Anders Buen

Anders Johnsen Buen
Born	Gransherad Municipality, Norway
Died	17 July 1933(1933-07-17) (aged 69)
Occupation(s)	Typographer, editor, trade union leader, politician
Years active	1879–1933
Known for	Founder of the Norwegian Labour Party; editor of Social-Demokraten and Ny Tid; President of the Storting (1919–1921)

Anders Johnsen Buen (24 February 1864 – 17 July 1933) was a prominent Norwegian typographer, editor, trade union leader, and politician. As one of the original founders of the Norwegian Labour Party, he held the position of party secretary and was responsible for editing its principal publications, Social-Demokraten and Ny Tid. Known for his pragmatic and reform-oriented political stance, Buen aligned with the breakaway Social Democratic Labour Party of Norway between 1921 and 1927.

Early life and education

Buen was born in Gransherad Municipality to Jon Olsen Buen, a farmer, and Aslaug Olsdatter. After completing primary education and two years of secondary schooling in Vang, he began an apprenticeship in 1879 as a book printer at W.C. Fabritius in Kristiania, subsequently working professionally as a typographer.

Labour movement

In 1885, Buen played a key role in establishing Socialdemokratisk Forening, which took control of the newspaper Vort Arbeide—originally launched in 1884 by Christian Holtermann Knudsen. He joined the paper as a journalist, and in 1886 it was renamed Social-Demokraten. By 1900, Buen had become its editor-in-chief while simultaneously serving as secretary for the Labour Party. He also led his local trade union from 1897 to 1898 and was a member of Kristiania city council between 1901 and 1903.

A party dispute in 1903 resulted in the loss of his editorial and secretary roles; thereafter, he was appointed editor of Ny Tid in Trondheim. Buen held seats on Trondheim city council during 1907–1910 and from 1913 until his death in 1933. He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament representing Lademoen constituency in the years 1906, 1909, 1912, 1915, and 1918. Between 1913 and 1921, he led the Labour parliamentary group and served as President of the Storting from 1919 to 1921.

Martin Tranmæl, leader of the Labour Party’s radical faction, succeeded Buen as editor of Ny Tid. After disagreements concerning Comintern affiliation and the Twenty-one Conditions surfaced in 1921, Buen joined the moderate Social Democratic Labour Party. He edited Trøndelag Social-Demokrat between 1922 and 1927. Following Labour’s decision to abandon the Twenty-one Conditions in 1923, both parties merged again in 1927. Since Ny Tid came under control of the Communist Party after a split in 1923, Arbeider-Avisen became the official Labour newspaper in Trondheim; Buen contributed there as a journalist.

From 1916 until his passing in 1933, Buen managed the local branch of Norges Bank and was a board member of the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate from 1921 to 1923.