Anders Lange
Encyclopedia
Anders Sigurd Lange was a Norwegian
politician and the eponymous
founder of the political party Anders Lange's Party (later known as the Progress Party
). He was a charismatic right-wing public speaker
who objected to high taxes, state-regulations and public bureaucracy
.
Lange has been described as a man who went his own ways. While he wanted to preserve what was traditional, he also embraced the ideology of libertarianism
, at least in the economic sense. During the Second World War
he was a noted member of the Norwegian resistance movement
. He was also an outdoors man and hunter, and one of the first politicians in Norway to discuss environmental
issues.
to doctor Alf Lange (1869–1929) and Anne Elisabeth Svensson (1873–1955). His paternal ancestors originated from Germany
, having arrived in Norway in the 18th century. In his youth, Lange played football for Mercantile. He received examen artium
in Kristiansand
in 1924, and worked within forestry for the next three years, only abrupted by one year when he graduated as a forestry technician at Oddernes forestry school in 1926. He worked as a plant nursery manager in Argentina
the following years, from 1927 to 1929.
In 1930 Lange married Anne-Marie Bach-Evensen (1906–1967). In 1950, he divorced Anne-Marie, and two years later, on 17 June 1952, he married dental secretary Karin Thurmann-Moe (1927–1978).
In January 1972 he unsuccessfully sought appointment as the broadcast manager of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation.
Anders Lange died of heart failure in Bærum
on 18 October 1974.
from 1935 to 1938. He agitated strongly against the Labour Party
during his tours around Southern Norway in his truck, but was transferred to Oslo after having been involved in a fistfight with local Labour Party politicians in Kristiansand where he broke his jaw.
From 1938, until the German invasion of Norway in 1940, he was the general secretary of the Country Confederation for the Naval Defense of Norway (Landsforeningen Norges Sjøforsvar) which agitated for a stronger Norwegian defence
. Lange, writing in Folk og Land
in 1957 (as a self-declared Jøssing), blamed the Labour Party for the success of the German invasion of Norway. He saw the governmental neglection of the Norwegian defence in the 1930s to have been a key factor to the invasion's success. During the Second World War
, Lange was an active member of the Norwegian resistance movement
against the German occupation, and was arrested two times by the Germans. He spent time in the prison Møllergata 19
from 16 September to 16 November 1940 and from 29 March to 30 May 1941.
. His radical anti-tax message and vulgar rhetoric failed to gain popular support in the 1950s and 1960s.
From 1945 to 1947 he was secretary of the Norwegian Kennel Club, and after this started a dog kennel in Oppegård
. In 1948 he also started to publish the Hundeavisen (lit. "Dog magazine"), of which he himself was editor. In 1962, he changed the name of his magazine to Anders Langes Avis ("Anders Lange's Newspaper"), and started to focus on anti-communism
, opposition to the established political parties
, politicians as well as taxes, and support of the apartheid regime of South Africa
.
In 1961 Lange launched plans through some articles in his newspaper, to establish a new political party called the "Independence Party", and in 1964 similarly laid out plans for the "Freedom Party". None of these imagined parties were actually established though.
, and evolved into the more moderate right-wing Progress Party
.
as his economic and political philosopher. When questioned in 1973 about who his "favourite hero from reality" was, Lange responded Ayn Rand
, and "from litterature", the protagonist from Atlas Shrugged
. He also said that his motto was "stand on your own feet, and not on others'."
On his first appearance in a political television debate, in 1973, Lange showed up with a Viking sword
, and a bottle of eggnog
liquor. Guttorm Hansen
, who was the President of the Parliament of Norway when Lange was a Member of Parliament, once said that he believed Lange's apparent goal was to "make [Parliament] into a political circus
with himself as the main clown
." Lange said many unexpected things in Parliament. He once bragged about his own potency
, and another time spoke about how much moonshine
he had consumed in his lifetime, and how terrible it was. He was also censured for the use of unparliamentary language.
