The Classical World in 
a Norwegian Workers’ 
Encyclopedia: 
Arbeidernes Leksikon 
(1931–1936)
Eivind Heldaas Seland*
AN ENCYCLOPEDIA FOR THE WORKING CLASS
In 1927 the first issue of the weekly illustrated Arbeider-magasinet was 
launched. Published, edited, and written by people sympathetic to the 
Communist Party of Norway (NKP), the magazine was editorially inde-
pendent and aimed at the education and entertainment of the working 
class.1 Arbeider-magasinet became an instant commercial success. The 
magazine statutes required that parts of the profits should be set aside 
for cultural purposes, and it was decided that some of the proceeds 
would be used for the long-desired publication of an encyclopedia 
for the working class.2 The project was assigned to the experienced 
historian, journalist, and socialist activist Jakob Friis (1883–1956), who 
was soon joined by historian Trond Hegna (1898–1992). The resulting 
Arbeidernes leksikon – “Workers’ Encyclopedia” – appeared in six 
volumes and with c. 10,000 keywords in 1931–1936.3
Few encyclopedias are written from scratch. Most projects borrow 
and copy material from earlier works, with or without permission 
or due credit.4 Arbeidernes leksikon was explicitly inspired by “The 
Great Soviet Encyclopedia” (Bolshaya sovetskaya entsiklopediya, first 
1 Berggrav, Magasinet, 33–40; Pedersen, Det var der vi ble til, 9–18.
2 Berggrav, Magasinet, 43–46; Paulsen, “Arbeidernes Leksikon.” 
3 Friis and Hegna, Arbeidernes leksikon.
4 Prodöhl, Politik Des Wissens, 55–63.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4312/clotho.4.2.29-45
* University of Bergen, Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and 
Religion, Postboks 7805, 5020 Bergen, eivind.seland@uib.no.
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EIVIND HELDAAS SELAND30
edition in 65 volumes, 1926–1947) and “The Small Soviet Encyclope-
dia” (Malaya sovetskaya entsiklopediya, ten volumes, 1928–1931).5 The 
preserved editorial correspondence reveals that traditional bourgeois 
Norwegian, Swedish, and German encyclopedias were, in fact, also 
extensively used.6 Nevertheless, it soon became clear that the project 
was overwhelming. All articles had to be edited, and many of them 
had to be written anew to reflect Norwegian conditions. Editorial ef-
forts to recruit qualified contributors from the labor movement were 
complicated by the opposition from the Labor Party (DNA), which at 
that time still identified as Marxist, but which propagated a line of 
democratic reformism, opposed to the revolutionary line of the ency-
clopedia editors and NKP.7 The leading DNA newspaper, Arbeiderbladet, 
called for all party members to withhold support for the project,8 which 
resulted in the editorial ignorance of the publication of the work and 
critical review in the party press. The solution found by the editors 
was to draw on Hegna’s network within the independent but com-
munist-leaning and revolutionary Marxist organization and journal 
Mot Dag (“Towards dawn”), run by students and young academics, 
mostly affiliated with the University of Oslo.9 In 1933 the project was 
formally subcontracted to the organization, Friis remaining editor 
only by name.10 Most articles are unsigned, but the major entries on 
ancient Greece and the Roman empire were authored by the historian 
and classical philologist Jørgen Fredrik Ording (1902–1987). He was a 
part of the inner circle of Mot Dag, and was also responsible for many 
other articles on classical history as author or editor. The question of 
authorship, however, is not essential in this case, as the encyclopedia 
was conceived as a collective endeavor.
In the end, all six volumes were successfully published only one 
year after the original schedule, and the planned print run of 10,000 
copies was sold out. The encyclopedia was generally well received 
in the communist and independent labor press but reviewed briefly 
5 Friis and Hegna, Arbeidernes leksikon, vol 1., preface.
6 Correspondence to [Ole Christian] Gundersen, March 3, 1933, ARK1719 Mot 
Dag, box D-0002, folder “diverse,” Arbeiderbevegelsens arkiv og bibliotek, Oslo; 
Report from meeting on how to speed up the publication process of Arbeidernes 
leksikon, January 7, 1933. ARK1536 Trond Hegna, box D-L0024, folder “diverse 
korrespondanse, Arbeidernes leksikon,” Arbeiderbevegelsens arkiv og bibliotek, 
Oslo. 
