Short biography

Knudsen, Christian Holterman

1845 – 1929
Typographer, pioneer of the Norwegian labour movement
Labour

Christian Holterman Knudsen became chairman of the ‘Typographers’ Union in 1876. In 1883 he became chairman of Fagforeningernes Centralkomite (the Central Committee of Trade Unions).

From the early 1880s Knudsen was a leading proponent of socialism in Norway. He played an important role when the Norwegian Labour Party (Det Norske Arbeiderparti) was founded in 1887 and served as the party’s chairman in 1889-1902 and 1912-1918. He resigned from the leadership when the party congress adopted a revolutionary program inspired by the Russian revolution. Knudsen was a member of the Storting in 1906-1915. He was a deputy member of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in ???. In 1924 he acted as a deputy for Konow.

Back to the list of Norwegian Nobel Committee members 1901-2017

The biographical sketches of the Norwegian Nobel Committee members were written by Sølvi Glendrange and edited by Øyvind Tønnesson. They are based on the following sources:
– Norsk Biografisk Leksikon (Norwegian Biographical Encyclopaedia), Oslo 1923-1983
– Hvem er Hvem? (The Norwegian “Who’s Who”), several editions
– Aschehoug og Gyldendals Store Norske Leksikon (The Norwegian National Encyclopaedia), Kunnskapsforlaget, 2nd and 3rd edition, Oslo 1989/1995-1999
– Kunnskapsforlagets Nettleksikon (the Web Encyclopedia of Kunnskapsforlaget, www.kunnskapsforlaget.no), Oslo 1999