Michael Puntervold

Michael Puntervold (4 September 1879 – 1937) was a Norwegian lawyer and politician for the Labour and Social Democratic Labour parties.

He is know for having a personal relation with Lenin and later served as a lawyer for Leon Trotsky during his exile. Several letters between Leon Trotsky and Michael Puntervold are stored in the Harvard Library.

He was the manager of the middle school in Narvik, and edited the newspaper Fremover for a short time. He also chaired the local chapter of the Labour Party. He studied law and graduated with the cand.jur. degree in 1906. From 1904 to 1910 he was a journalist in the Kristiania newspaper Social-Demokraten. He also worked as an attorney and lawyer in Kristiania.^[1]

He became an important person in the labour movement in 1904 as he published the pamphlet Antimilitarismen via Norges Socialdemokratiske Ungdomsforbund. It was the first "comprehensive theoretical reasoning" behind the Labour Party military policy at the time; skepticism to the current military while wanting the working people to take up arms.^[2] In the early 1900s he published agitative pamphlets named Militarismen ("The Militarism") and Klassekampen ("The Class Struggle").^[3] In 1919 he published I Lenins land ("In Lenin's Country"), a travel account from the newly established Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.^[1]

Puntervold placed himself on the right wing of the party, which had more or less control until 1918.^[4] In 1920 he was more or less denounced by Edvard Bull, Sr. who wrote in Det 20de Aarhundre of "right-wing socialism and puntervoldery".^[5] When the Labour Party split in 1921, Puntervold joined the more right-wing Social Democratic Labour Party, and became a leading figure in this party.^[1] He, writing in Arbeider-Politikken, was a part of the early supporters of such a new party.^[6] He took part at the founding congress of the Labour and Socialist International in 1923; the other Norwegian delegates were Magnus Nilssen, Arne Magnussen and Olav Kringen.^[7] Nonetheless, he gradually backed out of active politics.^[1] He belonged to the Labour Party again from 1927.^[8]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Friis, Jakob; Hegna, Trond; Juel, Dagfin, ed (1935). "Puntervold, Michael" (in Norwegian). Arbeidernes Leksikon. 5. Oslo: Arbeidermagasinets Forlag. p. 1020. 
2. ^ Bjørnson, Øyvind (1990) (in Norwegian). På klassekampens grunn 1900-1920. Volume two of Arbeiderbevegelsens historie i Norge. Oslo: Tiden. p. 325. ISBN 82-10-02752-2. 
3. ^ List of publications in BIBSYS
4. ^ Bjørnson, 1990: p. 333
5. ^ Maurseth, Per (1987) (in Norwegian). Gjennom kriser til makt 1920-1935. Volume three of Arbeiderbevegelsens historie i Norge. Oslo: Tiden. p. 11. ISBN 82-10-02753-0. 
6. ^ Maurseth, 1987: p. 154
7. ^ Maurseth, 1987: p. 31
8. ^ Maurseth, 1987: p. 611

Persondata
Name	Puntervold, Michael
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	4 September 1879
Place of birth
Date of death	1937
Place of death