7 Bull, Mot Dag og Erling Falk, 219.
8 Arbeiderbladet, “Et arbeidernes leksikon.” 
9 Bull, Mot Dag og Erling Falk, 219.
10 Ibid.; Friis, Bevegelsen Og Målet, 165–66.
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THE CLASSICAL WORLD IN A NORWEGIAN WORKERS’ ENCYCLOPEDIA 31
and negatively in DNA-affiliated newspapers and in Christian, central 
and right-affiliated publications. Both chief editors and several key 
contributors joined or re-joined DNA when Mot Dag was reconciled 
with the party in 1936 and later became prominent members of the 
democratic labor movement in Norway, which abandoned its Marxist 
orientation after World War II. The Communist Party became gra-
dually marginalized in the labor movement and lost popular support 
after 1948. Thus, there was little demand for new editions of the 
revolutionary encyclopedia. It was only in the connection with the 
publication of a new, although not explicitly political, encyclopedia 
published by the labor movement publishing house Tiden in 1975, 
that the project was rehabilitated, and its pioneering effort in ad-
vancing working-class identity was recognized.11 The only reprint is 
a much-abridged version published by the (then) socialist publishing 
house Pax in 1978.
RESEARCH HISTORY, SOURCES, NARRATIVE THEORY
Some correspondence and other records from the project are pre-
served in the archives of Friis, Hegna, and Mot Dag in the Labor 
Movement Archives and Library (Arbeiderbevegelsens arkiv og 
bibliotek) in Oslo.12 The Norwegian National Library has digitized 
most of the newspapers from the period. These contain advertise-
ments, opinion pieces, and reviews about the project. Arbeidernes 
leksikon is barely mentioned in the relevant volumes of the official 
history of the Norwegian labor movement13 and figures only in 
short passages in the memoirs and biographies of the key figures 
involved in the project.14 Only limited academic scholarship has been 
undertaken about it. Kjell-Olav Hovde’s MA thesis on the represen-
tation of the history of literature in the work highlights the inbuilt 
tension of the encyclopedia between establishing a working-class 
counterculture while at the same time educating its readership in 
theoretical Marxism.15 As we shall see, this duality is also present in 
the representation of classical antiquity, although arguably to a lesser 
degree. In the illustrated volume accompanying a 2012 exhibition 
on the history of encyclopedias in the Norwegian National Library, 
11 Gerhardsen, Højdahl and Sannes, Tidens Leksikon, vol. 1, preface.
12 ARK 1065, ARK 1140, ARK 1536, ARK 1719.
13 Pryser, Klassen og nasjonen; Maurseth, Gjennom kriser til makt.
14 Bull, Mot Dag og Erling Falk; Friis, Bevegelsen Og Målet.
15 Hovde, “Arbeidernes Leksikons litteraturhistorie for fremtiden.”
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EIVIND HELDAAS SELAND32
Arbeidernes leksikon figures as a prominent example in the chapter 
devoted to “Knowledge and ideology.”16
This article will focus on the reception and representation of the 
classical past in the encyclopedia. In Norway, as elsewhere, classical 
education long remained the preserve of male members of the upper 
classes. Mandatory Latin was removed from the curriculum in Norway 
with the introduction of three-year gymnasia in 1869. Nevertheless, 
it remained popular, with ca. one-third of the students still majoring 
in the language in the period when Arbeidernes leksikon appeared.17 
History, however, was an essential subject in primary and secondary 
schools, and despite the emphasis on Norwegian and Bible history, 
children with the working-class background would have had some 
exposure to classical history after graduating from the mandatory 
seven-year public school system. This was even more the case for aca-
demically successful students who progressed through the selective 
two-plus-three years of middle school and gymnasium education. The 
explicit aim of Arbeidernes leksikon, stated in the preface to the first 
volume, was to prepare the working class for their historical mission: 
to assume power.18 What need would future rulers have for ancient 
history? Quite a bit, as it turns out.
