Anders Johnsen Buen (24 February 1864 – 17 July 1933) was a Norwegian typographer, newspaper editor, trade unionist and politician. He belonged to 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 ...

from the start, being party secretary as well as editor of the party organs ''

Social-Demokraten ''Social-Demokraten'' () was a Swedish daily Social Democratic newspaper, belonging to the Swedish Social Democratic Party. The paper was founded in 1885 by Axel Danielsson and August Palm. Palm also edited the paper from 1885 to 1886. Another ...

'' and ''

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 ...

'', but politically he was described as a "

reformist Reformism is a political tendency advocating the reform of an existing system or institution – often a political or religious establishment – as opposed to its abolition and replacement via revolution. Within the socialist movement, ref ...

pragmatic Pragmatism is a philosophical movement. Pragmatism or pragmatic may also refer to: * "Pragmaticism", Charles Sanders Peirce's post-1905 branch of philosophy * Pragmatics, a subfield of linguistics and semiotics * ''Pragmatics'' (journal), an aca ...

", and was thus a member of the breakaway Social Democratic Labour Party of Norway from 1921 to 1927.

Early life and education

Buen was born in Gransherad as the son of farmer Jon Olsen Buen (1823–1906) and his wife Aslaug Olsdatter (1826–1906). He finished primary school, and attended a secondary school in

Vang, Hedmark Vang is a former municipality in the old Hedmark county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1992 when it became part of Hamar Municipality. The administrative centre of the municipality was at Fredvang. This si ...

for two years, before entering an apprenticeship as a book printer at W.C. Fabritius in

Kristiania Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022, an ...

in 1879. He then educated himself, and worked, as a

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 ...

Labour movement

In 1885, Buen was among the founders of the association ''Socialdemokratisk Forening''. The association took control over the newspaper ''Vort Arbeide'' ('Our Work'), founded in 1884 by Christian Holtermann Knudsen, and Buen was hired there as a journalist. The name was changed from ''Vort Arbeide'' to ''Social-Demokraten'' ('The Social Democrat') in 1886. Buen was appointed editor-in-chief of ''Social-Demokraten'' in 1900, and as this was the main organ for the Labour Party, Buen became party secretary as well. He also chaired his local trade union from 1897 to 1898, and served one term in Kristiania city council from 1901 to 1903. In 1903, a conflict in the party forced the retreat of Buen as editor-in-chief. He was also replaced as party secretary. Instead, he was sent to Trondhjem to edit the party organ in that city, ''

''. He served as a member of Trondhjem city council from 1907 to 1910 and from 1913 to his death. He was also elected to the first session of the

Norwegian Parliament The Storting ( ; ) 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 based on party-list proportional represe ...

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

, 1909,

1912 This year is notable for Sinking of the Titanic, the sinking of the ''Titanic'', which occurred on April 15. In Albania, this leap year runs with only 353 days as the country achieved switching from the Julian to Gregorian Calendar by skippin ...

1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January *January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 * ...

and

1918 The ceasefire that effectively ended the World War I, First World War took place on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of this year. Also in this year, the Spanish flu pandemic killed 50–100 million people wor ...

, representing the

single-member constituency A single-member district or constituency is an electoral district represented by a single officeholder. It contrasts with a multi-member district, which is represented by multiple officeholders. In some countries, such as Australia and India ...

Lademoen Lademoen is a neighborhood in the city of Trondheim in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is situated the borough of Østbyen in Trondheim Municipality, about east of Midtbyen, the city centre of Trondheim. Lademoen was transferred from Strinda M ...

. He led the Labour Party parliamentary group from 1913 to 1921, and from 1919 to 1921 he served as President of the Storting. Labour parliamentary group 1906

In the meantime, Buen had been succeeded as editor of ''Ny Tid'' by Martin Tranmæl. Tranmæl belonged to the radical wing of the Labour Party, and in 1921, the moderate wing broke out to form the Social Democratic Labour Party of Norway, due to disagreements over the Labour Party's membership in the

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 adaption of 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 ...

. Buen, described as a "

", joined the Social Democratic Labour Party. From 1922 to 1927 he edited the newspaper '' Trøndelag Social-Demokrat'', which can be considered an offshoot of ''Ny Tid''. Labour Party had officially scrapped the Twenty-one Conditions in 1923, and in 1927 the Labour Party and the Social Democratic Labour Party reconciled and reunited. ''Trøndelag Social-Demokrat'' was disestablished, but since ''Ny Tid'' had been usurped when 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 ...

broke away from the Labour Party in 1923, the Labour Party organ in Trondhjem was now '' Arbeider-Avisen''. Buen worked as a journalist here for a few years. He also managed the local branch of

Norges Bank Norges Bank (, , ) is the central bank of Norway. It is responsible for managing the Government Pension Fund of Norway, which is the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, as well as the bank's own foreign exchange reserves. History The histor ...

from 1916 to his death in 1933 and had been a member of the board of the

Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate The Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate ( or NVE) is a Norwegian government agency established in 1921. It is under the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and regulates the country's water resources and energy supply. Its mandate in ...

from 1921 to 1923.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buen, Anders 1864 births 1933 deaths Norwegian newspaper editors Norwegian trade unionists Politicians from Oslo Politicians from Trondheim Presidents of the Storting Labour Party (Norway) politicians Social Democratic Labour Party of Norway politicians Norwegian bankers Dagsavisen editors Members of the Storting 1907–1909 Members of the Storting 1910–1912 Members of the Storting 1913–1915 Members of the Storting 1916–1918 Members of the Storting 1919–1921