Michael Puntervold (4 September 1879 – 4 August 1937) was a Norwegian lawyer and politician for the Labour and Social Democratic Labour parties.

Personal life

He was born in

Grimstad Grimstad () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder counties of Norway, county, Norway. It belongs to the geographical region of Southern Norway, Sørlandet. The administrative center of the municipality is the Grimstad (to ...

as a son of Karl Gustav Puntervold (1828–1920) and Francisca Maria Falch, née Landmark (1845–). His father was a seamen's school manager in Grimstad until 1885, when he was appointed as head quartermaster officer of the

Royal Norwegian Navy The Royal Norwegian Navy () is the branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces responsible for navy, naval operations of Norway, including those of the Norwegian Coast Guard. , the Royal Norwegian Navy consists of approximately 3,700 personnel (9,450 i ...

Horten Horten () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Jarlsberg. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Horten (town) ...

. His father's lineage hailed from

Eigersund Municipality Eigersund is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It is in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Dalane. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Egersund. The tow ...

and his mother was from

Jølster Municipality Jølster is a former municipality in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. It was located in the traditional district of Sunnfjord. The administrative centre was the village of Skei. Other villages in the municipality included Helgheim, Ålhus, Vas ...

where her father served as bailiff. On his mother's side he was a first cousin of

Ole OLE, Ole or Olé may refer to: * Olé, a cheering expression used in Spain * Ole (name), a male given name, includes a list of people named Ole * Overhead lines equipment, used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains Co ...

and Hjørdis Landmark. In September 1908 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 ...

he married merchant's daughter Anna Pedersen Øyjord from Øyjord. The couple had three daughters, born between 1909 and 1916.

Career

Puntervold finished middle school in Horten i 1895, and finished his secondary education at Kristiania Cathedral School in 1898. After doing military service, he returned to Horten where he taught at the middle school from 1899 to 1901. After spending the year 1902 in

Alta Alta or ALTA may refer to: Acronyms * Alt-A, short for Alternative A-paper, is a type of US mortgage * American Land Title Association, a national trade association representing the land title industry * American Literary Translators Association, ...

, he moved to

Narvik () is the third-largest List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Narvik (town), town of Narvik. Some of the notable villag ...

in 1903. He was the manager of the middle school here, co-founded and chaired the local chapter of the Labour Party and edited the party newspaper ''

Fremover ''Fremover'' is a regional newspaper published in Narvik, Norway. It has been published for more than 100 years, having been founded on May 27, 1903. ''Fremover'', which has no party affiliation, is read daily by approx. 29,000 people. Each editio ...

'' for a short time. From 1904 to 1910 he was a journalist in the

newspaper ''

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 ...

''. Alongside his journalism he studied law at the

Royal Frederick University The University of Oslo (; ) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick University, the university was established in 1811 as the de facto Norwegian conti ...

. He was active in the

Norwegian Students' Society Norwegian Students' Society () is Norway's oldest student society. The Norwegian Students' Society was established during 1813 in Oslo, Norway. Two years after the Royal Frederick University (today named the University of Oslo) was founded, 18 of ...

and the Norwegian Student Choral Society, among others on three concert tours. After graduating with a

cand.jur. Candidate ( or ) is the name of various academic degrees, which are today mainly awarded in Scandinavia. The degree title was phased out in much of Europe through the 1999 Bologna Process, which has re-formatted academic degrees in Europe. The de ...

degree in 1906 he worked as an attorney in Kristiania. He was a part-time law partner of

Carl Bonnevie Carl Emil Christian Bonnevie (28 April 1881 – 26 September 1972) was a Norwegian jurist and peace activist. He also served as a Member of the Norwegian Parliament. Biography Bonnevie was born in Trondheim as the son of Jacob Aall Bonnev ...

from 1907 to 1909, then independently from 1910 and in partnership with Brynjulf Wangen from 1912. From 1914 he was a barrister with access to working with

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

cases. He became an important person in the labour movement in 1904 when publishing the pamphlet ''Antimilitarismen'' via Norges Socialdemokratiske Ungdomsforbund. It was the first "comprehensive theoretical reasoning" behind the Labour Party's military policy at the time: skepticism to the current military while wanting the working people to take up arms. In the early 1900s he published agitative pamphlets named ''Militarismen'' ("The Militarism") and ''Klassekampen'' ("The Class Struggle"). He also agitated for a Norwegian republic; in 1905 he issued a draft for a new, republican

Constitution of Norway The 'Constitution of Norway'' (complete name: The Constitution of the Kingdom of Norway; Danish language, Danish: ; Norwegian language, Norwegian Bokmål: ; Nynorsk, Norwegian Nynorsk: ) was adopted on 16 May and signed on 17 May 1814 by the N ...

together with

Nikolaus Gjelsvik Nikolaus Gjelsvik (11 April 1866 –14 November 1938) was a Norwegian jurist and law professor. He was born at Vevring in Sunnfjord. He served as a professor at the University of Kristiania (now University of Oslo) from 1906. Among his wo ...