Since the so-called linguistic turn of the 1970s, historians have 
been increasingly conscious that their activity intrinsically entails the 
construction of narratives.19 On a general level, Philippe Carrard, in 
his study of the French nouvelle historie movement of the twentieth 
century, demonstrated that this applies to all historical texts, even 
those that explicitly reject a narrative approach.20 New History, with 
an emphasis on description and structure, emerged partly in reaction 
to Marxist historiography,21 which does have an explicit narrative of 
historical development at its core. Nevertheless, New History’s insistence 
on structure over narrative is an interesting parallel to encyclopedias, 
with their alphabetical organization and claim to comprehensiveness 
and factuality. For Carrard, the hidden narratives of historical texts 
may be investigated through what he calls “the poetics of history:” the 
16 Berg et al., All verdens kunnskap.
17 Statistics Norway, Graduates of general secondary schools, upper stage, available 
online.
18 Friis and Hegna, Arbeidernes leksikon, vol. 1, preface.
19 See Veyne, Comment on écrit l’histoire; White, Metahistory: The Historical Ima-
gination in Nineteenth-Century Europe; Lowenthal, The Past Is a Foreign Coun-
try.
20 See Carrard, Poetics of the New History.
21 Carrard, Poetics, 43.
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THE CLASSICAL WORLD IN A NORWEGIAN WORKERS’ ENCYCLOPEDIA 33
rules and conventions that historians adhere to in their writing. What 
poetics of history may be found in a Marxist encyclopedia? Paul Veyne 
has operationalized the study of historical narratives by pointing out 
how they consist of events organized into a plot.22 There is clearly a 
plot of history in Arbeidernes leksikon, but how is it constituted? Jörn 
Rüsen throws out a more fine-meshed net by distinguishing four types 
of historical narratives: the traditional, the exemplary, the critical, and 
the genetical.23 For Rüsen, these regulate our sense of time along three 
axes: memory, continuity, and identity. Below, these three approaches are 
rolled out on selected articles about classical history from Arbeidernes 
leksikon. This will demonstrate the ways different kinds of historical 
narratives defined by Rüsen are used by the authors and editors of that 
work to organize events in a series of historical plots according to Veyne. 
These are then combined into a coherent overarching metahistory as 
established by Carrard.
THE GLORY THAT WAS GREECE
Rüsen’s “traditional narrative” constitutes historical memory by 
describing the “origins constituting present forms of life.” It highlights 
continuity by arguing that these have permanence and establishes 
identity by “affirming pre-given patterns of self-understanding.”24 
Such narratives, frequently idealizing, have been influential in classical 
studies and remain common, particularly within popular culture. 
Examples would include descriptions of ancient Greece as the starting 
point of traditions of philosophy, political thought, art, and literature 
that continue through history and still serve to identify some people 
and specific cultural traits as “Western” even today. As expected 
from an explicitly revolutionary work, the traditional narrative is 
not dominant in Arbeidernes leksikon. Nevertheless, examples may 
be found, for instance, in the sizable parts of the article on Greek 
history describing literature, language, art, and architecture25 and in 
the many short, unsigned articles on ancient biography, mythology, 
monuments, and geography. These accounts are brief but generally 
positive, highlighting Greek culture’s innovative, unique, and las-
ting qualities. That ancient Greek temples, sculptures, and works of 
literature are considered relevant and vital to a Norwegian working -
22 See Veyne, Comment on écrit l’histoire.
23 Rüsen, History, 11–19.
24 Rüsen, History, 12.
25 J.F. Ording, “Hellas,” in Friis and Hegna, Arbeidernes leksikon, vol. 3, 835–841.
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EIVIND HELDAAS SELAND34
-class audience of the twentieth century shows that the editors of 
Arbeidernes leksikon considered knowledge, education, and culture 
valuable, independently of the revolutionary cause. The Marxist per-
spective is still visible, for instance, in emphasis on artisans and skill 
over artists and individual genius and Greek culture as a collective 
enterprise.26 Thus the twentieth-century working class is included in 
the traditional narrative of ancient Greece; it also becomes part of 
their heritage and identity.