Anders Lange was controversial in that he, on several occasions, supported the apartheid in South Africa
, as well as the white minority rule in Southern Rhodesia
. He wrote several articles about this in his own magazine Hundeavisen, and later Anders Langes Avis. In the latter paper, in 1963, he called those who supported black majority rule in South Africa "traitors of the white race." He was on several occasions also visited by South African agents in Norway, and visited South Africa himself in 1972. He was also opposed to public foreign aid, which he dubbed "negrotax" (negerskatt). His opinions was in his mind confirmed when Norway was forced to withdraw its support of one of its first main aid partners, Uganda
, after the dictator Idi Amin
became president. Some years earlier, Lange had written that Norwegian taxpayers contributed "to the building of a black master class with palaces and generals, and a leap of hunger between the ones loaded with gifts and the people." He claimed that foreign aid was given to "black bandit leaders" who could "pillage, rape, torture and murder in the usual negro way."
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
politician and the eponymous
Eponym
An eponym is the name of a person or thing, whether real or fictitious, after which a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named...
founder of the political party Anders Lange's Party (later known as the Progress Party
Progress Party (Norway)
The Progress Party is a political party in Norway which identifies as conservative liberal and libertarian. The media has described it as conservative and right-wing populist...
). He was a charismatic right-wing public speaker
Public speaking
Public speaking is the process of speaking to a group of people in a structured, deliberate manner intended to inform, influence, or entertain the listeners...
who objected to high taxes, state-regulations and public bureaucracy
Bureaucracy
A bureaucracy is an organization of non-elected officials of a governmental or organization who implement the rules, laws, and functions of their institution, and are occasionally characterized by officialism and red tape.-Weberian bureaucracy:...
.
Lange has been described as a man who went his own ways. While he wanted to preserve what was traditional, he also embraced the ideology of libertarianism
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
, at least in the economic sense. During the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he was a noted member of the Norwegian resistance movement
Norwegian resistance movement
The Norwegian resistance to the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany began after Operation Weserübung in 1940 and ended in 1945. It took several forms:...
. He was also an outdoors man and hunter, and one of the first politicians in Norway to discuss environmental
Environmental policy
Environmental policy is any [course of] action deliberately taken [or not taken] to manage human activities with a view to prevent, reduce, or mitigate harmful effects on nature and natural resources, and ensuring that man-made changes to the environment do not have harmful effects on...
issues.
Personal life
Lange was born in AkerAker, Norway
Aker is a former municipality in Akershus, which lends its name to a municipality and a county in Norway. The name originally belonged to a farm which was located near the current Old Aker Church...
to doctor Alf Lange (1869–1929) and Anne Elisabeth Svensson (1873–1955). His paternal ancestors originated from Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, having arrived in Norway in the 18th century. In his youth, Lange played football for Mercantile. He received examen artium
Examen artium
Examen artium was the name of the academic certification conferred in Denmark and Norway, qualifying the student for admission to university studies. Examen artium was originally introduced as the entrance exam of the University of Copenhagen in 1630...
in Kristiansand
Kristiansand
-History:As indicated by archeological findings in the city, the Kristiansand area has been settled at least since 400 AD. A royal farm is known to have been situated on Oddernes as early as 800, and the first church was built around 1040...
in 1924, and worked within forestry for the next three years, only abrupted by one year when he graduated as a forestry technician at Oddernes forestry school in 1926. He worked as a plant nursery manager in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
the following years, from 1927 to 1929.
In 1930 Lange married Anne-Marie Bach-Evensen (1906–1967). In 1950, he divorced Anne-Marie, and two years later, on 17 June 1952, he married dental secretary Karin Thurmann-Moe (1927–1978).
In January 1972 he unsuccessfully sought appointment as the broadcast manager of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation.
Anders Lange died of heart failure in Bærum
Bærum
is a municipality in Akershus county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Sandvika. Bærum was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838. A suburb of Oslo, Bærum is located on the west coast of the city....
on 18 October 1974.
