, who had one of the best military minds in Norway to became Defence Minister. (Quisling had passed the Military Academy with the best marks ever given. Even to-day his record has not been beaten. That was the military experience he bri\ought with him into politics, that and his long experience at the embassy in Soviet.)
     The party had many known men some off them you will meet in this and coming News Letters. The party did not get any seats in the elections before 1936, which was the last election before the war.

FEDRELANDSLAGET (The patriotic group) This was not a registered political party. It's best known member was Fritjof Nansen. The group were very patriotic and spoke for armament of the military and advocated the disarmament of DnA and the NKP.

PRE-WWII HISTORY
     A change came after the election to Stortinget, Norway's parliament, in 1930. Bondepartiet, Farmer's party, formed a government as selected Vidkun Quisling as the Defence Minister. Quisling started to reform the ministry, but had tp live with the low defence budget the other parties had agreed to. He also had to live with the new military order set by the Storting before 1930. This order sais Norway should only have a military that should be armed in case of risk of a military action outside our border.

MENSTADSLAGET (The "battle" of Menstad)
     This is the best known political strike and following uprour in Norway's pre-WWII history. Menstad is a village outside Porsgrunn some 150 km south of Oslo. The "battle" had it's background in a strike in a factory owned by Norsk Hydro. As the strike grew the police could not handle it and had to ask for help from Oslo. Quisling, who was Defence Minister, sent the military to end the "battle".

POLITICS IN THE STORTING
Through out his first year as Defence Minister Quisling came upon some documents stating that the ICU had financed the DnA's building up off an armed force, he precented some documents in Stortinget in spring of 1932 showing the true face of DnA. They showed:

- between 1928 - 29 DnA and the Communist Party had received NOK 500,000
- in 1932 NOK 1,500,000 had been transferred from a foreign country, Soviet Russia, to finance revolutionary activity among the soldiers and officers.
- Trygve Lie, later Secretairy of UN, had on June 20, 1921 received NOK 5,800 for communistic activities
- Sverre Støstad, whom became Stortingspresident, president of the Storting, had received NOK 8,000
     (The cost of sending a letter inside Norway was NOK 0.03 in the Twenties, to day this cost is NOK 4.00. The hourly working cost was NOK 0.50, to day this rate is NOK 100.00.)
- DnA and the Communist Party had build up an armed force of 11,000 men with the intent that they should take hold of telegraph, radio, post and railways when the intended revolution started. (Doc. 149, 150 in Stortinget from 1932)
- DnA was under orders from Moscow that during the intended revolution they would declare a soviet republic in North of Norway. This republic was to be completely independent of Norway. (Doc. 121 in Stortinget 1932)

In additional to the above I can tell you that Christian Fredrik Monsen, leader of DnA's parliamentarian group 1928 - 32, had been arrested for bringing Russian gold into Norway to ferment revolustion with Monsen was Stortingspresident, president of Stortinget, from 1945 to 48. Before WWII he was a leading member of the revolutionarys council of the DnA party.
     To give you a view of how DnA looked on Norwegian values I quote from what Martin Tranmael, a journalist and leading member of DnA wrote in Arbeiderbladet, Worker's News paper, in connection with Fritjof Nansen's funeral on Mai 17, 1930 (Mai 17 is Norway's Constitution Day):

"Nansen was in Norway the fascistic worker's most hostile standard bearer! After some children had let out some yells, some little waving with a flag and some glass of good sherry - then a parade for a corpse."

ELECTION IN 1933 AND 1936
These elections brought DnA to power in Stortinget and they formed government. They did not have majority but with support from the Communists and other parties they could form government.
     The main military idea of DnA before the election in 1936 was:

"DnA will fight all the armaments policy which any other parties suggest. The military forces shall be transferred into defence guards. We will use the next three years to complete this restructuring."

Instead of a military defence DnA wanted a strong and foresighted foreign ministry that could give the military leaders notice if Norway was risk of being drawn into a war or military conflict.
     In their struggle to transformNorway into a none military country DnA failed to tell the Norwegian that all European countries were armouring their military forces. They alsofailed to do anythink about the reality of the Soviet Union rearmouring their forces at a pace Europe had never seen before. They also chose to ignor how strong the Soviet military forces were. In the meantime Norway's military forces were reduced to a dangerous level.
     Norway was not so close to Soviet Union then as now, but still it was a short way if Soviet Union wanted to invade the country. The only thing they had to do was to pass through northen part of Finland, a distance of 200 km.
     The government was headed by the Labour Party's Prime Minister Johan Nygaardsvold. He had the following ministers:

Foreign Minister: Halvdan Koht
Agricultural Minister: Hans Ystgaard
Minister for Church and Education: Nils Hjelmtveit
Minister for Supply : Trygve Lie
Finance Minister: Oscar Torp
Minister for Social Affairs: Sverre Støstad
Minister for Trade: Anders Frihagen
Minister for Labour: Olav Hindahl
Minister for Defence: Birger Ljungberg

CONTRAVENTION OF THE CONSTITUTION
     Before we start with this part of the pre-WWII story, we need to make ourselves acquainted with three paragraphs in the Norwegian constitution:

§ 54: Election shall be every third year. Election shall be hold by end of November.

