Ragnar Kalheim

Ragnar Toralf Kalheim (22 December 1926 – 26 May 1974) was a Norwegian trade unionist and politician for the Socialist Electoral League.

Early and personal life Born Ragnar Toralf Edh in Nesbyen to laborer Yngvar Reinholdt Edh (1901–1975) and Josefine Alette Kalheim (1905–1996), the family lived several places, and moved to Tønsberg in the interwar period. Here, Kalheim was a member of Milorg during the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany. He changed his last name from Edh to Kalheim in 1946. In December 1950, he married Anne Grethe Thorsen.

Politics and trade unionism In 1945, when the Second World War was over, Kalheim openly joined the communist movement. From 1946 he chaired the Young Communist League of Norway chapter in Tønsberg, and from 1949 he was a secretary in the Young Communist League nationally. However, following the Peder Furubotn controversy in 1949 and 1950, in which Kalheim sided with Furubotn, he was excluded from the party. However, he died shortly into the term, in May 1974 in Oslo. He had struggled with heart problems for a while. A square at Aker Brygge, near the old Akers Mekaniske Verksted factory, was named Ragnar Kalheims plass after him.