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Anders Sigurd Lange (5 September 1904 – 18 October 1974) was a Norwegian political activist and politician, and the eponymous founder of the political party called 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.

Early life

Anders Sigurd Lange was born in Nordstrand, Aker (now a part of Oslo) to doctor Alf Lange (1869–1929) and Anna Elisabeth Svensson (1873–1955). He had two older siblings, Alexander and Karen. Although he was born in Aker, the family moved to Foss in Bjelland when he was only six weeks old, due to his father being appointed district physician for Bjelland, Grindheim and Åseral. Lange lived in Foss for his first seven years. The Lange family was originally from Holstein and Denmark, and included several prominent public officials, priests, doctors and businessmen. Lange's parents was divorced in 1911, and Anna Elisabeth moved to Bergen with her three children. They lived in humble conditions in a guest house in Fjøsanger for the first two to three years. The family thereafter moved to Kristiania (now named Oslo), settling in Skillebekk.

Lange started his secondary education at Vestheim School in 1921, but failed to graduate examen artium. He subsequently moved to Kristiansand in 1923, and finished his education at Kristiansand Cathedral School in 1924. He was not interested in politics in his youth, spending his free time in outdoor recreation and sports. In Kristiania (Oslo), Lange had played football and hockey for the club Mercantile SFK, and he continued to play football for FK Donn in Kristiansand. He broke his nose several times during play, giving him his characteristic crooked nose. Lange held his first public speech (albeit a short one), the Kristiansand russ speech, on 17 May 1924 in honour of Henrik Wergeland. He thereafter served in the Royal Guards for his conscription service.

During his time in the military, Lange became interested in forestry after reading the 1923 book Skogen og folket by Christian Gierløff. He graduated as a forestry technician at the Oddernes forestry school in 1926. He had part of his practice in Andebu, and after graduating he continued working there for a local farmer. A cousin of his father later tipped him that he could get work at a forestry school in Argentina, and Lange set out for the country in 1927. He went to port in Buenos Aires, got in connection with Kristiansand-based Norwegians, and travelled north to Tratagal near the border to Paraguay. He got engaged with the Saco company, and headed a work team of 15 men. Lange had also brought with him football equipment to the country, and he became known by the locals as "Don André". Lange lived in Argentina from November 1927 to June 1929, when he went home after his father had died of heart attack when visiting him at his office. In his time in Argentina, he noted the stark political conflicts in the country.

Political career

Interwar period

Lange began his political career in the Norwegian right-wing Fatherland League organisation, which had been founded in 1925 by prominent figures such as Christian Michelsen and Fridtjof Nansen. The growth of the left-wing labour movement at the same time led Norwegian politics to become polarised, and the Fatherland League's stated aim was to unite the political right against left-wing revolutionaries. Lange explained his move with his experience as an emigrant, which had led him to debunk the left's negative view of patriotism (fedrelandskjærlighet). He became secretary of the Fatherland League's Agder branch in 1929, and marked himself in the first year by writing op-eds in newspapers and speaking at public rallies.

In early 1933, when Vidkun Quisling was Defence Minister, Lange was scheduled to host him at a public rally that was endorsed by the Agrarian Party (of which Quisling was a member at the time). The event led Lange to get a complete distaste of him. Lange was set to drive Quisling to the rally, and already when they met Lange noted that Quisling seemed "as distracted as a St. Bernard," and that his handshake was "as limp as a sponge." Quisling did reportedly not say a single word during the five-mile drive to the rally, and his speech was a disaster due to his failure to speak soundly (he would neither use a microphone). At the Fatherland League's subsequent national convention in 1933, a faction had sought to tie the organisation closer to Quisling's then-newly founded party, but Lange loudly opposed the proposal and attacked Quisling as "the worst Defence Minister this country has ever had." Quisling left the organisation following the meeting. Although accused by the left of fascism, Lange distanced himself from the ideology, and instead considered it to "live on" through socialism and trade unions.

