National Legion (Norway)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
National Legion
Den Nationale Legion
Karl Meyer
Founded1927
Dissolved1928
NewspaperNationalfascisten
IdeologyFascism
Political positionFar-right

The National Legion (

Karl Meyer
, in existence from 1927–28, notable for being the first fascist party in the country.

History

Demonstrators during the 1927 election. The second to right individual on the is a member of the National Legion.

The party was founded at a public meeting at a circus, Cirkus Verdensteatret, in Oslo in May 1927. The event was hosted by the party's leader, Karl Meyer, "Norway's strongest man", a businessman and stock trader with a history of fraud cases.[1] Author and social commentator Erling Winsnes was another leading figure.[2]

Influenced by

Italian Fascism,[3][4] Meyer sought a "March on Oslo", with a parade of "100.000 farmers" that would make "the walls of Jericho crumble".[5] The party however failed to mobilise much beyond Oslo's bourgeois West End.[1] It ran a list in Oslo for the 1927 parliamentary election,[6] but did not win any representation with 1,210 votes, about 1% of the vote in Oslo and 0.1% nationwide.[7] Besides meetings at the circus, the party had little impact, and was dissolved in early 1928 amid internal conflicts and public brawls.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Helle, Idar (26 September 2015). "Fascisme i sirkusteltet". Klassekampen (in Norwegian).
  2. ^ "Da fascismen kom til Norge" (in Norwegian). Dreyer.
  3. ^ Brevig, Hans Olaf (1970). NS - fra parti til sekt 1933-37. Pax. p. 12.
  4. .
  5. ISSN 1504-1913. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-10-01.
  6. Norwegian Center for Studies of Holocaust and Religious Minorities
    . 25 September 2015.
  7. ^ Stortingsvalget 1927 (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistics Norway. 1928. p. 114.

Further reading