Alfred Madsen

Alfred Martin Madsen (10 April 1888 – 8 May 1962) was a Norwegian engineer, newspaper editor, trade unionist and politician for the Norwegian Labour Party. He began as deputy chairman of their youth wing, while also working as an engineer. In the 1910s he rose in the hierarchy of the party press, and eventually in the Labour Party and the Confederation of Trade Unions as well. He was an important party and trade union strategist in the 1920s. He served six terms in the Norwegian Parliament, and was the parliamentary leader of his party for many years. He was twice a member of the national cabinet, as Minister of Social Affairs in 1928 and Minister of Trade from 1935 to 1939.

Early life Madsen was born in 1888 in Bergen as the son of carpenter Simon Madsen (1857–1928) and Hansine Christensen Skiftesvig (1857–1890). He graduated from middle school in 1904, and took an education as a lithographer and engineer between 1904 and 1910. He worked as an engineer in Montreal and New York City between 1910 and 1912, and in Germany between 1913 and 1914. In 1912, during an intermittent stay in Norway, he had become active in Norges Socialdemokratiske Ungdomsforbund, and became acquainted to Martin Tranmæl. Madsen was soon elected chairman of the Norges Socialdemokratiske Ungdomsforbund. While staying in Germany, he had written articles for the newspaper Ny Tid, where Tranmæl was the editor-in-chief. In 1914 he married Anna Fagerhaug.

Political career Upon his return to Norway in 1914, Madsen became editor-in-chief of Tidens Krav in Kristiansund. At the national Labour Party convention in 1915, Madsen was a candidate for the position as party secretary, but long-time party secretary Magnus Nilssen won the vote. The radical wing of Madsen, Tranmæl and others later assumed control over the party at the national convention in 1918. Having worked in Rjukan from 1917 to 1918, Madsen was hired as subeditor of the newspaper Arbeidet in 1919. In 1920 he was promoted within the system, becoming editor-in-chief of Ny Tid. He also led the committee that wrote the 1927 election manifesto. He did not recover his civil job until 8 May 1945, the day of the liberation. He had also been a member of the board of the Bank of Norway since 1930, but this was suspended during the German occupation.

He left politics after World War II. He died in 1962 in Bærum.