Norwegian Labour Party Research Articles

The Making of Social Democracy: the Economic and Electoral Consequences of Norway’s 1936 Folk School Reform

Abstract Upon assuming power for the first time in 1935, the Norwegian Labour Party delivered on its promise for a major schooling reform. The reform raised minimum instruction time in less-developed rural areas and boosted the resources available to rural schools, reducing class size, and raising teacher salaries. We show that cohorts more intensively affected by the reform increased their education and experienced higher labor income. Our main result is that the schooling reform also boosted support for the Norwegian Labour Party in subsequent elections. This additional support persisted for several decades and was pivotal in maintaining support for the social democratic coalition in Norway. These results are not driven by the direct impact of education and are not explained by higher turnout, or greater attention or resources from the Labour Party targeted toward the municipalities most affected by the reform. Rather, our evidence suggests that cohorts that benefited from the schooling reform, and their parents, rewarded the party for delivering a major reform that was beneficial to them.

Look to Denmark or not? An experimental study of the Social Democrats’ strategic choices

Social Democratic parties struggle to maintain their strong electoral position, as political competition has shifted from the traditional left-right dimension to the cultural dimension. This has led to a debate on what would be the most viable electoral strategy for these parties in terms of adjusting their policies. Some propose a “New Left” policy platform that combines social investment and progressive cultural policies; others an “Old Left” policy platform that combines traditional redistribution policies and social-conservative cultural policies. We conducted a survey experiment to test the effects of these two platforms on support for the Norwegian Labour party. Our results show that the New Left platform is more popular among current Labour voters and voters from competing left-wing parties, and the two policy platforms are equally popular among the total electorate.

From revolutionary paroles to democratic rhetoric: replacement of the political vocabulary within the Norwegian Labour Party in the interwar period

ABSTRACT This article examines the Norwegian Labour Party’s political language in the interwar period to uncover the relationship of its contentious shifts in political strategy and rhetoric. This is done through a quantitative and qualitative empirical case study of Labour’s use of the two concepts, ‘revolution’ and ‘democracy’. The findings show that Labour’s change from a radical-left position to reformism was accompanied by gradual replacement of its rhetorical repertoire, most notably in that its revolutionary paroles were superseded by democratic rhetoric. The findings show also that the development towards reformism did not imply full endorsement of the established democratic system, but rather that a reformist stance was adopted with the objective of changing to a system of social and economic democracy. In its analysis of the Norwegian Labour Party’s rhetoric the article provides new insights, which help to explain changes to its strategies that have greatly puzzled historians. From a wider perspective, the article offers a nuanced understanding of Norwegian exceptionalism within the Nordic labour movement.

Jugoslovenski komunisti i norveški laburisti 1951–1956.

The topic of this paper includes cooperation between the Yugoslav Communists and The Norwegian Labour Party in the first half of the 1950s, a period marked by turbulent events in Yugoslav foreign policy, from the crisis to the normalization of relations with the Eastern Bloc and the USSR. The research was mostly based on unpublished sources of Yugoslav provenance and relevant scholarly literature.

The relationship between Willy Brandt and the Norwegian Labor Party, and the process of change and establishment of Brandt’s thoughts seen from the publication of The Purpose of War of Great Powers and a New Europe

노르웨이 노동당은 브란트의 삶과 사상의 궤적에 큰 영향을 끼쳤다. 특히, 브란트가 사회주의, 자유, 민주주의, 유럽연방주의 사상을 정립해 가는 데 있어서 많은 자극과 영감을 주었다. 노르웨이 망명기간 동안 브란트는 그 곳 노동당의 도움을 많이 받았다. 그러면서 노르웨이 노동당의 노선과 실체에 대해 많은 것을 새롭게 느끼고 깨닫게 되었다. 그리하여 이 시기에 대한 연구는 청년 브란트의 사상과 삶, 국제 네트워크를 이해하는데 매우 유익하다. 특히, 코민테른과 소련에 대한 노르웨이 노동당과 빌리 브란트의 이해와 반응의 유사성이 매우 흥미롭다. 이 유사성들이 상호 관계에 크게 작용했음은 매우 주목할 만한 내용이다. 이 과정에서 브란트는 고향 뤼벡 시절에서와는 다르게 자유와 민주주의 그리고 유럽연방주의에 대한 개념을 더욱 깊게 하고 사회주의와의 관계를 체계화하였다. 이러한 과정과 결과들 이 『강대국의 전쟁목적과 새로운 유럽』 책 속에 녹아들어 갔다. 이 책을 통해 노르웨이 노동당과 빌리 브란트의 관계 그리고 그의 활동은 더욱 활 성화 될 것이었다. 그러나 나치 독일의 노르웨이 점령으로 그렇게 되지 못 하고 험난한 운명을 맞이했다.

