Wilhelm Mohr

PART IV – 9 April – From the Past to the Future
element of repetition. Guttorm Hansen 35 once said that ’it was a fear of
committing ourselves – we thought we could steer clear – we were still people
living on the outskirts, despite the experiences with the losses of the Merchant
Fleet during WWI. In a way the reality of the world had not yet become our
reality’. Nordahl Grieg 36 states: ’we built upon peace almost in defiance’.He
idealizes us. Rather, it could be argued that, with closed eyes and switched
off senses, we clung to peace as almost in defiance.
I am not one of those who blame the Labour Party for all that happened
leading up to 9 April. We have a society, such as it is, and that
was the case back then as well, but it should not have got off too easily
either. The consequences were too grave for that, and many of our
lessons learned are bound to this particular phase.
The inter-war period had seen a social development of our society
that I do understand. There had been high unemployment rates for a
significant period of time. The Labour Party’s representatives had been
elected on a platform of economic crisis and social politics, and not
because of defence matters or foreign policy credentials. The downsizing
of our Defence Forces was a declared policy, and the Mot Dag
movement was influential. Scepticism towards everything military, and
towards officers in particular, was deep. There was a perception that
funding defence-related objectives was not only non-productive and
unnecessary, but also stood in direct contrast to the broader development
of our society that would bring hope for the future. There was
a prevailing sense that this view had support from the majority of the
elected members of Parliament. So the way for such a political agenda
was clear when the Labour Party took office in 1935, but we should be
aware that the huge downsizing of the Armed Forces came in the years
1932 and 1934, during the Mowinckel- and Hundseid administrations
35 Guttorm Hansen was an author, and also a Labour Party member of the Norwegian Parliament.
He was Stortingspresident (President of the Norwegian Parliament) 1973–1981.
36 Johan Nordahl Brun Grieg (1902–1943) was a famous Norwegian journalist, author and
poet. He was granted the possibility to join an Allied bombing mission in late 1943, and
was subsequently killed during this mission when the Germans shot down his Lancaster
over Berlin on 2 December 1943.
105