Johan Nygaardsvold (redirected from Johan Nydgaardsyold)

Nygaardsvold, Johan 

Born Sept. 6, 1879, in Hommelvik; died Mar. 13, 1952, in Trondheim. Norwegian politician and statesman; a leader of the Norwegian Labor Party (NLP).

Nygaardsvold was a worker from 1891 to 1915. He was a deputy to the Storting from 1916 to 1949. He supported the NLP’s left wing, which led the party into the Comintern in 1919. Soon after, however, he joined M. Tranmæl’s centrist group and came out against the Comintern line. When the NLP left the Comintern in 1923, Nygaardsvold became a leader of the party. He was prime minister from 1935 to 1945. In attempting to implement a policy of social democratic “regulation” of capitalism from 1935 to 1939, his government enacted several economic and social reforms. In World War II, after the invasion of Norway in April 1940 by fascist German troops, the Nygaardsvold government left in June 1940 for exile in London. In June 1945, Nygaardsvold resigned and withdrew from active political life.