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From Socialist Appeal, Vol. IV No. 17, 27 April 1940, p. 5.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’ Callaghan for the Encyclopaedia of Trotskyism On-Line (ETOL).
Editor:
Treason in Norway became the current topic of newspaper columns and conversation following the Hitler invasion of that little country. It seems strange: the German fleet had penetrated up through the Oslo Fjord, through its narrows, past fortifications such as Horten and Droebak which, while not impregnable, still were sufficiently strong, due to their strategic location on the mountain sides, to challenge effectively any battleship. But these fortresses remained silent.
No doubt the workers of Norway were stunned by what appeared to be a double blow – invasion and treason. Even workers of Norwegian origin in this country felt stunned and expressed bitterness mixed with a sense of shame. How could it be? Treason in military circles in a land of peaceful pursuits such as Norway, which was not otherwise given to ordinary corruption so often witnessed in other and more powerful nations. The explanation, however, is not so difficult to find.
First of all it should be remembered that the militarist officers’ caste is pretty much the same everywhere, whether of Prussian or of Napoleonic tradition, whether in a Fascist nation or in a democratic capitalist nation. The officers’ caste of necessity identifies. its interests as bound up with those of the capitalist system.
It is true that Norway had only a small army with a small officers’ caste, not harboring so many of the remnants of feudal nobility. But Norway has also had a labor government for a number of years, supported by the majority of the population. It is in this contradiction presented by a labor government existing alongside of a conscript army officered by militarists who were ardent supporters of the capitalist system, that the explanation for what is called treason must be found.
This labor government was of the Social Democratic type and in some respects, at times, a little to the left. It had during its tenure reconciled itself to the continued existence of capitalist exploitation of labor. It governed within the framework of this system. But as a labor government it had to be concerned also about labor reforms. Thus the Norwegian workers enjoyed certain privileges, among which were old age pensions, insurance for unemployment and sickness, vacations with pay, extensive cooperative enterprises and a relatively good standard of wages. To make up for these reforms taxes were relatively heavy in the higher income brackets and supported by measures cutting a bit into profits. In other words the labor government tried to tread the narrow path of the “golden middle way”, balancing itself between labor reforms and certain restrictions upon capitalism.
This the officers corps could never forgive. It remained the enemy of the labor government, only biding its time. What better time could be afforded than the protection of Hitler’s bayonets to settle accounts with the hated labor government and drive it into exile? Some of these army officers immediately translated their sentiments into action and made common cause with the Fascist dictator. After all, had Hitler not reinforced his guarantee to German capitalism of no strikes, by destroying the trade unions and driving their leaders into exile?
Thus we have here once again a stern lesson in the realities of the class struggle. These army officers threw their hypocritical patriotism to the winds; it was now useless to them, only their allegiance to the exploiters of labor remained decisive. Fair means or foul, anything would do to strike a blow at labor – even at the price of subservience to a greater imperialist power.
A labor government cannot for long maintain itself on the extremely narrow margin between the classes in conflict. It must eventually decide entirely for the one or the other class. To put it more accurately: This is but one more lesson showing the workers the alternatives: defeat and destruction by their “own” or foreign capitalists, or a government which is genuinely labor, which is based on the destruction of capitalism – a revolutionary government.
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