Mass movement to
Nordkapp. seter, with speech by Nansen ("N"). It was often the first centre-right group to establish local activity in more remote places. By the initiative of young industrialist
Joakim Lehmkuhl, the organisation was co-founded with national hero
Fridtjof Nansen and Norway's first Prime Minister
Christian Michelsen. Former Prime Minister
Jens Bratlie also joined the organisation. The Fatherland League's goal was a national coalition of all centre-to-right "bourgeoisie" (
borgerlige) and nationally minded forces, in opposition to the emerging revolutionary Marxist labour movement. The organisation gained particular support from the
Free-minded Liberal Party and the
Farmers' Party, while it was met with scepticism by the
Conservative Party, and largely rejection by the
Liberal Party. The proposal fell through as Conservative and Liberal politicians reacted coldly to the idea, and quickly came to a new government agreement. The organisation peaked the same year with around 100,000 members and more than 400 local chapters.
Party attempt and decline Increasingly seen as a political rival rather than a unifying force by the centre-right parties, the organisation effectively reorganised into a political party in 1933 after pressure from its young activists. At the same time it launched a more radical political program titled "A Norwegian program", and entered into secret, eventually unsuccessful negotiations of a "national block" with the Farmers' Party and the Free-minded People's Party (and briefly
Nasjonal Samling which dropped out as it did not consider itself a
borgerlig party). Following the onset of the
Great Depression, Lehmkuhl and the party developed an economic ideology in part inspired by the American
New Deal social program, emphasising a more
planned economy. While the labour movement's uniforms had been tolerated for years, political use of uniforms was swiftly banned by the Liberal government the day after the rally.
Anders Lange, founder of the modern
Progress Party was active as the secretary of the organisation in
Kristiansand and in
Oslo until 1938. ==Gallery==