("The Worker") was a daily

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

published in

Oslo 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 ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. It was started on 2 November 1929 as the official party newspaper from the Communist Party. It lent its name from a

Hamar Hamar is a List of cities in Norway, town in Hamar Municipality in Innlandet Counties of Norway, county, Norway. Hamar is the administrative centre of Hamar Municipality. It is located in the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Hedmarken. ...

-based newspaper of the same name, which had gone defunct on 4 October. More directly, it replaced ''

Norges Kommunistblad was a daily newspaper published in Oslo, Norway. History was started on 5 November 1923 as the official party newspaper from the Communist Party of Norway, Communist Party, which was established that year after a split from the Norwegian Lab ...

'' which just had gone bankrupt. Its first editor was Arvid G. Hansen, who had been the last editor of ''Norges Kommunistblad''. He remained in the chair until 1931.

Reinert Torgeirson Reinert Torgeirson (7 December 1884 – 30 November 1969) was a Norwegian newspaper editor and politician for the Labour and Communist parties. He was also an active poet, playwright and novelist. Biography Torgeirson was born in Ålesund in Mø ...

was editor from 1931 to 1932, followed by

Erling Bentzen Erling Herolf Bentzen, sometimes given as Bentsen (8 January 1897 – 12 December 1962) was a Norway, Norwegian newspaper editor and politician for the Norwegian Labour Party, Labour and Communist Party of Norway, Communist parties. He was born in ...

. In 1934 he was fired for not following the directions of 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 ...

, the superior organ of the Communist Party of Norway. Henry W. Kristiansen became the new editor-in-chief, having been deposed as party leader. The publication was irregular, sometimes it came daily, sometimes weekly. From 1937 it was a daily newspaper, supported by the party while it siphoned support from other party newspapers, such as ''

Arbeidet ''Arbeidet'' ("The Work") was a Norwegian newspaper, published in Bergen in Hordaland county. History and profile ''Arbeidet'' was started in Bergen as a socialist newspaper on 6 December 1893, by a grouping called . It was the first socialist ...

''. Henry W. Kristiansen still sat as editor on 9 April 1940, when World War II reached Norway with the German invasion. The newspaper became controversial among many. First, because it strongly criticized the existing Norwegian Fascist party

Nasjonal Samling The Nasjonal Samling (, NS; ) was a Norway, Norwegian far-right politics, far-right political party active from 1933 to 1945. It was the only legal party of Norway from 1942 to 1945. It was founded by former minister of defence Vidkun Quisling a ...

as well as Fascism in general. For this it was confiscated on 25 April. Second, because it criticized the actions of the legal government,

Nygaardsvold's Cabinet __NOTOC__ Nygaardsvold's Cabinet (later becoming the Norwegian government-in-exile) was appointed on 20 March 1935, the second Labour cabinet in Norway. It brought to an end the non-socialist minority governments that had dominated Norwegian p ...

, and its alliance with Great Britain. The newspaper was edited out of "neutrality" concerns; this was because of the

Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, officially the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and also known as the Hitler–Stalin Pact and the Nazi–Soviet Pact, was a non-aggression pact between Nazi Ge ...

. As the invading Germans tightened their rule of Norway, ''Arbeideren'' was forbidden and stopped on 16 August 1940. Kristiansen died in

Neuengamme concentration camp Neuengamme was a network of Nazi concentration camps in northern Germany that consisted of the main camp, Neuengamme, and List of subcamps of Neuengamme, more than 85 satellite camps. Established in 1938 near the village of Neuengamme, Hamburg, N ...

in 1942. After the war, ''Arbeideren'' never returned, and ''

Friheten ''Friheten'' () is a Norwegian language biweekly newspaper, published by the Norwegian Communist Party (NKP). History and profile ''Friheten'' was founded illegally in 1941 during the German occupation of Norway due to World War II. The founde ...

'' became the official party organ. ''Arbeideren'' was probed into during the

legal purge in Norway after World War II The legal purge in Norway after World War II (; ) took place between May 1945 and August 1948 against anyone who was found to have Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, collaborated with the German occupation of Norway, German occupat ...

for its criticism towards the legal government in 1940, but the case was closed since Kristiansen, and former board member of the newspaper Ottar Lie, were dead.

References

{{italic title 1929 establishments in Norway 1940 disestablishments in Norway Communist Party of Norway newspapers Defunct newspapers published in Oslo Defunct Norwegian-language newspapers Newspapers established in 1929 Publications disestablished in 1940 Daily newspapers published in Norway Defunct daily newspapers