Håkon Løken

Håkon Løken

Håkon Løken , actually Haakon Løken, Løchen, (born November 9, 1859 in Sundnes in Inderøy , † September 10, 1923 in Kristiania ) was a Norwegian lawyer, journalist and politician.

His parents were the landowner Herman Løchen (1822–1876) and his wife Anna Margrethe Jenssen (1826–1911). His first marriage was on January 22, 1887 in Trondheim, his second cousin Bernhardine (“Benna”) Catharina Jenssen (September 3, 1861– May 4, 1907), daughter of the wholesaler Mathias Christian Jenssen (1823–1899) and his wife Henriette Cathrine Kaasbøll (1829-1876); in his second marriage on January 14, 1909 in Trondheim, he married Ida Jacobsson (December 27, 1867– October 21, 1929), daughter of the pianist Josef Philip Jacobsson (* 1830) and his wife Hanne Fredrikke Iversen (* 1841).

Løken attended the Cathedral School in Trondheim and began his law studies in Christiania in 1877, which he graduated in 1884. During his student days he was a member of the editorial board of Nyt Tidskrift (Neue Zeitschrift). He stayed in the circles of young academics who were shaped by a European cultural radicalism, but at the same time advocated democratic and national politics. For his more aristocratic family he became a "black sheep", as he himself confessed.

After graduating, he turned back to Trøndelag and worked for a while in a law firm and practiced as a lawyer before the Trondheim High Court. In 1889 he became a member of the editorial team in Dagsposten . A year later he was the editor of the newspaper. After a few years he had made this newspaper the leading organ of the Venstre party. After its split, he reorganized the party in Trondheim in 1891 under the name "Trondhjems Liberale Forening" and created a powerful local party apparatus. With the so-called progress program, the Venstre campaigned for universal suffrage. Locally, the party called for an active commune with a social welfare program with the construction of workers' housing, poor welfare based on the Elberfeld system , a communal middle school that should build on the elementary school, an eight-hour day and so on. Løken developed into the most consistent pioneer of a social liberal policy. His goal was to find a middle way between the concept of freedom of classical liberalism and the socialism based on British models. Ideologically he was close to Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse and Thomas Hill Green , in practical politics he was close to Joseph Chamberlain's socialism , as he had practiced it in Birmingham . With this program, Løken appealed to urban workers' voters. A number of workers' unions entered Venstre as a whole. The party won the three Storting elections in Trondheim and Levanger County in 1894, 1897 and 1900 and also received a large parliamentary group in the city council under the leadership of Løken. But it never got the majority. Tensions gradually emerged between the traditional Venstre voters and the pro-working radical wing. The political division and resistance in the editorial team prompted Løken to leave the editorial team and found his own newspaper, Nidaros . There he sided with the pure Norwegian flag without an EU trade mark .

In the Storting election of 1903, Venstre split up and Trondheim was defeated. The right wing organized itself in the "Liberal Voters' Association", which turned against the socialist appropriation and moved closer to the Høyre . Venstre became a small center party with two to three members in the city council. In the longer term, the Labor Party in Trondheim became the heir to Løkens Venstre and implemented large parts of its program. The right wing, the “Liberal Voters' Association”, formed the basis for the later “Frisinnede Venstre”, which was able to maintain a strong position in Trondheim until the Second World War.

Book by Løken

Håkon Løken had many friends, but also many enemies. After the election defeat in Trondheim, he left the city. For a couple of years he made a living as a writer and lecturer in Lillehammer . In 1912 he was public prosecutor in Nedenes (now part of Arendal ) and Bratsberg (now Lunde ) and from 1913 to 1918 at the lower court in Christiania. During this time he took the racial hygiene thoughts that Jon Alfred Mjøen had expressed in his book Race Hygiene under protection from its critics and was a member of "Den konsultative norske komitè for rasehygiene". From 1918 to 1923 he was the deputy municipal supervisory officer (fylkesmann) in Christiania. He also wrote some books, mostly with autobiographical content.

During the First World War he was involved in international arbitration and peace work. From 1917 to 1919 he was chairman of “ Norges Fredsforening ” (Norwegian Peace Association) and President of the “ Nordisk Fredsforbund ” (Nordic Peace Association). He also gave Trollheimen his name.

Works (selection)

• Fred and forlik i maalstriden. Bedre riksmaal eller landsmaal Trondheim 1908
• Anne Kathrines ungdom. Hverdagsbilde from 1830–40-aarene . 1910
• Landsens liv. Billeder fra 1850–1860-aarene . 1911
• Fra Fjordnes til Sjøvinn. Billeder and less from 1870-årene . 1912
• Verdens forum stater. En verdensdomstol med makt bak save, ingen utopi, men en logisk konsekvens av retshistorien . 1916
• "Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson" in E. Skovrup (ed.): Hovedtræk af nordisk digtning i nutiden . Copenhagen 1920, pp. 419-455
• Urolige tider. Billeder og minner from ungdoms- og studentertiden 1875–1881 . 1923
• Ibsen and kjærligheten. En green thank you Ibsen’s anchor . 1923

literature

• Anders Kirkhusmo: Article “Håkon Løken” in: Norsk biografisk leksikon , accessed on March 30, 2010.

Individual evidence

The article is based on the Norsk biografisk leksikon . Other information is shown separately.

1. ↑ Øystein Imsen: Flaggsak og flaggbruk i 1890-åra (PDF; 2.1 MB). P. 60.
2. ↑ Helge Pedersen: "Gud har skapat svarta och vita Bäumenkor, jäfvulen derimot halfnegeren." A comparative analysis of Jon Alfred Mjøen and Herman Lundborg's lawn hygiene ideas in Norway and Sweden. Oslo 2003, p. 49.
3. ↑ Helge Pedersen: "Gud har skapat svarta och vita Bäumenkor, jäfvulen derimot halfnegeren." A comparative analysis of Jon Alfred Mjøen and Herman Lundborg's lawn hygiene ideas in Norway and Sweden. Oslo 2003, p. 58.
4. ↑ Source Nynorsk wikipedia Trollheimen