Lars Evensen

Lars Evensen with his wife Margit Johanne Foss (1952)

Lars Samuel Myhrer Evensen (* 12. November 1896 in Drøbak , Fylke Akershus ; † 19th January 1969 in Kristiansand , Fylke Vest-Agder ) was a Norwegian trade union functionary and politician of the Communist Party of Norway (NKP) and later the Arbeiderpartiet , between 1945 and 1947 Minister of Commerce in the first and second government of Prime Minister Einar Gerhardsen and between 1947 and 1953 Minister of Industry in the second Gerhardsen government and in the government of Prime Minister Oscar Torp . Evensen, who was a member of the Storting from 1954 to 1957, later held the office of regional president (Fylkesmann) of the province of Vest-Agder between 1954 and 1966 .

Life

Trade union official and local politician of the NKP

Evensen, son of master blacksmith Samuel Anthon Evensen and his wife Laura Myhrer, worked after school between 1914 and 1924 as a worker and finally as a journeyman in a sausage factory. In 1915 he became a member of the meat workers 'union in Kristiania and in 1920 a member of the board of the Norwegian meat industry workers' union (Norsk Kjøttindustriarbeiderforbund) . In 1922 his first wife, Annik Smeby, died.

After the split in the Arbeiderpartiet, Evensen joined the Norges Kommunistiske Parti NKP, which was founded on November 4, 1923, and represented it between 1923 and 1928 as a member of the local council (Herredsstyre) of Lørenskog . After attending the Socialist Day School in Oslo in 1924, he also became National Secretary of the Norwegian Union of Meat Industry Workers and was a member of the NKP's central board from 1925 to 1930.

As National Secretary of the Meat Workers Union, he advocated a merger with the Norwegian Food Union (Norsk Nærings- og Nytelsesmiddelarbeiderforbund) , which was rejected by the majority of union members. Despite this stance and his differing positions on the political stance of the NKP, he was initially elected acting chairman in 1927 and chairman of the meat industry workers' union at the regional assembly in 1928.

As chairman of the meat industry workers' union, he played a key role in the fact that the number of members grew from 500 in 1924 to 1,465 in 1934 despite the global economic crisis . His union involvement was a significant contribution to the reorganization of previously unorganized workers' groups in the umbrella organization of the trade unions LO ( Landsorganisasjonen i Norge ) . At the same time, the union work of the Arbeiderpartiet strengthened the parliamentary group in the Storting with 59 of the 150 seats in the election on October 17, 1927 and won 35 seats. In this election, however, the NKP lost three of its six mandates. In 1928 he married Margit Johanne Foss for the second time.

Return to the Arbeiderpartiet, Vice-Chairman of the LO and World War II

In 1931 Evensen resigned from the NKP and returned as a member of the Arbeiderpartiet and was a graduate of the Nordic Adult Education Center in Geneva in 1933 .

At the trade union congress in 1934 Evensen became LO secretary. He belonged to a new management group, since after Halvard Olsen's overthrow, Olav Hindahl was elected as the new chairman and Konrad Nordahl was elected vice-chairman of the LO. After Hindahl was appointed as labor minister in the government of Prime Minister Johan Nygaardsvold in 1939 and Nordahl was his successor as LO chairman, Evensen took over from him as vice-chairman of the umbrella organization.

After the German occupation of Norway by the Weser Exercise company , Evensen initially fled Norway and maintained contact with the government through Konrad Nordahl and the LO's legal advisor, Harald Viggo Hansteen . From Tromsø he and Nordahl traveled to the Nordic Trade Union Congress in Stockholm and returned to Oslo on June 19, 1940 after participating . After they were banned from further trade union work by the German occupying power, they organized together with Hansteen an illegal trade union committee, which played a leading role in the Norwegian organizations in the resistance against the occupying power and the national resistance movement. At the same time Evensen was also involved in the so-called Kretsen , a forerunner of the leadership of the home front (Hjemmefrontens Ledelse) .

After Harald Viggo Hansteen and Rolf Wickstrøm were arrested and executed on September 10, 1941, the occupying forces began a search of the LO headquarters. However, Evensen and Nordahl managed to escape to Stockholm . Nordahl then traveled to England , where he founded and headed the LO Secretariat in London, while Evensen was the founder and head of the LO Secretariat in Stockholm. In the meantime he also worked for the refugee administration in the embassy in Stockholm and in 1944 took over the management of the refugee administration in order to prepare the refugees' return to Norway.

Minister in the Gerhardsen and Torp Governments

After the end of the Second World War and the formation of an all-party government (Samlingsregjeringen) under Prime Minister Einar Gerhardsen, Evensen became Minister of Commerce (Minister of Commerce) in this first government of Gerhardsen on July 25, 1945 . There he represented not only the workers' party, but also the trade union umbrella organization LO.

This ministerial post he held in the second government Gerhardsen before it as part of a reshuffle the newly established Office of the Minister of Industry on 6 December 1947 (Industri Minister) took over. The previous Finance Minister Erik Brofoss took over the newly established office of Minister for Trade and Shipping (Handels- og Skipsfartsminister) . Evensen also retained the office of Minister of Industry in the government of Prime Minister Oscar Torp until November 2, 1953, with Erik Brofoss serving as acting Minister of Industry between May 18 and September 15, 1953.

During his tenure as Minister of Commerce and Industry, 350,000 people were supplied with electricity, in 1947 the aluminum company ASV (Årdal og Sunndal Verk) was founded with factories in Årdal and Sunndal and in 1946 the ironworks Norsk Jernverk in Mo i Rana . In addition, the state took over the majority of shares in Norsk Hydro and established the Norwegian Technical and Scientific Research Council NTNF (Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige forskningsråd) and the Norwegian Institute for Productivity (Norsk Produktivitetsinstitutt) .

Storting member and manager of Vest-Agder

In the election of October 12, 1953 Evensen was elected for the Arbeiderpartiet as a member of the Storting and represented the interests of Oslo from January 10, 1954 to the end of this electoral period on January 10, 1958. At the same time he acted in this legislative period from January 22, 1954 to January 10, 1958 as chairman of the Storting Committee for Forestry, Water Resources and Industry.

At the same time Evensen took over the office of District President (Fylkesmann) of the province of Vest-Agder from Alf Frydenberg in 1954 and held this position until he reached the age limit of 70 in 1966. His successor was then the previous district president of Fylke Nordland , Bue Fjermeros .

In 1968 Evensen was appointed commander of the Order of Saint Olav for his many years of service, especially in the use of hydropower .

Publications

• Oslo kjøttindustriarbeiderforenings 30 års historie , 1925
• Norsk kjøttindustriarbeiderforbunds Jubileumsskrift , 1932
• Norsk næringsliv og dets problemer , co-author, 1938
• Fagorganisasjonens oppbygning , 1946
• Sverre Steen (editor): Norges krig 1940–1945 , co-author, 1947–50

Background literature

• G. Ousland: Fagorganisasjonens historie , Volumes 2 and 3, 1949
• A. Skar: Fagorganisasjonens historie , Volume 4, 1949
• J. Pedersen: Norsk kjøttindustriarbeiderforbund 1907-57 , 1957
• H. Berntsen: To liv - én skjebne , 1995

Web links

• Entry on the homepage of the Storting
• Entry in the Norsk biografisk leksikon
• Biography in the store norske leksikon