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p The greatest problem of the Norwegian working class in the thirties was unemployment, which was particularly severe among the rural population and the young. Thousands of young people lost their jobs even before the economic crisis. Many had never had one. Hunger and poverty were constant guests in the rural areas.

p The succession of reactionary bourgeois governments of Norway did nothing to ease the lot of the working people. On the contrary, their policies led to a further deterioration in the position of the workers and peasants. Naturally this provoked bitter opposition from the working people.

p The radicalisation of the working-class movement in Norway in the early thirties exhibited itself in numerous powerful agricultural and industrial strikes. The unemployed set up their own militant organisations. Alongside the struggle for economic demands, the political struggle of the working class assumed everincreasing proportions, aimed first and foremost against the growing fascist forces.

p The political situation in the country became acute in the spring of 1932. The reactionary provocation of the working class by the Minister of Defence, Vidkun Quisling, attracted the attention of the whole country. Quisling, whose name became a synonym for treachery during the years of Hitlerite aggression, made a sensational announcement in February 1932 that a "Communist agent" had attempted to assassinate him. In spite of the fact that the parliamentary commission, which investigated this and other accusations made by Quisling against Left-wing parties and trade unions, acknowledged them to be fabricated or drawn from highly dubious sources, the government refused to hold the minister responsible. After retiring from his post in 1933 following the collapse of the Agrarian Party government, Quisling resurfaced a few months later on the political scene as the “Fiihrer” of the new fascist party, the National Union.

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p The first reactionary organisations of the pro-fascist type appeared in Norway in the twenties. These were the riflery clubs and nationalist "homeland unions”. The greatest danger to the working-class movement at that time were the pro-fascist strikebreaking bands who operated mainly in the rural areas against the lumbermen’s and agricultural workers’ trade unions. The formation of the National Union in 1933 bore witness to the growth of dangerous fascist forces which were closely connected with the so-called democratic parties, particularly with the Agrarian and Right-wing Hyre parties.

p Determined struggle against the fascist threat became the main task of the organised working-class movement. The Communist Party of Norway was the first to draw attention to this threat and strive to mobilise the working class for the struggle against fascism. However, its efforts to create a united front of working" people were successful only at the level of the lower working-class organisations.

p During this period the young people were particularly active. They broke up meetings of the National Union in working- classareas, organised -protest demonstrations outside German consular offices, and picketed German ships in Norwegian ports. Antifascist slogans appeared on practically unscalable cliff faces, on the tops of factory chimneys and on German holiday steamers in Norwegian fiords and harbours. The authorities responded tothese actions with a wave of arrests and trials.

p In the Social-Democratic youth movement at this time an antifascist Left-wing had been formed, which established contact with the Communist youth. Numerous representatives of the radical intelligentsia also joined in the anti-fascist movement.

This growing social protest against fascism became the basis of the Norwegian working people’s movement of solidarity with the Spanish Republic, when the latter was invaded by the joint forces of Spanish and world fascism.

p The liberation movement of the Spanish people greatly influenced the activities of anti-fascist forces in Norway. The winning over of broad sections of the population to the cause of aiding the Spanish Republic assumed proportions unparalleled in the country’s history and became a truly popular movement, the influence of which was felt for many years to come, including the period of the Second World War.

p The “non-intervention” policy of Britain, France and the United States obstructed normal relations between democratic Spain and the countries of Europe and America. The Social-Democratic government which came to power in Norway in 1935 likewise did not dare pursue a policy which conflicted with the interests 227 of the large capitalist states. Norwegians were forbidden to leave the country as volunteers for Spain. It was also forbidden to supply the Spanish people with war. material and to transport military cargoes to Spain.

p The Norwegian people refused to submit to a policy which amounted to a blockade of Republican Spain. Aid to the Spanish people assumed two forms in Norway. One was of a military nature and, naturally, could be implemented only against the law. The other consisted of sending parcels of medicine, food and clothing for the civilian population, primarily for the thousands of Spanish children who were in great distress, and medicaments for the front. This type of aid, in spite of considerable difficulties, could be effected within the law.

