Party and State (1942)

By Rolf Jørgen Fuglesang.

Every social system, every social arrangement is only the external expression of a certain idea, a certain outlook on life. Any external structure of society takes place on the basis of certain, specific basic principles and guidelines that spring from this idea and outlook on life.

The law of development affects all areas of life, not least in areas of social life. With development, new problems are raised, new demands are made, and if these problems are to be solved, it will require a gradual restructuring of society's external structure and structure.

Now, however, it is a fact that man himself and the form of society he creates for himself, carry within them a certain inertia. Man will not go to a change in accustomed forms and accustomed way of life. As a rule, there must be compelling external reasons before man goes to change in the handed down forms and changes his handed down attitude and his principles.

This is the reason why development within human societies goes in waves. From time to time the calm course of development is interrupted by crises. We call these crises in history time changes, and we know that they are all characterized by a radical upheaval of external forms and familiar conditions. But the external upheaval is again caused by a complete restructuring of the principles on which society is based, is caused by a new idea that replaces the old idea.

The changes in society's external structures therefore come as a result of a spiritual restructuring process. First there is a restructuring of the principles on which society is built, first new principles are created, a new idea, and if this new idea has the right to life, it will force a change in the external conditions as well.

It is true that the idea must correspond to the external reality, must be in relation to and spring from the concrete situation and the relevant external conditions. But on the other hand, the idea must also spring from the people's soul, must be in agreement with the instincts, the yearning that stirs in the depths of the people's soul, must be in agreement with the people's drive for self-preservation, with the people's will to live, if it is not to lead the people astray, lead them into calamity and the abyss. In other words, the idea must be in accord with the eternal laws of nature that work in the life and development of peoples and races on earth, and must be in the service of the nation.

From the basic idea springs the assessment of the values of life, and what is good and what is bad, seen in relation to the existence and development of the people, the nation. Based on the idea, the concrete program is designed, the program that contains the basic principles and guidelines for society's external structure and organization.

However, the idea never wins on its own. It must be carried forward by an organized will. It must be carried forward by individuals who advocate for it, who sacrifice and fight for the idea and the new order that the idea requires. It must be carried forward by an organization that grows into a people's movement and finally includes the determining number of the people. But first of all it must be carried forward by a man, a leader who is able to express the people's longings and will to live through the design of the idea, who is able to give the idea content and expression, so that it is understood and recognized by the large number of the people when it is presented for it.

"In the beginning was the word," it is written, "and the word became flesh and blood and dwelt among us." That's how it is with big ideas. They spring forth in the brain of a single person. The individual person appears as the "redeemer". But if it is to be realized in human society, if it is to be realised, it must be materialized in an organisation, a movement, a popular uprising. Individuals must join together in groups, in an organisation, a people's movement which manages to permeate the whole people, drag the people along with them in the work for the realization of the idea in human society.

This is the party's fundamental task in the time shift we are now in the middle of. The party is the bearer of the idea. The party is the organized expression of the idea. The party is the materialized will that will lead the idea to victory and to realization in society.

The party's task is therefore not initially to gather the large amount of the people in its ranks. The party must gather the elite, the selection of the most skilled, the most energetic and strong-willed in the people. The party shall be a political order which shall bring together the self-sacrificing, the fighting missionaries who are filled with a burning will to, whatever the cost, to sacrifice and toil, to carry the cause through to victory and to ensure the realization of the idea.

The greatest demands must therefore be placed on each individual member and above all on each individual trustee in the party. The party must cultivate idealism and willingness to sacrifice. The political leaders in the party must educate themselves to ardent idealism and willingness to sacrifice, so that each fanatic devotes all of his abilities and strength without thought of his own gain. The strictest justice must therefore be carried out within our own ranks. All attempts to exploit the party and the idea for their own personal gain and gain must be put down with a heavy hand.

The party must be the bearer of the idea. That is, through the party, the idea must reach the entire Norwegian people. There must not be a woman or a man in the people whom the party is unable to reach directly with the outlook on life, the thoughts and ideas that together make up the new system. It is the party's task to ensure that the idea permeates the entire people and the entire organization of society.

This necessitates that the party, through its organisation, reaches all the way to the depths of the Norwegian people. Only when the party is organizationally developed so that this primary goal can be achieved, will the party have solved its most important task: To give the Leader the tools he needs to bring the idea out to all parts and groups of the Norwegian people. The organization is therefore not an end in itself, but a tool to achieve certain specific goals. And these main goals today are:

1. to conquer the Norwegian people for the idea,
2. to conquer social power,
3. to become the great intermediary between the people and the state leadership,
4. to implement the new system in all areas of Norwegian society's life.

In order to achieve the first goal, it is necessary for the party to have its trustees and its groups of actively working members throughout the country. There must not be a tenement in the cities or a small hamlet or cluster of houses in the countryside where the party does not have its trustees and its active group of members. There must not be a workplace or a school or any other institution from one end of the country to the other where the party is not represented.

It is this task that the party's main organization has to solve. Through the district organization which is built up geographically from the group as the smallest unit, comprising at most a tenement or a smaller cluster of houses with a maximum of eight to ten families, through the root, the team, the circle and the county to the national leadership, and through the party's special organizations, primarily the trade group organisation, the youth group and the women's organisation, the party must be able to directly reach every single woman and man throughout our vast country, with its information work. Through Hirden, this work will be secured and protected, the idea will be cultivated and special tasks will be solved.

