Aud Solveig Gustad, née Lund Olsen (1 May 1917 – 30 April 2000) was a Norwegian trade unionist and politician for the

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

and Socialist Left parties. She was born in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...

as a daughter of worker Jens Valdemar Lund Olsen (1894–1970) and cleaner Jenny Oline Emilie Hansen (1896–1966). She was active in the Norwegian communists'

pioneer movement A pioneer movement is an youth organization, organization for children operated by a communist party. Typically children enter into the organization in elementary school and continue until adolescence. The adolescents then typically join the Yo ...

from 1930, and from 1935 to 1939 she was active in the

Young Communist League of Norway The Young Communist League of Norway (, NKU) was until April 2006 the youth league of Norges Kommunistiske Parti (NKP). The NKP declared on 1 April 2006 that the NKU was no longer its youth organization, and that all youths interested in joinin ...

. She finished her secondary education at

Trondheim Cathedral School Trondheim Cathedral School (, Latin: ''Schola Cathedralis Nidrosiensis'') is an upper secondary school located next to the Nidaros Cathedral in the center of Trondheim, Norway. History There is great dispute regarding the actual founding date of ...

in 1937 and started as a journalist in ''

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 ...

'' in the same year. After a stint as telephone worker from 1938 until 1944 she briefly returned to ''Ny Tid'' in 1945. The Second World War was over, and she briefly served in the Communist Party women's committee. In 1939 she had married worker Helge Kristian Gustad. She left the workforce for some years, but was hired as a receptionist in Phoenix Hotell in 1951. In 1955 she went on to become a bookkeeper for Bladcentralen. Here she was elected as the local union leader ( Union of Employees in Commerce and Offices) in 1961. From 1969 to 1970 she changed job to assistant at the Social School, and chaired the Trondheim branch of the progressive women's league Norsk Kvinneforbund. From 1970 to 1977 she was a secretary in the Norwegian Heart and Lung Patient Organization regionally. In the 1971 Norwegian local elections Gustad was elected as a deputy member of Trondheim city council; and full member in

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

. In the meantime she had become a deputy representative to the

Parliament of Norway 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 ...

from

Sør-Trøndelag Sør-Trøndelag (; ) was a Counties of Norway, county comprising the southern portion of the present-day Trøndelag county in Norway. It bordered the old Nord-Trøndelag () county as well as the counties of Møre og Romsdal, Oppland, and Hedmark. ...

, elected in

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

. After a little less than two years, the regular representative

Kai Øverland Kai Øverland (27 February 1931 – 27 August 1975) was a Norwegian trade unionist and politician for the Socialist Left Party. He was born in Trondheim, and took a vocational education. He worked as a plumber from 1947 to 1969, then as a surveyo ...

died and Gustad replaced him. He took a seat in the Standing Committee on Standing Committee on Social Affairs. In 1977 she withdrew from electoral politics to move to Oslo and work as a secretary for the Norwegian Heart and Lung Patient Organization nationwide. From 1984 to 1991 she was a board member of the

Norwegian Federation of Organisations of Disabled People Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *Norwegian language, including the two ...

. However, she served as a bnational board member of the Socialist Left Party from 1979 to 1981 and member of their committee on social policy from 1979 to 1983. She was also a deputy board member of Postverket from 1977 to 1981.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gustad, Aud 1917 births 2000 deaths Bookkeepers Norwegian trade unionists Communist Party of Norway politicians Socialist Left Party (Norway) politicians Norwegian socialist feminists Politicians from Trondheim Women members of the Storting 20th-century Norwegian women politicians 20th-century Norwegian journalists Norwegian women trade unionists Members of the Storting 1973–1977