Johan Scharffenberg Johan Scharffenberg (23 November 1869 – 1 February 1965) was a Norwegian psychiatrist, politician, speaker and writer. Early life Scharffenberg was born in Moss as the son of military officer Hedvard Carl Scharffenberg (1819–1893) and C ...

and Solnørdal. In 1919 Puntervold published ''I Lenins land'' ("In Lenin's Country"), a travel account from the newly established

Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

. He travelled together with Emil Stang, Jr. as a representative 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 ...

. Puntervold resided in Kristiania until 1906, when he moved to Bækkelaget in

Aker Municipality Aker was a former independent municipality in Akershus, Norway, that constitutes the vast majority of the territory of the modern city of Oslo. The name originally belonged to a farm which was located near the current Old Aker Church. The church ...

. He was elected to the

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

from 1911 to 1916 and the school board from 1915 to 1919. He was fielded as Labour's candidate in the constituency Aker in the

1909 Norwegian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Norway between 2 and 25 October 1909, with a second round held between 18 October and 11 November.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1438 The result was a victory ...

. He lost clearly to Conservative

Edvard Hagerup Bull Edvard Hagerup Bull (23 January 1855 – 25 March 1938) was a Norwegian jurist and assessor of the Supreme Court of Norway. He was a member of the Norwegian Parliament and government official with the Conservative Party of Norway. Background Ed ...

with 2,589 against 3,607 votes. In

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 ...

the party tried to field him as the candidate in neighboring constituency ''Bærum og Follo'', but he lost clearly to Christian Fredrik Michelet with 3,823 against 5,880 votes. He did carry a majority in two sub-constituencies, Oppegaard and

Son A son is a male offspring; a boy or a man in relation to his parents. The female counterpart is a daughter. From a biological perspective, a son constitutes a first degree relative. Social issues In pre-industrial societies and some current ...

. Puntervold placed himself on the right wing of the party, which held control of the party by and large until 1918. In 1920 he was more or less denounced by

Edvard Bull, Sr. Edvard Bull (4 December 1881 – 26 August 1932) was a Norwegian historian and politician for the Labour Party. He took the doctorate in 1912 and became a professor at the University of Kristiania in 1917, and is known for writings on a broad r ...

who wrote in '' Det 20de Aarhundre'' of "right-wing socialism and puntervoldery". When the Labour Party split in 1921, Puntervold joined the more right-wing Social Democratic Labour Party, and became a leading figure in this party. Writing in '' Arbeider-Politikken'', he was a part of the early supporters of such a new party. He was also chairman of ''Arbeider-Politikken'', which became the official party newspaper, from 1920 to 1927. He took part at the founding congress of the

Labour and Socialist International The Labour and Socialist International (LSI) was an international organization of socialist and labourist parties, active between 1923 and 1940. The group was established through a merger of the rival Vienna International and the Berne Intern ...

in 1923; the other Norwegian delegates were Magnus Nilssen, Arne Magnussen and

Olav Kringen Olav Kringen (24 July 1867 – 6 October 1951) was a Norwegian newspaper editor. He was born at a croft in Sel, and was a manual laborer in Norway before emigrating to the United States in 1887. There, he studied and took a teacher education. He ...

. He belonged to the Labour Party again from 1927,Maurseth, 1987: p. 611 but gradually backed out of active politics. He is known for having a personal relation with

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

and later served as a lawyer for

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...

during his exile in Norway. Several letters between Leon Trotsky and Michael Puntervold are stored in the

Harvard Library Harvard Library is the network of libraries and services at Harvard University, a private Ivy League university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Library is the oldest library system in the United States and both the largest academic librar ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Puntervold, Michael 1879 births 1937 deaths People from Grimstad People from Horten University of Oslo alumni 20th-century Norwegian lawyers Norwegian newspaper editors Nordland politicians Politicians from Aker Labour Party (Norway) politicians Social Democratic Labour Party of Norway politicians Leon Trotsky