The Making of Social Democracy: The Economic and Electoral Consequences of Norway’s 1936 Folk School Reform

Upon assuming power for the first time in 1935, the Norwegian Labour Party delivered on its promise of a major schooling reform. The reform raised minimum instruction time in less developed rural areas and boosted the resources available to rural schools, reducing class size and increasing teacher salaries. We document that cohorts more intensively affected by the reform significantly increased their education and experienced higher labor income. Our main result is that the schooling reform also substantially increased support for the Norwegian Labour Party in subsequent elections. This additional support persisted for several decades and was pivotal in maintaining support for the social democratic coalition in Norway. These results are not driven by the direct impact of education and are not explained by higher turnout, or greater attention or resources from the Labour Party targeted towards the municipalities most affected by the reform. Rather, our evidence suggests that cohorts that benefited from the schooling reform, and their parents, rewarded the party for delivering a major reform that was beneficial to them.

The Making of Social Democracy: The Economic and Electoral Consequences of Norway's 1936 Folk School Reform

Upon assuming power for the first time in 1935, the Norwegian Labour Party delivered on its promise of a major schooling reform. The reform raised minimum instruction time in less developed rural areas and boosted the resources available to rural schools, reducing class size and increasing teacher salaries. We document that cohorts more intensively affected by the reform significantly increased their education and experienced higher labor income. Our main result is that the schooling reform also substantially increased support for the Norwegian Labour Party in subsequent elections. This additional support persisted for several decades and was pivotal in maintaining support for the social democratic coalition in Norway. These results are not driven by the direct impact of education and are not explained by higher turnout, or greater attention or resources from the Labour Party targeted towards the municipalities most affected by the reform. Rather, our evidence suggests that cohorts that benefited from the schooling reform, and their parents, rewarded the party for delivering a major reform that was beneficial to them. Institutional subscribers to the NBER working paper series, and residents of developing countries may download this paper without additional charge at www.nber.org.

Social Failure and Rage: The Downward Social Mobility and Unsettled Life Course of a Norwegian Terrorist

This essay sketches out an analysis of some of the key aspects of the life course of Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian mass murderer and terrorist, as well as his typical delusional and paranoid traits. His acts of terror should be understood against the backdrop of a historical conjuncture, one that took place during the shift from class politics to identity politics and the “cultural struggle” on the one hand, and the emergence of precarious life courses within what I have dubbed the “education society” in Norway. Individuals who have experienced downward social mobility seem particularly predisposed to transforming ideological fantasies and delusions into rage, aggression, and violence. The essay takes an interdisciplinary approach. It is based on systematic reinterpretations of some empirical sources from journalism, extracts from the terrorist’s Manifesto and public records. On 22 July 2011, Behring Breivik detonated a home-made bomb outside a government building, killing eight people. Later that afternoon, he systematically and cold-bloodedly executed 69 young people who were isolated and gathered on an island, Utøya, for the annual summer camp of the Workers’ Youth Wing of the Norwegian Labour Party. These events continue to be a source of reflection in Norway today, 10 years after the terrorist attac.

Propaganda ‘Worth an Army’: The Norwegian Labour Party, Haakon Lie and the transnational dissemination of Cold War propaganda, 1945–55

The working class was the most important target for British and American propaganda in Norway during the early Cold War. The propagandists found eager allies in certain Norwegian Labour Party partisans, who wanted support in their struggle against communist and Soviet influence. Party Secretary Haakon Lie became their key contact. Soon after the war, he started propaganda cooperation with the British Labour Party, as well as the British and US Embassies in Oslo, mostly on his own initiative. New opportunities arose with the onset of the Cold War and the establishment of secret Western campaigns to influence public opinion abroad. From 1948 onward, anti-communist propaganda poured into Norway, reaching a peak during the Korean War. In the early 1950s the British Foreign Office, the US State Department and the CIA’s Congress for Cultural Freedom were all cooperating with the Norwegian Labour Party. This article gives an overview of the transnational dissemination of propaganda through Labour’s party and union apparatus, arguing that the Western propagandists’ remarkable reach towards the Norwegian labour movement and working class was a cultural ‘empire by invitation’.

Targeting Crowds: A study of how the Norwegian Labour Party adapted Nazi rhetorical methodology

The immense success of post WWI Europeantotalitarian regimes form the backdrop for this study. Political success is often credited cleverly crafted communication strategies. The Norwegian Labour Party applied methods similar to those found in Nazi Germany as of 1933/34, luring voters away from the dogmatic Right and Left, to the leftist social democratic movement. One key element of this highly successful strategy is the shift from a somber accentuation on methods of scientific persuasion, emphasizing a perceived rationale of a social system based in Marxism, to propaganda, bombarding masses with slogans and one-liners. Another key element is an acknowledgement of indifferent voters. The vast majority of the voter potential did not attend political meeting and were unable to recognize and separate ideologies. This led party strategists to developing methodologieson how to approach voters as crowds, not merely as individual citizens in large numbers. Recognizing the homogeneity and protective environment of the Darwinian herd, crowds became target groups for the Labour Party election campaigns, in which they found gratification by unison songs, theatrical entertainment and simple slogans.