ELITE OPPORTUNISTS AND A PROLETARIAN HERO
More critical and generally less positive in their evaluation of the 
classical world are the many “exemplary narratives.” For Rüsen, 
exemplary narrative gives cases that exemplify the application of 
general rules of conduct. They demonstrate the validity of such 
rules across time and serve the purpose of identity building by 
generalizing historical experience to such rules of conduct.27 Such 
narratives are found in biographical articles on Greek and Roman 
rebel leaders and rulers. A point in the case is the articles on the 
Gracchi brothers,28 who spearheaded attempts at agricultural and 
political reform in the Roman Republic of the second century BC. 
The grievances addressed by the two reformers are seen as caused by 
social injustice grounded in the relations of production. The focus is 
on the existence of a large group of propertyless and destitute citizens 
living in dependence on smaller aristocracy with large, slave-run 
landholdings. While the social problems were real, Tiberius and 
Gaius Gracchus are not seen as true champions of the people in 
Arbeidernes leksikon, but as members of a new and ascending elite 
using the ordinary people to promote their individual and group 
interests. This contrasts with the gladiator Spartacus, who led an 
influential slave uprising in southern Italy from 73–71 BC. Spartacus 
is perceived as a true revolutionary whose project failed due to the 
lack of class consciousness among the rebelling slaves, who were 
more interested in looting or running away than in effecting revo-
lutionary change.29 Biographical articles on ancient rulers are brief 
but also exemplify Marxist historical theory. Caesar and Augustus 
26 E.g., Ording, “Hellas,” 826.
27 Rüsen, History, 12.
28 Ording, “Graccherne,” in Friis and Hegna, Arbeidernes leksikon, vol. 3, 513–515; 
Ording, “Romerriket,” ibid., vol. 3, 123–124.
29 Ording, “Romerriket,” 125–126; Friis and Hegna, “Spartacus,” ibid., vol. 3, 478.
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THE CLASSICAL WORLD IN A NORWEGIAN WORKERS’ ENCYCLOPEDIA 35
are, for instance, seen as driven by personal ambition but acting as 
the champions of a business- and slaveowner aristocracy locked in a 
power struggle with the traditional senatorial elite. The Roman people 
were diverted from their genuine class interest through entertainment, 
economic support, and access to slave labor.30
The exemplary narrative in these articles is that class struggle is 
a constant in history. The ancient protagonists might be driven by 
personal ambition and patriarchal concern for the welfare of the 
people. However, the conflicts that bring them to the head of history 
for a brief time are brought about by structural tensions between 
new and old elites and between these elites, the free poor, and the 
large slave population. The constancy of class struggle throughout 
history demonstrated in these accounts confirms the validity of 
Marxist doctrine, and the failure of ancient revolts to turn into real 
revolutions due to a lack of class consciousness is a reminder of the 
importance of class solidarity to present-day workers.
IN THE SHADOW OF THE ACROPOLIS
Critical narratives, also called “anti-stories” by Rüsen, challenge 
the origin stories and notions of continuity voiced in traditional 
narratives and create an identity through the rejection of tradition.31 
These are common in Arbeidernes leksikon, as the premise of Marxist 
theory is that past (ancient and medieval) and current (capitalist) 
modes of production were based on exploitation. Following that 
view, a radical break from the past was imminent and inevitable. 
Again they may be exemplified through the extensive article on 
ancient Greece, which contains detailed discussions of Athens 
and Sparta.32 While the radical nature of Athenian democracy in 
the context of the ancient world is underlined, it also stresses how 
the system excluded women, discriminated against foreigners and 
descendants of mixed marriages, and rested on the exploitation of 
slave labor. This caused widespread unemployment among the free 
poor, who became dependent on state handouts, paid military ser-
vice, and imperial expansionism. It is also emphasized how a small 
elite dominated the formally quite open system due to the wealth, 
education, and rhetorical training required to take an active part 
30 Friis and Hegna, “Augustus,” ibid., vol. 1, 428; “Cæsar,” vol 2, 122–123; Ording, 
“Romerriket,” 127–129.
31 Rüsen, History, 12, 14.
32 Ording, “Hellas,” 818–828.
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EIVIND HELDAAS SELAND36
in democratic processes. Sparta is described as a “democracy for 
the ruling classes” with strong egalitarianism within the tiny elite 
of male citizens. At the same time, it rested on the exploitation of 
the helots, described as serfs and state slaves, and discrimination 
toward the Perioeci.
