We recently spoke with Maoist political organisation of Norway Tjen Folket (Serve The People) Media. They provided us with an overview of their history, a description of their mass work, and some of their analysis of imperialism and social-democracy in Norway.
- A chara, could you give us a brief history of your organisation?
Firstly, I would like to give my revolutionary greetings to the socialist republicans of Ireland! The heroic struggle of the Irish people is well known and deeply respected by masses in this country, and there is a strong tradition of solidarity. Even the Irish rebellious music has a special place in many revolutionary hearts in this country. I send my regards, on behalf of our revolutionary movement, to the Maoist comrades, to the leaders and activists and the masses of your organizations.
On your question, I will try to be as brief as possible, but I start with the beginning. In 1918 the Left of the Labour Party of Norway won the Party Congress after several years of internal struggle. The winds of October 1917 inspired a Workers Council movement in Norway and strengthened the Left of the organized Labour Movement. In 1919 the Party joined the Communist International. Due to the reactionary counter offensive in Europe, the illness and death of the leader Kyrre Grepp, and intrigues and splits among the Left of the Party, the broader Left wing was split and the centrist tendency, inspired by syndicalism and economism, gained the upper hand. They maneuvered the Party into a split from the Comintern with a small margin at the Party Congress of November 1923. This led immediately to the constitution of the Communist Party of Norway (NKP) on the 4th of November.
I will be more brief in outlining the rest. The NKP fought many hard struggles among the masses and against Right Opportunism. During the German occupation, communists waged armed struggle, and was the most active armed resistance group. The party was thus briefly extremely popular, and gained the active support of perhaps nearly half the proletariat of the country. It since declined and fell into the hands of the modern revisionism of Khrushchev.
A red faction in the NKP was formed in 1969, after years of influence from the Cultural Revolution and the struggle of the CCP against modern revisionism. This group, later known as Marxist-Leninist Front of the NKP, brought Mao’s Thoughts to Norway. They became one of the two main currents of the so called “new communist movement” or “ML-movement” in the 1970s. The other main tendency grew from the youth league of the left social democratic party. A unification of these two failed, and the latter became one of the biggest ML Parties of Europe as they formed AKP(m-l) and organized thousands in the party and tens of thousands in Mass Organizations. But they was heavily influenced by petty bourgeois nationalism, legalism and parliamentarism.
Revolutionaries of today will find it to be a great and telling error, when the Marxist-Leninists of the 1970s, did not struggle to reconstitute the Communist Party of Norway.
They never thus reclaimed the party of the proletariat from the revisionists. They accepted the situation, the robbery of the name of the party by modern revisionism, and this was an important error. Not an error of mere letters or words, but a political error with ideological roots. In fact, the proletariat must have its party, and this can only be one party, and this can only be the Communist Party. And in our context, this party must be Maoist and it must be militarized. Nothing else will do. All this we have learned from the Communist Party of Peru and chairman Gonzalo.
The direct roots of the revolutionary movement of today is in this Marxist-Leninist movement, which later was totally liquidated in 2007, in forming the Red Party. But the theory and practice was dominated by right opportunism already in the 1970s. Still, there was a struggle for a Left line in this movement all the time, and it erupted many times in open conflict and resulted in splits in the 1980s.
Tjen Folket (Serve the People) was formed in 1997 by former members of the AKP and the Red Youth, after a struggle over the line and leadership in the anti-racist organization SOS Racism. In 2007 the AKP was merged into the Red Party. In this process, several members from AKP and Red Youth united with Serve the People. For many years there were struggles in the group of the direction and development, and fundamentally, of the ideology. The group adopted Marxism-Leninism-Maoism in 2008, but in a somewhat eclectic way. It was not adopted as it was synthesized by Chairman Gonzalo and the PCP, but rather as “how we understand it” and without a demarcation against understanding this as “just a better word for Mao’s thought, but in content the same”.
In 2018, the league proclaimed to the public that there was an ongoing rectification campaign in the organization, and it already had resulted in old leaders being expelled or leaving the organization. It also made some public self criticism of important errors in the past, especially legalism in the corrupting form of “NGO-ism” and the mis-handling of contradictions in the People. And it proclaimed a continuing campaign to rectify and more thoroughly understand and grasp Maoism.
Since this, I believe the signature of the league has been on all the joint international declarations to unify the International Communist Movement under Maoism and People’s War. And statements have been made that proclaim the necessity to reconstitute the Communist Party of Norway as a militarized Maoist Party.
- What mass campaigns are Tjen Folket involved in?
Without going into too much detail, revolutionaries in Norway are involved in campaigns against imperialism, especially Norwegian and Yankee imperialism, and against fascism in the form of right wing groups. They are also involved in different popular struggles, like struggles against reactionization of the state, solidarity work with Palestine, against police brutality etc.