p In the autumn of 1936 the Association of Norwegian Trade .Unions (AFL) began to raise funds for aid to Spain. In a short time, by November 24, 1936, more than 100,000 kroner had been collected. A considerable part of this sum was handed over to the International Committee of Aid to the People of Spain. The remainder was used to purchase dressings and clothing which were sent to Spain directly from Norway.

p In November of the same year the AFL suggested setting up a Norwegian Committee of Aid to the Spanish People on a broader base: its membership included representatives of many organisations. The Committee immediately set about raising funds on a large scale. The first consignment, dispatched at the end of November, contained dressings, anaesthetics and surgical instruments. Between November 1936 and March 1937, 24,000 ampules of morphine, 20,000 packets of dressings, 150 kilograms of pure iodine and 80 sets of surgical instruments, as well as some large consignments of clothes, were sent to Spain.

p The Committee’s activities were enthusiastically supported by the working people of Norway. It was soon able, together with the Swedish Committee of Aid to Spain, to cope with the important task of setting up a well-equipped modern hospital on the territory of the Republic. The hospital was opened in the premises of a technical school in the industrial town of Alcoy, 100 kilometres south of Valencia. It originally had 125 beds, but was later expanded to 650.

p The hospital personnel—doctors, nurses and other staff—was fifty per cent Norwegian and Swedish. On May 19, 1937, the hospital admitted its first patient, and on September 20 it was handed over to the Republican Government which expressed its deep gratitude for the aid that had been given. The Committee continued to send the hospital essential equipment and instruments that were difficult to acquire in Spain.

p The Norwegian Committee also gave considerable aid to the children of Spanish refugees. In collaboration with the Spanish 228 authorities several children’s homes and hospitals were opened. Three children’s homes and a children’s hospital with 300 beds were equipped in the fishing town of Oliva near Valencia. Another children’s home was situated in Casa de la Playa and financed by the Bergen Aid Committee, and another—in Casa de la Montana —was financed by Oslo municipal workers. The Fridtjof Nansen Children’s Hospital received financial assistance from the Oslo Aid Committee. In addition, the Norwegian Committee of Aid to Spain played an active role in setting up numerous recuperation centres for the wounded in various parts of Republican Spain.

p The Norwegian Committee sent regular consignments of foodstuffs to the Spanish civilian population, mainly cod-liver oil, vitamin preparations and fish products. In 1937 and 1938, 1,000 kilograms of cod-liver oil were sent to Spain fortnightly and. 100,000 vitamin tablets each month. Large consignments of foodstuffs were also dispatched there (for example, 110,000 kilograms of dried cod in December 1937), and shortly afterwards followed one of the largest shipments—10,000 kilograms of lard, 10,000 kilograms of cod-liver oil, 30,000 tins of sweetened condensed milk, 12,000 kilograms of dried milk, 90,000 kilograms of sugar and 170,000 bars of soap.

p The Committee of Aid to Spain collected about two million kroner in Norway. After the defeat of the Spanish Republic, the Committee’s activities were directed towards giving assistance to Spanish refugees in France.

Of great importance for the Spanish people’s struggle was the transportation of war material purchased by the Spanish Government, which was organised by the Norwegian Communists in conjunction with their Swedish and Danish comrades. Norwegian vessels carrying arms and ammunition in their holds made hazardous voyages to Spanish ports. Norwegian sailors signed on specially to take part in these voyages. This aid was particularly vital in 1937-38 when the French-Spanish border was closed.

The Communist Party of Norway, which initiated all forms of public assistance to the Spanish people, did not restrict itself to committee work. In response to the desire of Norwegian anti- fascists, particularly the young, to offer armed resistance to fascism and join the militant struggle of the Spanish people, the Communist Party set up a centre at the end of 1936 for the selection and dispatch of volunteers to Spain. By this time several Norwegian sailors had left their ships in Spanish ports and, on their own initiative, joined in the war against the insurgents as members of the International Brigades.

