Saga - 2016, Page 104

1930. Ólgusjór innanflokksátaka, er þau drógust inn í, gerði þeim
ekki auðvelt fyrir, auk þess sem þau tengdust fleiri böndum en
hjónabandi og flokksböndum. Fjölskylduböndin flæktu myndina
enn frekar, einkum samband Ingólfs við bróður sinn Finn sem var
einn helsti leiðtogi jafnaðarmanna á Ísafirði. Það að auki varð Ingi -
björg róttækari en eiginmaðurinn á tímabili sem virðist hafa magnað
spennuna enn frekar. Öll þessi átök leiddu til þess að þau hættu
nánast alveg afskiptum af stjórnmálum. Hjónabandinu lauk síðan
með skilnaði árið 1939.
Abstract
ing i b jörg s i gurðardótt i r og páll b j örns son
MARRIAGe AND PARTy DISCIPLINe.
THe POLITICAL INVOLVeMeNT OF INGIBJÖRG STeINSDÓTTIR
AND INGÓLFUR JÓNSSON BeTWeeN THe WORLD WARS
The history of Iceland’s Communist movement is too complex to be adequately
described by analysing policy developments and party activities or by outlining
the lives and actions of leading figures. Fortunately, the methods of microhistory
offer a broader approach, in that they can illuminate the roles of everyday partici -
pants. The married couple Ingibjörg Steinsdóttir (1903–1965) and Ingólfur Jóns -
son (1892–1982) belonged to the rank and file, meeting in Reykjavik but moving
in 1922 to Akureyri, where Ingólfur and his partners ran a printing office. The
couple moved to Ísafjörður in 1926, with Ingólfur serving as mayor for eight
years, while Ingibjörg was trying her luck as an actress in Iceland’s principal the-
atres. Convinced that society needed to be reformed in keeping with Commun -
ism, both of them helped found an organisation that supported this ideology.
Neither of them, however, had any training in Communist theories, even though
Ingibjörg had stayed in Moscow for seven weeks under Comintern auspices in
1930. Mainly, their political efforts were directed at improving working class con-
ditions, and they seem not to have shown much concern for orders coming from
central party organs far away. The party’s higher echelon in Reykjavík objected to
the attempts of the couple to act however they saw fit for Communism; this
peaked in 1932, when the central committee excluded Ingólfur from the party.
This conflict reflects to a certain extent the historical tension between Communist
hardliners and opportunists. Since the couple’s marriage ended with divorce in
1939, one wonders whether the party’s bitter struggles of the 1930s had under-
mined their relationship.
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