Elias Karelius Johansen Volan (10 March 1887 – 26 December 1974) was a Norwegian

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

ist. He was born in

Inderøy Municipality Inderøy is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Trøndelag Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Innherad Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Straumen, Trøn ...

as a son of

crofter A croft is a traditional Scottish term for a fenced or enclosed area of land, usually small and arable, and usually, but not always, with a crofter's dwelling thereon. A crofter is one who has tenure and use of the land, typically as a ten ...

Johan Berent Johannessen Volvollan and Lise Eliasdatter Kjærbo. He attended Sund Folk

High School A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

from 1903 to 1904, but spent the rest of his youth as a worker. In 1908 he became chairman of his local trade union. He became a

Norwegian Union of General Workers The Norwegian Union of General Workers (, NAF) is a trade union in Norway. It has a membership of 33,000 and is affiliated with the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO). The union was founded on 13 April 1895, by 12 transport workers, as ...

unionist 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 ...

, and became a national board member in 1913. He was also a member of the Dutch Radicals (refer to Fagopposisjonen av 1911), and through his fellow adherents (spearheaded by

Martin Tranmæl Martin Olsen Tranmæl (27 June 1879 – 11 July 1967) was a Norwegian socialist leader from The Norwegian Labour Party. Biography Martin Tranmæl grew up on a middle-sized farm in Melhus Municipality, in Søndre Trondhjem county, Norway. He ...

) he was elected chairman of the

in 1918 and deputy chairman of the

Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (, LO) is a national trade union center, decidedly the largest and probably the most influential umbrella organization of labour unions in Norway. The 21 national unions affiliated to the LO have almo ...

in 1920. In 1923 he went on to become

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

of the newly created Norwegian Union of Building Workers. He was active in 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 ...

, but when the party split in 1923 he joined 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 ...

. He was a central

board member A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulations ...

from 1923 to 1929 and

politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...

member from 1925 to 1929. Because of this he was removed as Norwegian Union of Building Workers leader in 1927, and instead became head of trade matters in the

. In 1929 he was also removed as member of the Confederation of Trade Unions secretariat together with Hans Aas. He chaired the party

Arbeiderklassens Samlingsparti Arbeiderklassens Samlingsparti (lit. "Unified Party of the Working Class") was a short-lived political party in Norway. Establishment It was a part of the tendency of unification among the workers' parties in Norway. From the Norwegian Labour Par ...

in 1927, but it was very short-lived. He left the Communist Party in 1929, and rejoined the Labour Party. He was secretary of the Confederation of Trade Unions from 1931 to 1934, when he was again removed. He instead became Confederation of Trade Unions secretary for

Northern Norway Northern Norway (, , ; ) is a geographical region of Norway, consisting of the three northernmost counties Nordland, Troms and Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainland. Some of the largest towns in Northern Norway (from south to no ...

in 1935, where he mainly travelled around and founded trade unions. In 1938 he returned as national secretary. He was married to Olufine Mathilde Vinje (1885–1953) from June 1909 to 1938, and then to Astrid Evensen (1890–1958) from July 1938. After the German invasion of Norway in 1940, the leadership of the Confederation of Trade Unions fled together with the

royal family A royal family is the immediate family of monarchs and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term papal family describes the family of a pope, while th ...

and

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

. Volan became acting

leader Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. "Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...

from 13 April 1940. On 14 April he co-signed a petition to the people to remain calm under the new German rule (following the Lysaker Bridge sabotage). Volan was a member of the ''Nemnda for industri og omsetning'', and participated in negotiations during the summer. Many trade unionists disliked his role. Nonetheless, he was removed by Germans in September 1940. Jens Tangen from Fagopposisjonen av 1940 was ordered by Germans to take over. Volan fled to Sweden, where he worked for the exiled part of the Confederation of Trade Unions. He was a Communist Party member for a brief time, but joined the Labour Party for the third time before 1945. After the war, he was not sanctioned for the time as trade union leader in occupied Norway. He continued as union secretary until retirement in 1953, being re-elected in 1946 and 1949. He was a member of the

Labour Court of Norway Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

from 1954 to 1957. He died in December 1974 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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Volan, Elias 1887 births 1974 deaths People from Inderøy Labour Party (Norway) politicians Communist Party of Norway politicians Norwegian trade unionists Norwegian people of World War II Norwegian expatriates in Sweden