The revolutionary media platform Tjen Folket Media is a mass organism promoting Maoism and the popular struggles. This platform also promotes the actions of the mass organization The Struggle Committee (Kampkomiteen) which seems to be active in several cities. We also promote actions of the Red Front and of different campaigns finding place.
In the past, the league seemed to focus almost entirely on mass work related to anti-racism and anti-fascism. This seems to have changed. But still, the revolutionary movement of Norway is not big, and obviously has its shortcomings. But I am certain, this is a question of time and development.
- We have read that Tjen Folket call for an election boycott how has this campaign been progressing?
Since the election of 2009, there has been a revolutionary campaign to boycott the elections. Every election, the campaign has sharpened its revolutionary character, from being a mere “tactic” and a question of “there is no party to vote for”, into the strategic perspective of electoral boycott adopted by the Left of the International Communist Movement under guidance of chairman Gonzalo, as far as I understand it. Lenin stated the election participation to be a tactical question. This was correct in the times of Lenin. In this epoch, in the strategic offencive of the proletarian world revolution, which by necessity is a time of war, this is not any more, I think, a simple question of tactics. If I understand Chairman Gonzalo correctly, it is his synthesis that there cannot be a revolutionary electoral participation in this epoch, in these times, without falling into the quagmire of legalism and thus this is a “tactic” against People’s War. I side with the Chairman in this, and see no form or way where standing for elections can be used as a tool against the old bourgeois state in this country. Quite the opposite, any way of standing for elections here, and in all imperialist countries, would give support to the old state, foster legalism and reformism, and hinder militarization of the Party and its Mass Organizations, and hinder the initiation of People’s War.
The boycott campaign in Norway has progressed through propaganda actions of many different types, bringing the alternative of active boycott to the masses.
The most proletarian masses are mainly not voting. In some poor districts, the participation is below 50%. The electoral participation in Norway is fairly high compared to many countries, but in the population the largest “party” is the non-voters. More people decide not to vote, than the number of votes for the largest party. And among poor people, in the deepest and broadest masses, the non-voters seem to be a clear majority.
The revolutionary boycott will continue and I hope it will develop further, as I am sure it will.
- What is the level of revolutionary consciousness of the masses in Norway like?
Norway is an imperialist country with a lot of resources, both in the form of financial capital and in the form of natural resources, and with a very small population. This makes it one of the richest countries per capita in the world. This influences the consciousness of course. The old state is not yet failing as spectacular as in many other Imperialist countries.
Still, this is a capitalist society. There is a lot of relative poverty. Tens of thousands live a quite precarious life. There is unemployment. There is anxiety and depression rampant among the popular masses. There is problems of chauvinist oppression and national oppression. In short, there is amongst the deepest and broadest masses, a lot of hatred for the system and the state.
The problem is not the masses. The problem is not the objective situation. The problem in this country, as in most other countries, is the relative weakness of the subjective forces.
Also when we speak of revolutionary consciousness, I would say this is such a problem. This is a problem of developing the revolutionary movement, grasping Maoism, applying Maoism, waging struggle, building the apparatus of the movement in its organisms – this is the problem, the relative lack of consciousness is not.
As comrade Lenin said in “What is to be done?” – revolutionary consciousness does not grow from the floor of the factory. The proletariat only develops trade-unionist consciousness spontaneously. The revolutionary consciousness, or the socialist or Marxist – today Maoist – consciousness, develops from the socialist intellectuals, on the basis of scientific thought and practice in the class struggle, and it must be brought to and merged with the masses from the revolutionary organisms of the proletariat, principally the Party. This is the principal task of the party, to be the conscious element, to be the leadership, and this is understood and explained by Lenin in this pamphlet, and developed further by himself, and then by Stalin, Mao and Chairman Gonzalo.
The Socialist theory was fused with the proletarian movement by young intellectuals,like Marx and Engels, and later on the intellectuals Lenin, Stalin, Mao and Gonzalo. This was true also in our country, where the socialist youth movement by students and young workers, adopted Marxism in the early 1900s and was the ones that fought fiercely to advance it in the Labour movement. The Party must fuse the socialist intellectuals with the most advanced, the relative most active, of the Proletariat, and they must be fused in the Party itself, in the midst of class struggle.
I think this is an important issue for your readers and listeners to understand, and that is why I emphasize it. The understanding of the revolutionary movement puts all its emphasis on reconstituting the Communist Party, because this is the conscious element, it is the leadership, and without it, there will be neither revolutionary – today Maoist – consciousness, nor a movement to overthrow capitalism. There cannot be consciousness without a head and mind, and the head of our class is our Party. Without it, we are both blind and deaf and without the capacity of forming thoughts, grasping in darkness and acting spontaneously to the pains and ills we experience, but without understanding what causes the pains, nor how to get rid of it.