§ 71: The members of the Storting shall function as such in three years after another, this being an ordinary as well as extraordinary Storting

§ 112: Should experience show that any of the paragraphs in the Constitution of the Kingdom of Norway should be changed such proposals shall be put forward during the first or second ordinary Storting after an election, the proposals shall be printed and made known to the public. But first after a new election can one decide if the proposed Proposal shall be accepted, no proposal must violate the spirit of the Constitution, to change the Constitution a proposal needs a majority of two third of the elected members of Storting.

On April 22, 1938 the Storting adopted with 123 to 27 votes to enlarge the legislation time from three to four years. At the same time with the president of the Storting's advice the Storting agreed that the enlargement should start with the sitting Storting. One of the reasons given, by Hambro, for enlarging the sitting legislation period were the anxious political situation in Europe. This action by the Storting arouse protests among juridical scholars both inside and outside the Storting and also among ordinary civilians.

REACTION AFTER STORTING'S DECISION TO ENLARGE THE LEGISLATION PERIOD.
     A lot of legal scholars were negative to the Sorting enlarging it's own period.
     Even proposer, representative Henrik Amelen from Bergen, protested against the one year extra which Storting gave itself. The liberal press demanded the King to take action against this illegal acting from Nygaardsvold and his government. But the King did nothing. The Sorting and the King choose to listen to the Storting's assistant secretary Hoirtoey who had no juridical background, but he had written a report on the matter after a telephon conversation with professor Frede Castberg. Prof. Castberg's statement was so ambiguous that they should have warned Hoirtoey not to agree with Hambro and the other representatives in their lust to sit one extra year.
     The correct line of action would have been to ask the Supreme Court of their opinion regarding the extension of the siting Storting's one extra year. Had they done that the representatives would not have gotten their year. One representative, Moseid, asked on February 10, 1939 the Storting to ask Supreme Court but he was turned down against 25 votes. (The Storting had 150 representatives.) The final decision were taken in Committee for Foreign and Constitutional Affairs, here Hambro was chief, he had help from Olav Veghei, chairman, and T. Anderssen-Rysst, senior executive officer.
     Nobody criticsed the extended legislation period from inside the Storting, all over Norway the critics were against the enlargement of the sitting Storting with one year. All over the country people rose their voice towards the illegal Storting, the critic coming from scholars as well as non-scholars. Never since the French Revolution had a sitting parlament done anything as illegal as the Norwegian Storting did in 1938 and 1939. To give a new law retrospective effect was against § 97 of the Constitution. Juridical the Storting had couped themselves. But this did not bother most of the representatives.
     As the Storting had extended their own period illegally Norway had no legal parliament nor a government after January 10, 1940. Stortinget had helped DnA to make a coup d'état.
   The King should have reacted upon the Storting taking the law into it's own hands, but he did not. According to the well-known British juridical scholar, Lionel Curtis, the King has the following obligations towards the parliament and the government:

"The King has the responsibility to ensure that neither Ministers nor Parliament usurper electors sovereignty. If a minister supported by the parliament ever remain in office after the legislation time has expired, the monarch is obliged to dismiss them and appoint a government until new election can be held."

There is of course a possibility that the King considered above option. If he did this could be found in his personal archives - archives neither historian nor the public ever will get access to.
     The Storting had made it's decision and were not interested in listing to the opposition. This proved to be a bad wrong and based on premisses meant nothing for the representatives of the Storting. The coup d'état was finished.
     Even after WWII some of the news papers commented on the Storting's coup d'etat, Dagbladet, a leading liberal paper wrote:

"With a coup behind the back of the voters the Storting in 1938 prolonged it's period from 3 to 4 years. If this question had been placed to the voters there would not have been enought votes to change the Constitution, not even a plain majority would have been given."

CLOSING COMMENTS
     None of the Norwegian historian have dared to comment upon the votes regarding the coup d'etat of 1938. Not even Hans Fredrik Dahl the closest Norway have to a revisionist historian dared a comment in his biographic book on Quisling.
     I find it correct to close this section on the pre-WWII history on Norway with two comments from juridical scholars, barrister-at-law Finn R. Schjoedt from Dagbladet January 28, 1939. F. R.Schoedt:

quote

"After January 1, 1940 any civilian will be able to give any court of justice an assertion that any resolution made by a illegal Storting is a nullity. - They will be able to base their argumentation as follows: The representatives that are seated in Storting are not elected to serve the people after December 31, 1939. As of January 1. 1940 them must be considered as part of a political gang. As they do not posses authority by the people/voters none of the legal question not even of taxation aspect they deal with is valid. The court of law can not validate the legality of the representatives and their authorities but the court of law can evaluate the Constitution's paragraphs and then they must come to the understanding that the sitting Storting is illegal."

Unquote

 Hambro: quote

During the life of a nation there might be tasks that need solution which require greater men then those who are available to solve them, let this nor be an apology for those men, let it be the sentence over them

Unquote

MY COMMENTS
     The history I have brought you in this News Letter were very serious mistakes for Norway and her people.
     The happenings from January 1940 til January 1950 were devastating for the reputation of Norway among all countries which are governed by rule of law.
     We will in the coming News Letters learn more about these consequences.

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