Kamp mellom to vegar: Nasjonalisme og marxist-leninisme i norsk målstrid 1973-1989

Abstract

In this thesis, I examine the language political conflicts that influenced Norsk Målungdom, an organisation of youth advocating for the Nynorsk written standard of Norwegian, from 1973 to 1989. The conflicts in the 1970s were dominated by two language political wings that were termed the Social Wing and the National Wing. The Social Wing wanted to base the Nynorsk standard on “the living language of the people”. The National Wing, on the other hand, wanted the basis to be Nynorsk standard that Ivar Aasen designed in the 19th century. I analyse the Social Course in the 1970s, as it was elaborated by linguist Geirr Wiggen, and the National Course, as it was elaborated by a group of Marxist-Leninists in the Student Chapter of Norsk Målungdom (Studentmållaget) in Bergen, Norway. First, I analyse these language political courses based on nationalism theory to ask if they could be said to represent a type of political or cultural nationalism. Following this, I view the conflicts of the 1970s in the light of the conflicts of the political left in Norwegian politics during the same period, when there was a rivalry between the Marxist party Sosialistisk Valgforbund and the Worker’s Communist Party, Arbeidernes Kommunistparti (marxist-leninistene). I have analysed the beforementioned language political courses to see if they match the political ideologies of these two Marxist parties. Finally, I look at the controversy that arose in Norsk Målungdom in the mid-1980s regarding the political and ideological oppositions of the 1970s. In 1984, there was a change of course in Norsk Målungdom where a national one language course was approved. I examine what the consequences of this change of course were for the organisational practice of Norsk Målungdom, and which type of nationalism this course was based on.