So, the level is low, to answer your question brief and blunt. But this is not a problem with the masses. It is a problem of the subjective forces and their development. As it develops, as our Ideology is grasped better and spreads more and more, this problem will be overcome and the level of consciousness will become high. But not before.
On an additional note, we must also remark that the level of struggle is on the rise! The struggles of the last years have been plentiful, and more and more aimed against the state and its policies. There are more protests, more campaigns, more fighting. This is very promising and a sign the tide is rising and there are storm clouds on the horizon.
- Could you explain how Norway is imperialist?
The norwegian bourgeoisie fulfilled its revolution in 1905, after a century long struggle against the colonialism of Denmark and Sweden. It was already involved in the colonial trade, due to its trade fleet being one of the largest in the world. Shipping Capital was the most powerful in the bourgeoisie and even several prime ministers came from shipping.
On the basis of vast natural resources, especially fish, lumber, metals and hydro power, industrial capital grew large, and was profitable. This, besides shipping, became a basis of expansion in the world, exploiting the labour and resources of the 3rd world. And the basis was extremely broadened after the great oil findings in the nordic sea waters in the 1960s and 1970s.
Norwegian finance capital is large, even though the population is small. It is used to secure a more prominent position in the imperialist system. It is used to gain positions inside international organizations like the UN, WHO and NATO, especially in the service of the sole world hegemon; yankee imperialism. But also, and principally, in service of the norwegian bourgeoisie itself and its imperialist interests.
Companies like Hydro, Aker, Orkla, Equinor, Statkraft and Telenor, some of them owned by the state, are multi billion enterprises, and they exploit the 3rd world. They exploit slave wages in Brazil, Chile, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Angola, Nepal etc. to expand their capital. They pollute air, soil and sea, as Hydro does in the Amazons or Telenor does in South Asia.
The imperialist state is militarizing, and partakes in the occupation of Afghanistan. In 2011, they were the ones dropping the most bombs over Libya, in the US orchestrated imperialist intervention. They sell arms to Turkey and Saudi Arabia. They partake in UN fake “peacekeeping” in Mali. The list goes on.
As you can see, Norway is extremely imperialist, and everyone that hear a story of the wonderful welfare of the Nordic countries, must understand the role of imperialist super exploitation in the equation. You cannot, in this system, have anything resembling a “welfare state” without imperialist exploitation. The so called social democrats that looks to the Nordic countries, agitating along the lines of wanting to follow that model in the US or the British Isles, is propagating a model built partly on the oppression and exploitation, and there can, of course as you know, not be any other way in this system. How could they pay for it, if not?
I believe this is an answer to one of your next questions as well.
- How has the history of anti fascist resistance in Norway influenced their thinking?
It is important in many ways, but it needs to be studied more in debt by the movement as a whole. Some comrades have propagated the need to study this experience, and to especially understand some important facts and principles as they understand them.
Some of these might be summed up as such:
Firstly, the heroic resistance is a beacon and an example. The masses of this country has been lied to in all ways when it comes to the period of fascist occupation from 1940 to 1945, but still, the resistance is a flame that still burns with a sacred fire in the hearts of the people in this country.
Secondly, the most active resistance, the armed sabotage and annihilation actions, was mainly led by communists, even though this is a overlooked fact in this rotten society. The most active organization was the so called Osvald Group, led by comrade Osvald, a communist and a veteran from the Spanish war against fascism.
Thirdly, due to the influence of Right Opportunism, firstly by legalism and reformism, secondly by bourgeois nationalism and right liquidationism, the Communist Party did not become a militarized party to lead the resistance war in an encompassing way. That is, the leadership firstly made a lot of errors and then was almost physically exterminated by the nazi fascist occupant, before being usurped by a right opportunist and his clique of mostly former social democrats.
To understand this point is key, because many anti fascists and revolutionaries believe the war ended the two-line struggle, or united the party and the people on the basis of a just and correct line of National Resistance War. This is completely wrong. The two-line struggle continued and was much sharper! And Right Opportunism became even more rotten, more liquidationist, more capitulationist, and caused extreme damage on the struggle. The Left line seems to be upheld by comrade Osvald and his group, and by several other heroes inside and outside the Party.
Fourthly, we must understand that the anti fascist resistance was not supported by “all of the people” as some seem to believe. The entire bourgeoisie, both the faction allied with England and the faction allied with Germany, and the large section trying to ally with both sides(!), all fought side by side against active popular resistance. Resistance would only hurt their capitalist interests. They did not want any damage of factories or infrastructure. Large parts of the petty bourgeoisie, and even parts of the proletariat, believed the lies of the bourgeoisie and its King, and was afraid of active resistance. We must understand that war has a cost, and that it was not something “everyone” supported from the beginning, and that support grew from waging armed resistance, and not so much prior to it. This is a lesson of important value.