Interwar and Second World War
Lange began his political career as secretary of the Norwegian coalition organization Fatherland League, a position he held from 1929 to 1938. He was based in Kristiansand from 1929 to 1935, and in OsloOslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
from 1935 to 1938. He agitated strongly against the Labour Party
Norwegian Labour Party
The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in Norway. It is the senior partner in the current Norwegian government as part of the Red-Green Coalition, and its leader, Jens Stoltenberg, is the current Prime Minister of Norway....
during his tours around Southern Norway in his truck, but was transferred to Oslo after having been involved in a fistfight with local Labour Party politicians in Kristiansand where he broke his jaw.
From 1938, until the German invasion of Norway in 1940, he was the general secretary of the Country Confederation for the Naval Defense of Norway (Landsforeningen Norges Sjøforsvar) which agitated for a stronger Norwegian defence
Norwegian Armed Forces
The Norwegian Armed Forces numbers about 23,000 personnel, including civilian employees. According to mobilisation plans , the strength during full mobilisation would be approximately 83,000 combatant personnel. Norway has mandatory military service for men and voluntary service for women...
. Lange, writing in Folk og Land
Folk og Land
Folk og Land was a Norwegian newspaper, published in Oslo. It was an organ of Historical revisionism for Norwegians who were found to be Nazi collaborators during the Second World War.-History:...
in 1957 (as a self-declared Jøssing), blamed the Labour Party for the success of the German invasion of Norway. He saw the governmental neglection of the Norwegian defence in the 1930s to have been a key factor to the invasion's success. During the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Lange was an active member of the Norwegian resistance movement
Norwegian resistance movement
The Norwegian resistance to the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany began after Operation Weserübung in 1940 and ended in 1945. It took several forms:...
against the German occupation, and was arrested two times by the Germans. He spent time in the prison Møllergata 19
Møllergata 19
Møllergata 19 is an address in Oslo, Norway where the city's main police station and jail was located. The address gained notoriety during the German occupation from 1940 to 1945, when the Nazi security police kept its headquarters here...
from 16 September to 16 November 1940 and from 29 March to 30 May 1941.
Postwar years
During most of the postwar years, Anders Lange traveled around the country and agitated for more personal freedom, lower taxes and less bureaucracy. He was at times among the most active public speakers in Norway, but had a limited following and was ignored by the mass mediaMass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
. His radical anti-tax message and vulgar rhetoric failed to gain popular support in the 1950s and 1960s.
From 1945 to 1947 he was secretary of the Norwegian Kennel Club, and after this started a dog kennel in Oppegård
Oppegård
Oppegård is a village and municipality in Akershus county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Follo. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Kolbotn. The new municipality of Oppegård was separated from the municipality of Nesodden on 1 July 1915...
. In 1948 he also started to publish the Hundeavisen (lit. "Dog magazine"), of which he himself was editor. In 1962, he changed the name of his magazine to Anders Langes Avis ("Anders Lange's Newspaper"), and started to focus on anti-communism
Anti-communism
Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...
, opposition to the established political parties
Political Parties
Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy is a book by sociologist Robert Michels, published in 1911 , and first introducing the concept of iron law of oligarchy...
, politicians as well as taxes, and support of the apartheid regime of South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
.
In 1961 Lange launched plans through some articles in his newspaper, to establish a new political party called the "Independence Party", and in 1964 similarly laid out plans for the "Freedom Party". None of these imagined parties were actually established though.
Anders Lange's Party
Lange founded his own political party at a meeting in the movie theatre Saga kino in 1973, with the long but informative name, Anders Lange's Party for a Strong Reduction in Taxes, Duties and Public Intervention (commonly known as Anders Lange's Party). The protest movement was an immediate success, capturing 5% of the votes in the parliament election the same year. By that, Lange secured himself a seat in the Norwegian parliament where he served until he died of heart failure the next year. After his death, the party was reformed by Carl I. HagenCarl I. Hagen
Carl Ivar Hagen is a Norwegian politician and former Vice President of the Norwegian Parliament. He was the chairman of the Progress Party from 1978 until 2006, when Siv Jensen replaced him as chairman of the party...