Lange's activities later consisted mainly of holding public rallies, and his provocational style often got him into physical altercations with left-wing labour activists. His most controversial stunt was in 1935, when he sought to "demonstrate" the Labour Party's attitude towards the existing society. Inspired by an earlier stunt of the Labour Party's youth organisation (AUF), Lange demonstratively stood above a volunteer soaked in pig's blood, lying over a truck, and "threatening" him with a hammer. The stunt eventually led to clashes with AUF-activists (Lange eventually broke his jaw), and as Lange's stunt had not been approved by neither the Fatherland League's local branch nor its central leadership, Lange was transferred to Oslo. He also held the position as national leader of the Fatherland League's youth organisation from 1935 to 1936. Lange was considered a great speaker, but his rhetoric changed between being largely gentle or vulgar. During a 1935 speech, Lange warned against both socialism and Nazism, often alleging the "dictatorial tendencies" he saw in the Labour Party. He in turn criticised Norway for being "ripe for dictatorship," due to Norwegians having "stopped thinking" and uncritically accepted "supervisory boards, editorials, propaganda and dozy parliamentarians." Lange travelled through most of the country to hold speeches, including in Northern Norway.

Lange left the Fatherland League at the end of 1938, and joined the Country Confederation for the Naval Defense of Norway (Landsforeningen Norges Sjøforsvar) as its general secretary. The organisation's purpose was to inform about the importance for Norway of the sea, and thus of the Norwegian navy. Lange's activities continued to consist of travelling around the country in order to show films and hold speeches. He agitated for strengthening the Norwegian armed forces, and increasingly warned against a possible future world war, and how Norway could potentially be pulled into it. Lange was dejected that the authorities did not take him seriously, and left-wing activists continued to disturb his meetings. He showed up at the last meeting of the organisation on 6 or 7 April 1940 with a Krag-Jørgensen rifle, telling the audience to "get ready for war," and asking rhetorically when Norway would arm its forces. Lange travelled to the Norwegian Parliament on 8 April 1940, and cryingly begged Labour Party MP Torvald Haavardstad to mobilise the Norwegian army. Haavardstad in turn responded that Lange should quit "this hysterical defence talk."

Second World War

On 9 April 1940, Norway was invaded by Nazi Germany. Part of the background for Lange's predictions about the future war was the letters he sent to several foreign heads of state, including Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler. He asked in a letter what Hitler's plans was with his "Third Reich", and received response from German authorities that "Nazi Germany will triumph on all fronts." Lange had several Jewish friends, and considered their situation to be under such threat in 1939/40 that he thought they should escape before a German invasion of Norway. He managed to reserve 100 seats on the Norwegian America Line for Jews to escape, but none of the seats were taken. Lange and several of his friends from the Fatherland League were eager to join the resistance, and they set out to Nordmarka on skis on 10 April. Lange had with him a machine gun and 1,000 bullets, but was forced to turn his weapon in when they met other resistance members. He was considered to be "not reliable" due to his time in the Fatherland League, and he was left to ski back to Oslo. Lange became dejected and bitter due to his treatment, and he was left to think that the Labour Party, which he had criticised for not arming the defence before the invasion, had now also taken over the control in Nordmarka.

Lange was imprisoned at Møllergata 19 in 1940 for getting into a fight at Theatercaféen with Eivind Mehle, an associate of Vidkun Quisling. The incident happened the day after Mehle had attacked King Haakon VII in a speech. Lange refused to greet Mehle when he came past his table, responding that "I don't greet Norway's greatest turd in another way than this," and then slapped Mehle in the face. Lange thereafter grabbed Mehle and threw him through a door twice. Lange refused to apologise to Mehle, and was captured by German police the following day. Lange was imprisoned for four months, and was released in early 1941. His house was searched several times by the Gestapo when he was in prison. On other occasions, Lange and his family also hid Norwegians who planned to escape to Sweden in their house. Following his release from prison, Lange assisted resistance members with information work. He thus came under investigation by the police, as he was "known for being an opponent of NS." In 1942 he was captured and imprisoned once more at Møllergata 19 after his house was raided by German police.

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 media. 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.

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. Hagen, and evolved into the more moderate right-wing Progress Party.

Political positions and controversy

Lange regarded Milton Friedman 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 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."

