Iceland review - 2019, Qupperneq 23

21
Iceland Review
Little Moscow no more?
Although the locals used to embrace the Little
Moscow moniker, nowadays, you won’t see many
remnants of the town’s red history. The clocks have
been taken down, the cairn removed, and Kreml
has been painted a dull grey. All of these were put
up tongue-in-cheek, but where do you draw the line
between reality and jest? “All of a sudden it had
been taken down – like someone thought it was
embarrassing,” Ingibjörg states quizzically. Bar a
graffiti mural of a sea monster with Stalin’s head,
the town is devoid of any signs, perhaps in defer-
ence to 20th century history and communism’s
bloody mark on it. “Communism isn’t something
that stands for positive things. But you take the
positives out of it. I think no one was in support
of mass murder, that’s way too simplistic a way of
looking at it. But maybe that’s the reason why peo-
ple became sensitive to the issue.”
There is one thing that still lives on, however.
The township sold the fish factory to outside par-
ties, but a part of the company was kept in socialist
hands. “Socialism lives on through SÚN. They don’t
keep any of the dividends, rather putting it all back
out into the community. Into sports clubs, house
repairs, concerts, festivals, name it. SÚN is for
Norðfjörður and doesn’t leave the ring of moun-
tains surrounding the fjord,” Ingibjörg tells me. “I
work closely with SÚN. They are shareholders in
the hotel and have supported cultural projects, liv-
ening up the town. The lines between the socialists
and the rest, which once existed in the town, are
now non-existent,” Hákon says. One of the last rem-
nants of the old socialist establishment is clothing
store Fjarðasport, run by SÚN. It’s essentially
a non-profit business, providing townsfolk with
inexpensive, quality outerwear clothing. But, most
importantly, it allows people to shop locally. So, the
socialist way lives on, in one way or another.
But how much truth is in the name Little
Moscow? “There’s of course not a kernel of truth
today. The town isn’t Little Moscow, and isn’t more
connected to left-leaning forces, not to mention
Russia, than any other town in Iceland. But it used
to be, and there was a strong connection. Town
council members went on official trips to Moscow
and were connected with the USSR. There were
men here who denied Stalin’s atrocities,” Ingibjörg
says. Many a Norðfjöður child was sent to East-
German summer camps. Ingibjörg was one of those.
“Who sends a 12-year-old child to East Germany
for six weeks? We’re talking before the fall of the
wall here.” Although, to be fair, Ingibjörg says she
received more indoctrination in a Christian sum-
mer camp than she did at the one in East Germany.
“Each day we drew the East German flag and said
Die Deutsche Demokratische Republik – still the
only thing I know in German. But none of it sat in
me. It had no lasting effect on my opinions and I
didn’t experience any trauma.”
Communist… party
Each year, Norðfjörður celebrates the midwinter
festival Kommablót (Communist Feast). In the
rest of Iceland, the holiday is called Þorrablót, and
involves eating cured meat, including ram’s testi-
cles. Here, the food is the same, but the singing is
different. The repertoire consists of Soviet worker
songs, sung below the Soviet hammer and sickle.
“It’s unbelievably fun. We place our hands on our
hearts and sing the Soviet classics. But today it’s
all for show,” Hákon says. In the past, only regis-
tered socialists were allowed to buy tickets. Today,
all townsfolk are welcome. “It has nothing to do
with communism, we’re just reminiscing. It’s all
quite humorous. We always receive a message from
North Korea. We make it ourselves. A picture of
Kim where he’s saying, ‘Enjoy tonight.’ You could
pose the question – are we allowed to make fun of
these things? It’s a delicate issue but we make fun
of it and have fun,” Ingibjörg says.
Industrial communists
Yet not everyone has an entirely rosy view of
Norðfjörður’s communist era. The way Hákon
sees it, the vision of the socialist rulers of the town
changed over time. “They were first and foremost
industrial communists. Their main issue was to
ensure enough employment for everyone. That
came before introducing other more classic social-
ist values like a social welfare system or equal pay
to all. At some point, the focus shifted to staying
in power. That's the nature of any ruling establish-
ment that has been in power for too long. Maybe