Fiftly, the lessons show the possibility of waging warfare not only in an imperialist country per se, but in this exact country. In the streets we know, in the cities we know, and in our woods and mountains. An armed struggle was developed under a fascist occupation, with the collaboration of 50,000 norwegian nazis, with 200,000 german troops stationed in the country, with the collaboration of the norwegian police, the main capitalists and the capitulation of the old state armed forces and institutions.
The group under the leadership of comrade Osvald was 50 people, and made more than 200 actions, some of very spectacular character. All under a fascist despotic system of oppression. They were never defeated, and their actions inspired countless new people to engage in resistance.
So the lesson of how armed struggle is possible here, is of immortal value. Also – before the war, the Communist Party had a couple thousand members. After the war, more than 40,000 wanted to join. The heroic example of the Soviet Union and the communist led armed resistance not only in Norway, but in Yugoslavia, Albania, Italy, France etc., inspired the masses greatly.
Struggle inspires. Victory inspires. This must be understood thoroughly.
- In Ireland Norway is always given as an example of a social democratic paradise. Could you break down the “Norway is the world’s best example is socialism” mantra which social-democrats always say?
I think this has been answered in one way already. The other way to answer is to point to the facts that there are many poor people in this country. Parts of the proletariat struggle to put food on the table and pay their bills. Debt is rampant. So is mental illness, like depression and anxiety. Some 300,000 people are registered completely or partly unemployed, that is more than 10% of the total work force.
Norway is beyond doubt a rich country, and in Europe one might compare it to Luxemburg, Lichtenstein and Switzerland, as being a country of relatively few people, and relatively large finance capital. With 5 million inhabitants, and a lot of resources and oil and imperialist exploitation, there is more wiggle room for capital.
I should also mention that there is a large influx of workers from Eastern Europe, from the Baltic countries and Poland especially. They get paid a lot less than the regular salaries. And also, as mentioned, norwegian capital is spread all over the world, bringing home the spoils of war and plunder.
If, and only if(!), there was some sort of paradise of welfare in Norway, and that is highly over-stated I must emphasize, this would be the sort of paradise we find in District 1 in the Hunger Games novels and films. If anyone dreams of such a paradise, they must awaken and understand that no such paradise is possible in imperialism, without the subjection of the rest of the world, and the hellish misery of a billion people. Such dreams are only dreamt by devils.
- What is their perspective on self determination for the Saami people?
The Marxist-Leninist movement made a Saami program where the perspective was that of the right to self determination and even secession. They however did not define the Saami people as a nation, but as a people.
The revolutionary movement of Norway must study this question and carve out a precise answer. The starting point in any way is exposing the centuries of oppression against the Saami people, the horrors of assimilation by violence, of forced adoption and sterilization, the ban on using their language and clothing, the economical exploitation of their people and their land, and the acknowledgement of their just struggles against the Norwegian old state.
I should also add that the official history of the people in this country is based on many a lie, amongst them the lie of two clearly separated peoples, one of germanic descent and one of “eastern”/”asian” descent, constituting today the Norwegian and the Saami people. In reality, the history of all people in this country has been intertwined. The Saami people is supposed to be located only in the most Northern part of the country, but archeology has showed distinct Saami settlements in the South as well. The separation seems to have been more in the way of life, in the way of production, more than any other, as we see in many national histories with a separation between nomadic people with cattle and non-nomadic people living from fishery or agriculture. There has been a genocide against the Saami people, assimilating the vast majority into a Norwegian nation, and in the mainstream knowledge all common roots have been hidden and denied.
Similarly to the situation in many countries, the national development of one nation happened in a way where it aborted or stunted the development of nationhood of other peoples. The Saami people still have no unified language. There are 11 Saami languages, and 3 of these are the most spoken. Most people of Saami descent does not speak any such language. Saami people are divided on four countries; Russia, Finland, Sweden and Norway. In this country, the estimate from the old state is 20-40,000 Saami people live here, that is approximately 0.4 to 0.8% of the population. But many many more are of Saami descent.
The national liberation of the Saami people must be fused with the world proletarian revolution, and the socialist revolution in this country, as part of and in the service of the world revolution. The victory is not possible under bourgeois or petty bourgeois leadership.
Such forces have led the Saami struggle into defeats and reformism, and a Saami parliament is organized inside the old reactionary norwegian state. This is a collaborationist organism, put up to defuse the competitiveness and resistance of the Saami people.
In conclusion, the Saami struggle is just and should be fused with the world revolution. The concrete form of their liberation must depend on more study and more struggle, but I am sure the Communist Party of Norway will uphold the right of autonomy and self determination, of secession or of the resolution of the question inside a socialist federative republic.