National Legion (Norway)

National Legion Den Nationale Legion
Leader	Karl Meyer
Founded	1927
Dissolved	1928
Newspaper	Nationalfascisten
Ideology	Fascism
Political position	Far-right
Politics of Norway Political parties Elections

The National Legion (Norwegian: Den nasjonale legion, archaic Norwegian: Den Nationale Legion) was a short-lived fascist[1] political party in Norway led by 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. 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. Høidal, Oddvar (1988). Quisling: en studie i landssvik. Universitetsforlaget. p. 105. ISBN 8200184013.
5. Nævestad, Espen (2010). "«[h]vor en fast haand og en vilje faar lov til at raade» – vurdering av den italienske fascismen blant borgerlige i Norge 1922–28" (PDF). Fortid. University of Oslo: 67. ISSN 1504-1913. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-10-01.
6. ""Da fascismen kom til Norge"" (in Norwegian). 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

• Emberland, Terje (2015). Da fascismen kom til Norge. Den nasjonale legions vekst og fall, 1927–1928. Dreyer. ISBN 9788282651288.