Readers familiar with classical history will recognize the various 
elements of these descriptions from any textbook and classical sources. 
They are presented in matter-of-fact language, and the narrative is 
driven by events and facts. Although laudable aspects of Greek culture 
are highlighted (see “traditional narrative” above), it is nevertheless 
clear to the reader that Greek freedom and democracy were not 
for all but rested on privilege, colonialism, and the exploitation of 
enslaved people.
UNDER THE YOKE OF ROME
The most crucial type of narrative of ancient history in Arbeidernes 
leksikon is, however, Rüsen’s “genetical narrative,” which relates the 
memory of the “transformation of alien forms of life into proper 
ones.” The most explicit example of this is probably the article on the 
Roman empire, which fills no less than 21 columns or 11 pages.33 As 
in traditional accounts, Rome is highlighted as a point of departure 
for later political, military, juridical, and religious development. But 
the plot of the article (in Veyne’s sense), which serves to organize the 
events and facts that are presented, is not the importance of Rome for 
later history but the rise and fall of the slave mode of production seen 
as characteristic of the ancient world in Marxist historiography. It 
explains how agricultural land and political rights were concentrated 
in aristocratic hands during the royal period and the early republic, 
leading to reliance on slave labor and the formation of a propertyless 
urban proletariat. The resulting tension was relieved by imperialism 
and government handouts. Imperialism led to the formation of new 
commercial elites, bringing about the end of the republic and the 
establishment of the principate. The concentration of capital in elite 
hands and the lack of new areas to colonize led to the civil wars of 
the third century. They were described as a revolutionary movement 
spearheaded by the soldiers, which failed to lead to social reform. 
They ended in a military and religious dictatorship, reinforcing 
economic stagnancy and decline, ultimately leading to the downfall 
of the Western empire.
33 Ording, “Romerriket,” in Friis and Hegna, Arbeidernes leksikon, vol. 6, 115–136.
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THE CLASSICAL WORLD IN A NORWEGIAN WORKERS’ ENCYCLOPEDIA 37
This narrative is established by casting critical events as the 
result of class struggle. The republican system was founded when 
the aristocracy successfully ousted the king but remained locked 
in a struggle between traditional and new elites who owed their 
wealth to slavery and used poor citizens as assets in their quest 
for power. The struggle of the orders, slave rebellions, social and 
civil wars, imperialism, populares, the collapse of republican 
institutions, and the establishment of hereditary rule all fit in. 
Important actors, whether the Gracchi, Catiline, Cicero, or Cae-
sar, become figureheads of class interest, frequently motivated by 
personal ambition. On the one hand, the argument is circular; 
on the other, theory and history mutually reinforce the plot. In 
this manner, 1200 years of history and one of the largest empires 
of the premodern world become proof of concept for Marxist 
historical doctrine.
EVENTS, PLOT, POETICS
Zooming out from the specific narratives in the articles discussed 
above, the genetic narrative of the Roman Empire also exemplifies 
the grander historical narrative of Arbeidernes leksikon, constituted 
by hundreds of short and a handful of longer articles relating various 
aspects of history. History becomes a stream of repression, exploi-
tation, and imperialism, provoking rebellions and revolutions that 
are often either unsuccessful or otherwise co-opted by elite agents 
and interests. This allows us to read the alphabetically organized, 
factual, and mostly jargon-free encyclopedic accounts as parts of 
a larger plot.
While the articles on ancient Greece and the Roman empire 
contain historical narratives aligned with Marxist historical theory, 
the many shorter articles need to be read in context to grasp the 
overarching narrative. Carrard’s concept of “poetics of history,” 
the rules and conventions that historians adhere to in their texts, 
might help exemplify how this was done in Arbeidernes leksikon. 