, and evolved into the more moderate right-wing Progress Party
Progress Party (Norway)
The Progress Party is a political party in Norway which identifies as conservative liberal and libertarian. The media has described it as conservative and right-wing populist...
.
Political positions and controversy
Lange regarded Milton FriedmanMilton Friedman
Milton Friedman was an American economist, statistician, academic, and author who taught at the University of Chicago for more than three decades...
as his economic and political philosopher. When questioned in 1973 about who his "favourite hero from reality" was, Lange responded Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism....
, and "from litterature", the protagonist from Atlas Shrugged
Atlas Shrugged
Atlas Shrugged is a novel by Ayn Rand, first published in 1957 in the United States. Rand's fourth and last novel, it was also her longest, and the one she considered to be her magnum opus in the realm of fiction writing...
. He also said that his motto was "stand on your own feet, and not on others'."
On his first appearance in a political television debate, in 1973, Lange showed up with a Viking sword
Viking sword
The Viking sword is a form of spatha, evolving out of the Migration Period sword in the 8th century, and evolving into the classical knightly sword in the 11th century with the emergence of larger crossguards...
, and a bottle of eggnog
Eggnog
Eggnog, or egg nog, is a sweetened dairy-based beverage traditionally made with milk and/or cream, sugar, beaten eggs , and liquor...
liquor. Guttorm Hansen
Guttorm Hansen
Guttorm Hansen was a Norwegian writer and politician for the Labour Party. He started his career as a mechanic, but after 1945 he was a journalist and editor of magazines and newspapers. Via local politics in his native Namsos he was elected to the Norwegian Parliament in 1961, serving six terms...
, who was the President of the Parliament of Norway when Lange was a Member of Parliament, once said that he believed Lange's apparent goal was to "make [Parliament] into a political circus
Circus
A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
with himself as the main clown
Clown
Clowns are comic performers stereotypically characterized by the grotesque image of the circus clown's colored wigs, stylistic makeup, outlandish costumes, unusually large footwear, and red nose, which evolved to project their actions to large audiences. Other less grotesque styles have also...
." Lange said many unexpected things in Parliament. He once bragged about his own potency
Virility
Virility refers to any of a wide range of masculine characteristics viewed positively. It is not applicable to women or to negative characteristics. The Oxford English Dictionary says virile is "marked by strength or force." Virility is commonly associated with vigour, health, sturdiness, and...
, and another time spoke about how much moonshine
Moonshine
Moonshine is an illegally produced distilled beverage...
he had consumed in his lifetime, and how terrible it was. He was also censured for the use of unparliamentary language.
Anders Lange was controversial in that he, on several occasions, supported the apartheid in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, as well as the white minority rule in Southern Rhodesia
Southern Rhodesia
Southern Rhodesia was the name of the British colony situated north of the Limpopo River and the Union of South Africa. From its independence in 1965 until its extinction in 1980, it was known as Rhodesia...
. He wrote several articles about this in his own magazine Hundeavisen, and later Anders Langes Avis. In the latter paper, in 1963, he called those who supported black majority rule in South Africa "traitors of the white race." He was on several occasions also visited by South African agents in Norway, and visited South Africa himself in 1972. He was also opposed to public foreign aid, which he dubbed "negrotax" (negerskatt). His opinions was in his mind confirmed when Norway was forced to withdraw its support of one of its first main aid partners, Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
, after the dictator Idi Amin
Idi Amin
Idi Amin Dada was a military leader and President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. Amin joined the British colonial regiment, the King's African Rifles in 1946. Eventually he held the rank of Major General in the post-colonial Ugandan Army and became its Commander before seizing power in the military...
became president. Some years earlier, Lange had written that Norwegian taxpayers contributed "to the building of a black master class with palaces and generals, and a leap of hunger between the ones loaded with gifts and the people." He claimed that foreign aid was given to "black bandit leaders" who could "pillage, rape, torture and murder in the usual negro way."