The Norwegian Workers’ Education Association: A Midwife of Labor's Breakthrough in Norway

Norway in the year 1900 would be more easily recognizable to a person from the global South than to a citizen of present-day Norway. One of Europe's smallest countries, with a population of 2.2 million, it was also one of the poorest. Still a predominantly agrarian country, it suffered from the side effects of early industrialization that other European countries had known for decades. Under pressure from a growing labor movement and an increasingly restive citizenry, the Liberal Party was spearheading reformist social policies and further democratization in Norway, whereas the Conservative Party resisted such reforms. A third party—the Norwegian Labour party—was founded by some local trade unions in 1887, but remained a marginal influence at the turn of the century even if the party won sixteen percent of the votes cast in the election of 1900. However, it was about to begin its meteoric rise from obscurity to political dominance. In 1899 a number of trade unions came together to found a national superstructure—the LO—with 1,500 registered members. This prompted employers to do the same. The Employers’ Association dates back to the year 1900. Next, the right to vote was extended to new groups of voters. Before 1898 only men with an income above a certain minimum could participate in elections, but universal suffrage for men was introduced in 1898. Women were then given the right to vote in local elections in 1910 and in parliamentary elections in 1913. These reforms were introduced by the Liberal Party.

Moments of Goodness: An Analysis of Ethical and Educational Dimensions of the Terror Attack on Utøya, Norway (July 22, 2011)

The analysis is based on some moral experiences taking place during a terrorist attack on the Norwegian Labor Party’s youth camp on the island of Utoya (outside of Oslo) July 22, 2011, where 69 young people were killed and several seriously injured. After the attack many of the survivors told stories of how strangers spontaneous had helped and cared for each other. In the midst of the horror there occurred sudden “moments of goodness” or “points of light” that revealed hope for the persons involved, as well as for the society. The article examines these spontaneous moral practices in light of moral educational theory, as well as discusses the terrorists own way of thinking and acting. The spontaneous practices point toward another basis for a moral approach then a cognitive development tradition. The importance of community is underlined, as well as an interpersonal dimension. In the last section the fostering of moral and ethical thinking and acting is discussed in light of general education and the three functions of education proposed by Biesta (Beyond learning: democratic education for a human future. Paradigm Publishers, Boulder, 2010). It is suggested that moral education could contribute something to all of the three dimensions but based on the experiences from Utoya, there will be a particular emphasis on the subjectification function of education.

Political Social Media Sites as Public Sphere: A Case Study of the Norwegian Labour Party

Political interest and voter turnout is in steady decline. In an attempt to renew interest for political matters, political parties and governments have attempted to create new digital meeting places, with the hope that social media can contribute to renew the public sphere and thereby increase political awareness in the population. Communicating in new media demands adaption to the culture of the new medium, and the networked nature of the Internet poses challenges to old ways of thinking as we can no longer talk about one public sphere but rather a networked public sphere consisting of a multitude of discussion spaces. In this article, we contribute to the understanding of the networked public sphere and online political communication through a case study of MyLaborParty.no, a social network run by a Norwegian political party. Our findings indicate that political parties can create a thriving part of the networked public sphere, as long as they invite opposing voices to the discussion, communicate using the genres which facilitate discussion and have users or moderators who help spread ideas between discussion spaces.

Expectations and Experiences With MyLabourParty: From Right to Know to Right to Participate?

Social media are often argued to change political communication, decreasing the distance between politicians and citizens, and increasing citizens' influence on policymaking. This paper presents findings from a study of how the Norwegian Labour Party uses social media, focusing on the community platform MyLabourParty. Interviews with politicians and a survey with citizens as respondents were conducted to examine the experiences of online political discussions. Findings show that citizens and politicians expect MyLabourParty to strengthen citizen participation. Yet, citizens still experience communication asymmetry and politicians may find it challenging to participate to the extent citizens expect. Means for bridging the gap between expectations and experiences are called for, in particular redefinition of the offering, changes of user-practices, and system improvements.

Obama's Online Success and European Party Organizations: Adoption and Adaptation of U.S. Online Practices in the Norwegian Labor Party

ABSTRACT The article addresses the influence of U.S. online campaign practices on West-European party organizations. The empirical case is the Norwegian Labor Party: To what extent did Labor adopt the online practices of the Obama campaign, and in what sense was the online strategy adapted to fit existing campaign and organizational structures? Based on the diffusion of technology and a hybridization perspective on campaign change, it is suggested that the literature on political parties and the network party model in particular is helpful to understand this process. The findings show that the Norwegian Labor Party was highly influenced by Obama's online campaign and U.S. online practices. However, the practices were adjusted to an existing campaign style and organizational structure. Moreover, an essential part of the online strategy was a thematic network structure that aimed to lower the threshold for participation and thereby engage and activate party members, as well as recruit new members. Hence, U.S. campaign practices diffuse to Norwegian electoral politics, and the adopted U.S. practices are implemented based on the ideals of the network party.