On a basic level, this is visible in the (actually quite limited) use 
of Marxist terminology, such as proletariat, class, exploitation, 
revolution, or mode of production, and the conscious selection of 
topics and assignment of space. Thus Aristonicos, the leader of a 
rebellion mobilizing slaves and the poor against Roman rule in 
Pergamon 133–129 BC, gets a full page that includes bibliographic 
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EIVIND HELDAAS SELAND38
references. In contrast, Aristides, the great Athenian statesman, gets 
a mere ten lines.34
On a more sophisticated level, Carrard divides historical texts 
that have no overt narrative structure into the categories of “descrip-
tions” and “metahistories.”35 Descriptions are texts that ask not “what 
happened” but rather “what were things like.”36 Thus, they lack the 
events that propel the plot in Veyne’s approach to narrative history. 
This seems to be an apt parallel for an encyclopedic approach to 
history, which, although it contains many events, fails to organize 
these into a plot explicitly. Carrard finds two narrative structures 
even in descriptive texts, the “tour” and “the map.”37 Arguably Arbei-
dernes leksikon makes use of both. The map consists of many small 
descriptions of historical conditions and processes, all playing out 
according to the same set of rules (e.g., slave mode of production, class 
struggle), and thus all situated within the same historical landscape. 
The tours are constituted by cross-references between articles that 
connect short factual articles with each other and the longer narrative 
accounts of ancient Greece and the Roman Empire. The article on 
Aristonicos, for instance, refers to the Gracchi. That article, in turn, 
references the article on the Roman empire. Carrard’s “metahistories” 
are texts that engage with prior works and discuss already existing 
information in light of these.38 Arbeidernes leksikon contains only a 
few explicit references to other texts. However, given that the whole 
project depends on bringing history in line with Marxist historical 
thought, there is a specific metahistorical dimension. At times this 
becomes overt, for instance, in the article on ancient Greece, which 
enters the modernist-primitivist debate on the nature of the ancient 
economy on the modernist side.39 The article on the Roman empire 
polemicizes against explanations for the decline of Rome that were 
popular at the time: racial degeneration and excessive luxury, and 
argues that declining economic productivity and the inability to re-
form caused the downfall of the Western empire.40 The descriptions 
and the metahistorical aspects of Arbeidernes leksikon contribute to 
the more common and familiar narrative of historical stages.41 Here 
34 Friis and Hegna, Arbeidernes leksikon, vol. 1, 366–368.
35 Carrard, Poetics, 37–47.
36 Carrard, Poetics, 38.
37 Carrard, Poetics, 38.
38 Carrard, Poetics, 41.
39 Ording, “Hellas.” 
40 Ording, “Romerriket.”
41 Carrard, Poetics, 47–54.
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THE CLASSICAL WORLD IN A NORWEGIAN WORKERS’ ENCYCLOPEDIA 39
classical antiquity is just the first main stage in a development that has 
led to the capitalist world of the twentieth century, to a communist 
revolution in the Soviet Union, and that will also necessarily lead to 
a revolution in Norway and other industrial countries shortly.
THE CLASSICAL WORLD IN ARBEIDERNES LEKSIKON
There is no doubt that history is vital in Arbeidernes leksikon. While 
the emphasis is on contemporary and recent history, as well as the 
history of the socialist movement, premodern history, including the 
classical world, received broad coverage. The encyclopedia was expli-
citly Marxist and revolutionary, and history constituted evidence that 
Marxist analysis was valid. On a general level, Carrard’s and Veyne’s 
approaches to historical narration shed light on how this story was 
told consistently within the restraint imposed by the encyclopedic 
genre’s requirement of brevity, factuality, alphabetization, and the 
multitude of non-historical content. On a more specific level, however, 
Rüsen’s typology of historical narratives shows that this was not the 
only story told of the classical past.
On the one hand, ancient history and classical heritage are 
represented as subjects of independent, even eternal significance, 
as typical in traditional historical works and encyclopedias of the 
period. This may be ascribed to ambitions to educate the working-
-class audience that the encyclopedia was written for, as well as to 
create a work that was an alternative to mainstream encyclopedias 
in terms of comprehensiveness. On the other hand, social injustice, 
poverty, discrimination toward women and foreigners, imperialism, 
and reliance on slave labor are characteristic of the ancient world. In 
this, the encyclopedia foretells topics that, although well-attested and 
known, only entered mainstream Western historiography in earnest 
in the 1970s. A third program, even if less overt, may also be discerned: 
The emphasis on revolutionary leaders, popular rebellions, and the 
hard work, skill, and industriousness of ancient slaves, artisans, and 
workers not only serves to establish historical consciousness but also 
indirectly credits the working class with the glory that was Greece 
and the grandeur that was Rome, thus appropriating the traditionally 
bourgeois domain of classical history for the people.
