Martin Tranmal

Tranmæl, Martin

 

Born June 27, 1879, in Melhus; died July 11, 1967, in Oslo. Figure in the Norwegian workers’ movement.

The son of a peasant, Tranmael was a painter by trade. In 1911 he led the anarchosyndicalist Fagopposisjonen, an opposition group in the Norwegian workers’ movement. From 1913 to 1918 he edited the organ of the Norwegian Labor Party (NLP), the newspaper Ny Tid, which was published in Trondhjem. He was a leader of the NLP’s revolutionary wing, which gained the ascendancy at the party congress in 1918. Tranmael was secretary of the party from 1918 to 1921. He was one of the leaders of the centrist majority of the NLP in 1923, when the party withdrew from the Communist International.

From 1925 to 1927, Tranmæl was a deputy to the Storting. From 1921 to 1940 and from 1945 to 1949 he was editor in chief of the central organ of the NLP, the newspaper Arbeiderbladet. He held a high post in the leadership of the Norwegian Federation of Trade Unions from 1921 to 1946. From 1938 to 1967 he was a member of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.