Personal life

Lange married Anne-Marie Bach-Evensen (1906–1967) in 1930. They had exchanged letters when Lange was in Argentina, and became a couple soon after his return to Kristiansand, where she lived. They had three children. Anne-Marie got diabetes right before the German invasion, and she became very ill. This left Lange with more responsibilities of keeping in charge of their house and children. Although the family was poorly off itself during the war, they regularly invited homeless people into their house for oatmeal soup. Lange and his family moved to a farm in Tomter, Østfold, where they rented a house from October 1941 to 1946. During the war, Lange was hired as forest manager for the Løvenskiold family, and worked at their estate for two years.

Lange and Anne-Marie were divorced in 1950. Two years later, on 17 June 1952, Lange 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.

Writing

Lange was the author and editor of some publications:

• Den lille gaucho. Guttebok. (1946) (under the pseudonym Antonio Alegre)
• Editor of Hundeavisen (1948–53 and 1960–61).
• Editor of Anders Langes Avis (1962–74).

References

1. ^ Gudleiv, Forr. "Anders Lange". Norsk biografisk leksikon (in Norwegian). Retrieved 28 August 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |authorlnik= ignored (help)
2. Rygnestad & Kvanmo, 1993, p. 7.
3. Rygnestad & Kvanmo, 1993, p. 30.
4. Rygnestad & Kvanmo, 1993, pp. 27–28.
5. Rygnestad & Kvanmo, 1993, pp. 34–36.
6. Rygnestad & Kvanmo, 1993, pp. 36–37.
7. Rygnestad & Kvanmo, 1993, pp. 37–41.
8. Rygnestad & Kvanmo, 1993, pp. 46–49.
9. Rygnestad & Kvanmo, 1993, pp. 51–53.
10. Rygnestad & Kvanmo, 1993, pp. 56–59.
11. Rygnestad & Kvanmo, 1993, p. 68.
12. Rygnestad & Kvanmo, 1993, pp. 59–61.
13. Rygnestad & Kvanmo, 1993, p. 67.
14. Rygnestad & Kvanmo, 1993, pp. 69–70.
15. Rygnestad & Kvanmo, 1993, pp. 80–81.
16. Rygnestad & Kvanmo, 1993, p. 71.
17. Rygnestad & Kvanmo, 1993, pp. 72–75.
18. Rygnestad & Kvanmo, 1993, pp. 76–80.
19. ^ Meland, Astrid (8 April 2003). "I kinosalens mørke". Dagbladet (in Norwegian). Retrieved 28 August 2010.
20. "fra FrPs historie". Fremskritt. No. 23. 29 october 2011. p. 2. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
21. ^ "Sommerportrettet: Stå på egne ben ikke på andres". Aftenposten (in Norwegian). 7 August 1973. p. 8. Retrieved 3 March 2011.
22. Egeland, John Olav (27 April 2006). "Til de dristige". Dagbladet (in Norwegian). Retrieved 1 October 2010.
23. Engh, Mona (13 January 2009). "En vandring langs Memory Lane – et liv med stortingsord". Stortinget.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 29 August 2010.
24. ^ Lier, David Christoffer (6 October 2004). "Hvordan forholdt Norge seg til apartheid?". Fellesrådet for Afrika (in Norwegian). Retrieved 28 August 2010.
25. Bjørklund, Tor (8 July 2009). "Utviklingshjelp og stortingsvalg". BistandsAktuelt (in Norwegian). Retrieved 28 August 2010.
26. Rygnestad & Kvanmo, 1993, pp. 34–36.
27. ^ Rygnestad & Kvanmo, 1993, p. 72.
28. Rygnestad & Kvanmo, 1993, p. 75.
29. Andresen, Tore (9 January 1972). "Ansett meg som sjef". Verdens Gang (in Norwegian). Oslo. p. 79. Retrieved 28 August 2010.

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Bibliography

• Rygnestad, Arild; Kvanmo, Hanna (1993). Anders Langes saga. Oslo: Samlaget. ISBN 8252140920.

External links

• Lange's speech at Saga kino in 1973 Template:No icon

• Use dmy dates from August 2011
• 1904 births
• 1974 deaths
• Members of the Parliament of Norway
• Progress Party (Norway) politicians
• Cardiovascular disease deaths in Norway
• Deaths from heart failure
• Fedrelandslaget