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International brigaders charge the enemy

p By the beginning of 1937 the first Norwegian volunteers had left Norway for Spain. The authorities did all they could to prevent their departure. In conjunction with fascist informers the police organised periodic round-ups. Most of the Norwegian volunteers were Communists and members of the Young Communist League. They were also joined by volunteers with other political affiliations.

p The exact number of Norwegian volunteers who fought in Spain and laid down their lives for the Republic is not known. According to existing information, about 400 Norwegians fought in the International Brigades, but only a few of their names are known. For security reasons lists of volunteers were destroyed immediately after the occupation of Norway by Germany on April 9, 1940.

p The Gestapo immediately set about hunting down and executing former participants in the Spanish war, on the assumption that they would play an important part in the Resistance movement. They were not mistaken. The people who had fought in Spain were staunch, ardent anti-fascists, fighters for the freedom and independence of their country, with a great deal of practical experience. Many of them were put in German concentration 230 camps and died there. Others were permanently invalided as a result of the hardships they had experienced in Spain and the subsequent horrors of the death camps. But all those who survived continued to fight against the nazi invaders. As we know, the nucleus of the largest Norwegian underground militant group was composed of former members of International Brigades.

p During the Spanish war hundreds of members of the solidarity movement were active in Norway, writing explanatory articles, giving public addresses and devoting themselves to organisational questions. While it is impossible to mention them all, we should like to refer to those who became particularly well-known for their fine work.

p Lise Lindbaek first went to Spain in December 1936 and stayed there for eighteen months. Later, in connection with the work of assisting Spanish refugees, she went to France. From 1937 to 1938 she was permanent correspondent of the Dagbladet, a liberal newspaper. During and after the civil war she gave many lectures in Norway, Sweden and Denmark and wrote a number of books on Spain.

p The eminent Norwegian anti-fascist writer Nordahl Grieg went to Spain twice. His reports from there were later collected together in the book Spansk Sommer (Spanish Summer). In 1936-37 a great deal of space was given over to the events in Spain in his anti-fascist magazine Veien Frem (The Way Ahead). His famous novel Ung ma verden ennu vcere (The World Is Yet to Be Young) is also mainly about the war in Spain. Together with the Danish writer Martin Andersen-Nexo he initiated many mass rallies of young people in the Scandinavian countries in 1937 and 1939. He died in December 1943.

p Viggo Hansteen played an important role in organising the transportation of military consignments to Spain. Together with his Swedish and Danish comrades he sought out vessels and crews who would undertake this dangerous work of penetrating into Spanish ports with a cargo of arms and ammunition. Hansteen was shot by the Gestapo in Norway in September 1941.

p Gerda Grepp, correspondent for the Social-Democratic newspaper, the Arbeiderbladet, was the first Norwegian journalist in Spain. From 1937 to 1938 she represented the Spanish Government’s press department Agence Espagne in Paris. She also lectured in Norway and Sweden. She died in Norway in 1940.

p Just Lippe worked as correspondent of the Arbeideren, the newspaper of the Norwegian Communist Party, in 1936. In November of that year the Party made him responsible for the transportation of volunteers and arms to Republican Spain.

p Ottar Lie, party secretary on organisational matters, led the campaign to recruit volunteers for the International Brigades and helped to organise their departure from Norway. His closest 231 assistant in this work was Erling Tendeland. Ottar Lie was arrested by the Gestapo and executed in 1943.

p Nina Haslund Gleditsch and Kristian Gleditsch played an active part in organising the campaign to aid Spain. They kept the Norwegian working people informed of the true situation there and appealed to them to help in the Spanish people’s noble struggle against fascism. Together with many other Norwegian activists they raised funds for the Spanish Republic.

Such was the contribution of the Norwegian anti-fascists to the Spanish people’s heroic struggle for freedom.