P. Moe-Johansen

Who was P. Moe-Johansen?

Petter Moe-Johansen, usually known as P. Moe-Johansen was a Norwegian newspaper editor and politician for the Labour and Social Democratic Labour parties.

He was born in Ørskog. He started his journalistic career at the age of sixteen, and in 1904 he became editor-in-chief of the Aalesund newspaper Nybrott. He then edited Nordlys, and Den 1ste Mai. He took over from Johan Gjøstein in 1906, but fell out with the newspaper owners and the local party, and was replaced by Cornelius Holmboe in 1908. In 1911 Moe-Johansen took over the editor chair in Smaalenenes Socialdemokrat. He remained editor until 1943, when he was deposed as a part of Nazi rule. Nonetheless Tore Pryser reports him to have become positive to the Nazi rule after some time.

He was also a municipal politician. When his Labour Party split in 1921, Moe Johansen joined the more right-wing Social Democratic Labour Party. He was one of the main agitators in the labour press against the Twenty-one Conditions. When the parties reunited in 1927 he rejoined the Labour Party. Østfold county had been dominated completely by the Social Democratic Labour Party, as one of the few counties where the Labour Party was not largest. When the parties reunited, Moe-Johansen's newspaper hoped to be the county newspaper, but it was instead diminished to a local newspaper as the cities Sarpsborg and Halden now both had newspapers.