Olav Meisdalshagen

Who was Olav Meisdalshagen?

Olav Meisdalshagen was a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party best known for serving as the Norwegian Minister of Finance from December 1947 to November 1951 and as the Norwegian Minister of Agriculture from January 1955 to May 1956. He was also a Member of Parliament for a long time, being elected for the first time in parliamentary election of 1936 and serving until his death, except for the period between 1940 and 1945 when the Parliament of Norway was de facto defunct due to the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany. His death in 1959 came halfway through his fifth term in Parliament, and shortly after a parliamentary speech.

A jurist by profession, Meisdalshagen came from a humble family background, growing up at a former crofter's farm in rural Nord-Aurdal, and losing his father in the 1920s. After studying he moved back to Nord-Aurdal, worked as an attorney and built the Labour Party organization in the region. The background formed him in that his main political goal was to improve the economy of dwellers in rural farming districts. He was a proponent of economic regulation, which marked his period as Minister of Finance. However, his period was also marked by the dominance of Erik Brofoss and the Ministry of Trade in deciding the country's overall financial policy. When Trygve Bratteli succeeded Meisdalshagen as Minister of Finance, the ministry regained its dominance, but also set out on a gradual deregulation. This, in addition to Meisdalshagen's discontent with increased spendings on defence, made him an oppositional figure within the Labour Party. He did return briefly to cabinet as Minister of Agriculture, and also cooperated with the government through the position as chairman of Norges Kooperative Landsforening, a national association of consumer co-operatives. However his oppositional tendencies grew stronger in his later life. He was a part of the "Easter Uprising" in 1958, and in 1958 and 1959 there were rumours of Meisdalshagen worked behind the scene to facilitate a change of personnel—and policy—in the Labour Party. His death came in this period.