Einar Olgeirsson (14 August 1902 – 3 February 1993) was an

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

politician and editor of a number of left-wing newspapers.

Biography

Einar was born in

Akureyri Akureyri (, ) is a town in northern Iceland, the country's fifth most populous Municipalities of Iceland, municipality (under the official name of Akureyrarbær , 'town of Akureyri') and the largest outside the Capital Region (Iceland), Capital R ...

. In 1921, he graduated from Reykjavik Junior College. He later studied German and English literature at the Friedrich Wilhelm University in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

in the years 1921–1924, but did not graduate. After returning to Iceland, Einar worked as a teacher in Akureyri in 1924–1928. In 1928–1931, he served the Chairman of the Akureyri Workers' Union and as a representative to the town council. He was one of the co-founders of the Communist Party of Iceland in 1930. As a leading member of the Communist Party, Einar was one of the main proponents in Iceland behind the popular front line, promoted by 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 ...

as a means to resist the growth of

fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...

during the second half of the 1930s. This resulted in the merging of the Icelandic Communist Party and the left-wing faction of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

into the

People's Unity Party – Socialist Party The People's Unity Party – Socialist Party (), generally referred to as the Socialist Party (), was an Icelandic political party that functioned from 1938 to 1968, when the People's Alliance party was created. History It was formed through ...

in 1938. Einar would later serve as chairman of the People's Unity Party – Socialist Party during the years 1939–1968, making him one of the most influential socialist politicians in Iceland during the 20th century. Einar was a member of the

Althing The (; ), anglicised as Althingi or Althing, is the Parliamentary sovereignty, supreme Parliament, national parliament of Iceland. It is the oldest surviving parliament in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at ('Thing (assembly), thing ...

, the Icelandic parliament, in the years 1937–1968: there, he served as a representative for the Communist Party until the party's merging into the People's Unity Party – Socialist Party in 1938. He then represented the People's Unity Party – Socialist Party in parliament until 1956, when he became a representative of the

People's Alliance People's Alliance may refer to: * People's Alliance ( ''Volksunie''), Belgian political party which split in 2001 into the Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie and Spirit * People's Alliance (Bulgaria), a Bulgarian party from 1921 to 1923 * People's Alliance ( ...

, an electoral alliance formed by the People's Unity Party – Socialist Party and another left-wing faction of the Social Democratic Party. As part of his political activity, Einar was also the editor of several left-wing newspapers, including ''

Þjóðviljinn :''Þjóðviljinn (1887-1915), Þjóðviljinn was also the name of a magazine published by Skúli Thoroddsen between 1887 and 1915.'' ''Þjóðviljinn'' () was an Icelandic daily newspaper founded on 31 October 1936. It had close ties with the Com ...

'' in the years 1936–1946. During the

Allied occupation of Iceland The Occupation of Iceland during World War II began with a British invasion in order to occupy the island and deny it to Germany. The military operation, codenamed Operation Fork, was conducted by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. The British ...

, ''Þjóðviljinn'' was accused of spreading propaganda against the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

. As a result, Einar was arrested by the British in April 1941 and transferred to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, where he was imprisoned in

HM Prison Brixton HM Prison Brixton is a Category C training establishment men's prison, located in Brixton area of the London Borough of Lambeth, in inner London, inner-South London. The prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. Before 2012, it was use ...

for several months. He was released and allowed to return to Iceland during the summer of 1941. After the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Einar was a member of several government committees until the 1970s. In the years 1957–1963 he served as a representative of Iceland to the

Nordic Council The Nordic Council is the official body for formal inter-parliamentary Nordic cooperation among the Nordic countries. Formed in 1952, it has 87 representatives from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden as well as from the autonomo ...

, and in the years 1957–1981 he was a member of the Board of Directors of

Landsbanki Landsbanki (, ), also commonly known as Landsbankinn (, ) was one of the largest Icelandic commercial banks; it failed as part of the 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis when its subsidiary sparked the Icesave dispute. On October 7, 2008, t ...

. He died in

Hafnarfjörður Hafnarfjörður, officially Hafnarfjarðarkaupstaður, is a port town and municipality in Iceland, located about south of Reykjavík. The municipality consists of two non-contiguous areas in the Capital Region (Iceland), Capital Region, on the s ...

in 1993.

Biography

References

Further reading