Marcus Thrane

Marcus Møller Thrane ( born October 14, 1817 in Christiania ( now Oslo ), Norway, † April 30, 1890 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin) was an early Norwegian socialists and head of the first Norwegian labor movement, which was named after him Thranitter movement.

Thrane drew his ideas from the March Revolution of 1848, and entered among other things, universal suffrage, equality before the law, for a better school system for a fair tax policy ( for the relief of the poor ) and for state support of distressed farmers. From time to time joined his movement at up to 30,000 members who decided at a meeting in February 1851 to start a social revolution in Norway. Although Thrane successfully started for a redemption of the vote, he was arrested on 7 June of the same year. In 1855, he was sentenced to four years in prison, after he had already spent four years in custody. Nearly 200 other personalities of the movement were indicted and most occupied with long prison terms, with the result that the union gradually disintegrated. The few acquittals were obtained from the lawyer Bernhard Dunker, who was honored with a torchlight procession of the workers. Among the supporters of the Thrane movement included, among other things, many poets and other intellectuals, such as the young Henrik Ibsen.

After the death of his wife Josephine in 1862 he emigrated to the USA where he worked as a photographer and journalist and gave lectures on current social issues. In his will, the convinced atheist had decreed that no Christians were allowed to attend his funeral.

His uncle, Waldemar Thrane, was a pioneer of the Norwegian musical life.