The Inefficiency of Knowledge and the Limits of Explanations; the Necessity of Critique

July 22nd 2011 Norway experienced the deadliest terror attack in the country since World War II. One man, Anders Behring Breivik, ABB (33), blew up the Governmental Headquarters in our capital Oslo, killing eight people. Later that day he shot and killed, one by one, 69 youths attending a summer camp at Utøya, and wounded many others. His target was the Norwegian Labour Party, its most prominent and influential members, and those who one day might be. His country is dying he says, because of multiculturalism. He is a commander and knight—future leader and even king. His actions were political, compulsory—necessary. . . he says. He regrets nothing.

Do Labour Parties Suffer from Declining Turnout? Evidence from Norwegian Local Elections

The argument that declining voter turnout harms social democratic parties has received little support in research on national elections, but partisan consequences of declining turnout in local elections has been less explored. Norwegian local elections – where both turnout and support for the Labour Party have declined since the early 1960s – are used as a test case. Analyses of aggregate data gave no systematic support for the hypothesis that Labour suffers from lower turnout. Declining turnout and declining Labour Party vote were not causally related, and the correlation between the two variables seemed to be the result of other long-term social changes. Analyses of survey data pointed to three flaws in the premises on which the hypothesis was based. First, the effect of declining turnout on the biased class composition of the abstainers was ambiguous. Second, the Norwegian Labour Party suffers less from differential turnout than before as a result of declining class voting. Third, the Labour Party may suffer from a demobilisation of the working class, but the party may also benefit from a demobilisation of the young.

The representational base of the Norwegian Labour Party in the 1930s

SUMMARY The article charts the transformation of the Norwegian Labour Party, known by its acronym DNA, into a people's party. Having formed a government under Johan Nygaardsvold in 1935, in the election of 1936 the DNA reached out to almost everyone. The theme is the representation of social groups, and it is shown that the self-perceived base of the party as manifested in its propaganda and speeches went beyond blue-collar workers. In the elections of 1930 and 1933 the DNA addressed itself more often to smallholders and fishermen than to the industrial proletariat. Several writers have seen this as the key to its success, and have postulated that other Socialist parties should have copied this strategy. This article argues that there was a variety of reasons why European Socialist parties usually were not as successful as their Scandinavian counterparts. The British Labour Party did pursue the same strategy as the Norwegians, but for other reasons could not match their success. In spite of a comparative strand, the primary focus is on the appeals the DNA made in the three elections of the 1930s. The DNA's development along the road to representing all but the elite, and becoming hegemonic, is shown. The ideology of the party had only a small effect on whom it sought to represent.

Norway's Storting election of September 2005: Back to the Left?

In September 2005, after four years in opposition, Jens Stoltenberg led the Norwegian Labour Party to electoral victory at the head of a ‘red–green’ alliance that included the Socialist Left and th...

The Social Democrats and the Norwegian Welfare State: Some Perspectives

An assertion that occurs in public debate with varying emphasis and at irregular intervals is that the Norwegian welfare state is a product of the policy of the Norwegian Social Democratic Party. Such an assertion has a certain relevance, but it must be considered in the light of the time-span within which one places the establishment and moulding of the welfare state. A perspective of 50 years will lead most people to argue that the Social Democrats indeed had a major influence. If the time-span is prolonged to 100 years, however, the influence will be significantly reduced. And even when using a perspective of 50 years, one would have to view the influence of the party in relation to traditions and institutions already established when it came to power in 1935, which limited the political field of action. Furthermore, the Social Democrats did not play in this field alone. Some of the most important welfare reforms were the result of compromises between the socialist government and the bourgeois opposition, and some were passed under bourgeois government. Furthermore, the wide range of non-political organizations, which have contributed to the shaping of the welfare state and its ideological foundation, must also be taken into consideration. The aim of this article is not to evaluate the total influence of the Norwegian Labour Party on the development of the welfare state. But by looking into the matter of social insurance, municipal welfare and family politics, it is hoped that some light can be thrown on the question in hand. Two periods will be studied independently; 1880–1935, the founding years of the welfare state, and 1935 to the present, which includes the golden age of the welfare state (up until 1978), and the 1980s and 1990s, the challenging years of the welfare state both ideologically and economically. The two chronological periods will make it possible to discuss and distinguish between old and new aspects of Labour Party politics after 1935.