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EIVIND HELDAAS SELAND40
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-Century Europe. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1973.
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THE CLASSICAL WORLD IN A NORWEGIAN WORKERS’ ENCYCLOPEDIA 41
Fig 1: The six leather-bound volumes of Arbeidernes 
leksikon (1931–1936) instill the liberating value of 
education and knowledge. The illustration on the back 
of the volumes depicts a human climbing toward the 
sunlight on a staircase built by a set of Arbeidernes 
leksikon.
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EIVIND HELDAAS SELAND42
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THE CLASSICAL WORLD IN A NORWEGIAN WORKERS’ ENCYCLOPEDIA 43
Fig 2: Advertisement printed in labor-movement 
newspapers in 1931 to attract subscribers to 
Arbeidernes leksikon. The total price of the leather-
bound set, NOk 71.40, amounted to c. one week’s wage 
for a skilled worker. National Library of Norway.  
CC-BY-NC-ND.
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EIVIND HELDAAS SELAND44
ABSTRACT
The Norwegian Arbeidernes leksikon, “Workers’ Encyclopedia,” was 
published in six volumes from 1931–1936. It was inspired by The Great 
Soviet Encyclopedia, explicitly aimed at working-class readers, and 
establishing an alternative to the hegemonic bourgeoise discourse. 
The editors and many of the contributors belonged to the Communist 
Party of Norway (NKP) and the independent communist intellectual 
organization Mot Dag (“Towards Dawn”). This article investigates 
the reception and representation of the ancient world in Arbeidernes 
leksikon based on selected articles through the lens of narrative theory. 
Classical education was traditionally the domain of the upper classes. 
It is argued that the Workers’ Encyclopedia demonstrates that reorien-
ting the reception of ancient history was considered essential both to 
rewrite history according to Marxist doctrine and to establish workers’ 
culture as a full-fledged alternative to its bourgeoise counterpart. In 
the Workers’ Encyclopedia, the classical past is celebrated not for its 
empires and rulers but for the effort of the masses and their struggle 
for freedom.
kEYWORDS: book history, classical reception, encyclopedias, counter-
culture, historical narratives
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THE CLASSICAL WORLD IN A NORWEGIAN WORKERS’ ENCYCLOPEDIA 45
Klasična antika v norveški Delavski enciklopediji (1931–1936)
IZVLEČEK
Norveška Delavska enciklopedija, Arbeidernes leksikon, je med letoma 
1931–1936 izšla v šestih zvezkih. Zgledovala se je po Veliki sovjetski 
enciklopediji, ki je bila izrecno namenjena bralcem iz delavskega 
razreda in je predstavljala alternativo prevladujočemu meščanskemu 
diskurzu. Njeni uredniki in številni sodelavci so pripadali Komunis-
tični partiji Norveške (NKP) in neodvisni komunistični intelektualni 
organizaciji Mot Dag (»Proti zori«). Članek skozi prizmo teorije 
pripovedi na podlagi izbranih člankov raziskuje recepcijo in repre-
zentacijo antičnega sveta, kot ga slika Arbeidernes leksikon. Klasična 
izobrazba je bila tradicionalno domena višjih slojev. Članek Delavsko 
enciklopedijo predstavi kot dokaz, da je bila preusmeritev recepcije 
pri antični zgodovini bistvena tako za reinterpretacijo zgodovine v 
skladu z marksistično doktrino kot za vzpostavitev delavske kulture kot 
polnopravne alternative svoji meščanski vzporednici. Delavska encik-
lopedija klasične preteklosti ni vrednotila zaradi imperijev in vladarjev, 
temveč zaradi prizadevanja množic in njihovega boja za svobodo. 
 
kLjučNE BESEDE: zgodovina knjige, klasična recepcija, enciklopedije, 
protikultura, zgodovinske pripovedi
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