(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
"I came to the world in a brick yard / and became a street boy."
This is how the first two lines of verse in Rudolf Nilsen's poem "Gategutt" go. They are autobiographical. Rudolf Nilsen, or Rulle among friends, was born on February 28, 1901 in Orkenøgata 6 on Vålerenga in Oslo. In his short life, he would live in many brick courtyards and walk in many of the city's streets, not only in Oslo, but also in Moscow and Paris.
But Rulle was not only a street boy, he became a good journalist, a glowing communist and a great poet.
- He was the genius of the working class, the working-class poet Hamsun, a Norwegian Mayakovsky, says the researcher and author Martin Nag.
Something new in Norwegian lyric
“But it was soon found that the small collection meant something new in Norwegian poetry. If the equipment was cheap and poor, the content was all the more rich and valuable. The fabric was unique as was the environment the poem drew its motives from, and the manner of expression personal and straightforward.
Already with this first book, the Oslo boy Rudolf Nilsen made a powerful step forward towards something new in Norwegian lyric. This book did not ruin, did not weigh heavily in the hand. Twenty-three poems were placed on 46 small pages. But not one was indifferent. He portrays the workers' dreams, their longings and goals. It's as if every single poem had sprung from their own minds. The little book was a major event in Norwegian literature.
His fabric was new. He showed that it was possible to sing about gray rental barracks, poor people's streets, smoky factory chimneys, asphalt, machines, bulbs and radio antennas. Nilsen showed that a bald one could sing about anything but flowers, moonlight and women. "
Unconscious part of the labor movement
After "På stengrunn" came the collection "På gjensyn" in 1926. In 1928, Gyldendal Norsk Forlag took over the remaining editions of the two collections and entered into an agreement with the publisher "Ny Tid" that future collections of poems would be published by Gyldendal. The collection of poems "Everyday", which was published after Rulle's death (autumn 1929), is therefore a Gyldedal product.
"I allow you to ask for a correction in your honorable newspaper. It is untrue that I have left the Communist Party of Norway. I'm still a communist. "
At a memorial service held in honor of Rulle on 5 March 1929 in Folkets Hus in Oslo, Emil Stang said in his memorial speech, among other things: «… we are here now in grief that you no longer exist. But we have your works. You want to live, because your works have lasting significance for the Norwegian working class… »
Nor does Martin Nag doubt Rule's importance to both the trade union movement and the labor movement.
- He is an almost organic, unconscious part of the cultural movement's cultural heritage. Literarily, he can be compared to greats like Russian Mayakovsky and German Brecht. Roll is clear, simple, personal and deep. His simplicity is almost classic, but still expensive, he says.
That Roller in 1923 chose the NKP and not the Labor Party as his friend Arne Paasche Aasen should, according to Nag, not astonish anyone.
- There was never any doubt with him. Already as a high school student, he chose the red flag in accordance with the ideas of the Russian Revolution.
bitterly
"We who reared cubs / to see them die / die in war and hunger / For honor or bread / Once we avenge / Yet we endure / Harden your young ability / So it becomes like steel"
We find hatred against the oppressors both on and between the lines, but he is not bitter. Maybe the reason is to be found in his political convictions? Rulle lived and breathed for the revolution, he firmly believed that one day the workers, the oppressed who only had their chains to lose – one day they would win. What to do with bitterness then?
Although, this is not entirely correct, there is at least one bitter poem, "The Song of the Eight," in which the last verse goes like this: "You say it is the seed of poverty / As true a word / They do not even own this spot / As they live / only when they die, then they gain ownership / to six feet of land. ”But typical of Rule's poem, this also ends in a point with a touch of humanism and a touch of hope and humor.
It is conceivable that Rulle would have been somewhat more bitter if he had experienced that Gyldendal has not done any of the world's things to honor him on the 100th anniversary. The publisher's greeting is to place on the mammoth sale the remnants of a collection of poems published in 1999. Aftenposten's cultural editor has not failed to iron out about this disgraceful fact. Glory be to him for that. Martin Nag has also made some progress towards the publishing house. He is not happy that Roll is currently out of fashion, but has experienced this before and takes it all with some stoic calm.
- I have no doubt that the 21st century will need Rudolf Nilsen. The world is not standing still. For Rulle has become everyone's poet now, including Aftenposten, says Nag.
Son of the October Revolution
Another newspaper in Akersgata, Dagbladet, has not failed to remark that Rulle has not only been forgotten by Gyldendal, but also by his own. Though, Rulle's own, is there a verdict? I do not know whether the few remaining members of NKP will still lay a wreath on 1 May at Rulle's memorial stone at Nordre Gravlund in Oslo. On March 1 this year, the day after his centenary, however, there were no visible signs that anyone had been at the memorial stone – neither his so-called own, journalists in Aftenposten and Dagbladet or others. Here were neither wreaths nor flowers, only a few footprints in the snow.
However, the trade union movement has not forgotten Rudolf Nilsen. Both just before and at the LO congress itself in May this year he will be duly marked. There are also individual federations that will honor the lyricist in their own way.
At the said solemnity on May 5, 1929, the poet chief Arnulf Øverland read his memorial poem to Rulle. A beautiful poem where the last sentence goes like this: “He swung his cup. And he could afford / because he knew our lives were done! / So was his tone: both strong and tender / And verily, our lives may need dream! "
Of course, it is impossible to know where Rulle had stood politically today. Maybe it's not that important either. Martin Nag says it this way:
- A cultural and literary phenomenon such as Rulle is common property and common heritage. No one has separate property here.
While he was alive, however, there was no doubt. One of his best friends Christian Hilt, wrote in 1936, among other things: "He could undoubtedly have obtained a esteemed and lucrative position as court singer for the workers' aristocracy in the People's House. But he preferred as an honest soldier to join the service of the Norwegian Communist Party to strengthen the cause of the revolution in Norway through his dictation. "
Yes, Roll was very red, he was a revolutionary. Politically, he was the son of the Russian October Revolution. It is not only the poem "The Voice of the Revolution" that testifies to it, but also another poem which is rightly so "social democratic" that it has been placed on the syllabus in the school system, namely "No. 13 »where the last lines of verse also point to the framework of the existing society:
«This dream which at night breeds and which the day kills / about Atlantis, Utopia – about a better lot and part / than a life, where others own one's heart and one's soul / And it rages in the young hearts' bitter heart: Watch and learn / that you clear and close and cold through the golden glow of the dream / see the way to a land where No. 13 is not! »