I mentioned as the second major goal the conquest of social power, that is, the conquest of the state apparatus, without which the new system cannot be realized in the organization and structure of society.

With effect from 25 September 1940 and 1 February 1942, the party took control of the entire administration of the state and the municipality. However, this does not mean the final conquest of social power, but only the prerequisite for us to be able to win social power for the Nasjonal Samling. Only when the administration in the state is imbued from top to bottom with the idea, is filled with NS's goals and NS's will, only then can we say that the full and complete takeover of power has been completed.

The state administration is the instrument for the implementation of the new system in society. This requires, however, that all the thousands of individual civil servants who make up this administrative apparatus from top to bottom are imbued with NS's ideas and attitudes. Therefore, it is the party's task within the state administration to win over all public servants to the idea. Because only the one who is himself filled with the idea can release the forces that he has within him, only he is prepared in reality to sacrifice all of his work, energy and sacrifices in order to realize the idea, to carry out the new order in the state, in the outer world of society organization and structure, only it can provide all the work and effort that itself sincerely believes in and confesses to the idea and the new arrangement.

This necessitates either that the public officials go positively for the idea or that they are replaced. The party's task is therefore to win over the individual, or to replace him.

The party's third goal is the implementation of the new system. This goal can only be achieved through the state, through the state's administrative apparatus. It is therefore the party's task to use the state apparatus as a tool for the implementation of the new system in all areas and to monitor that the new system is implemented.

The leader has maintained that the party is above the state. This is no demand borne of a mere and bare will to power. It is a requirement born out of necessity. As the party is the bearer of the idea and the new system, it is a necessity that the party stands above the state, because the state is never an end in itself, it is only a tool for the realization of the idea. The institution that is the bearer of the idea must have this tool firmly in its hand and use it purposefully and plan-wise to realize the concrete program that springs from the idea, i.e. implement the new order in society.

However, the fact that the party is above the state, and must do so, does not mean that the individual trustee in the party is above the individual civil servant or civil servant in the state. Party and state are two completely separate concepts and must be. Externally, the state and the state apparatus have their specific defined areas of work and their specific tasks. The party as a whole has other goals and tasks. In the same way that the driving principle has been implemented in the party, it is now also implemented in the state. That is to say, whoever holds a position in the administration has full authority but also full responsibility in their area. The individual trustees in the party must not be allowed to cancel this responsibility by intervening directly in the individual public official's area of authority. If that could happen, the driving principle in the state would become illusory. On the other hand, intimate and good cooperation must be established between the individual corresponding sections of the party and state. The party's political leaders must, on their own initiative, raise issues and questions with the corresponding trustees in the state, and through recommendations they must exert a personal influence to promote the interests of the party and the new system. On the other hand, it cannot be seen that they assume the authority to intervene directly and order that the relevant part of the administration act according to the demands of the political trustee. If the matter cannot be carried out with the good cooperation that must be maintained, then it is necessary for the political leader to follow the regular official route to have the matter brought forward, that is to say that he reports the situation to his immediate superior in the party who, if necessary, brings the matter further up through the party bodies, possibly to the party's general secretary who either submits the matter to the Leader or directly takes it up with the relevant ministry. It will then be the matter of the relevant head of ministry and the highest administrative authority to give the necessary orders to the official in question.

Another factor is the external expression of the party's leading influence on the state, namely the fact that the party, through the personnel service, has the decisive influence on personnel development in the public administration. Thus, the party is assured of the decisive leadership position in relation to the state apparatus.

Because the state apparatus is made up, not of offices, office machines and paper, but of living people, namely those who hold public positions and offices. As the party has the authority over who will hold these offices and representatives, the party will be able to exercise full authority over the state apparatus and use it as the tool for the implementation of the new arrangement. The civil servants and civil servants, ministers not excluded, who hold public positions are, at the same time as their state function, also trustees of the party in these positions. Their task is not only to exercise the public function assigned to their positions, but to promote the new system in the area that is subject to their public positions with all their ability and strength. The ministers who belong to the party are the highest trustees for the party in the public administration.

As the party's leader today, as minister president and head of the national Norwegian government, is also the leader of the state, the party and thus the new system, through the leader, will be assured of leadership in the state.

In order to further develop this careful cooperation between the party and the state, the party's general secretary also holds the position of head of the State Council Secretariat and, as a party minister, mediates the direct and daily contact between the party and the respective ministries.

It is quite clear that this close connection and this cooperation between the party and the state and the party's position as the basis and prerequisite for the implementation of the new system must also be directly expressed in the legislation.

NS Leader, Minister President Vidkun Quisling therefore on 12 March 1942 adopted a Party and State Act, in which the Nasjonal Samling's position under state law as the state party is clearly and unambiguously determined. The premises of the law state, among other things:

"Historical events have proven that it is the line of the Nasjonal Samling that is the path of the Norwegian people. If the Leader's and the party's line had been followed earlier, the country would not have lost its independence. It would then also not have incurred the tremendous burdens that have accompanied the occupation. Through the efforts of the Leader and the party, Norway's independence has been regained, the possibility of a favorable peace conclusion provided and the country secured a rightful and dignified place in the new Europe. Enormous opportunities are thereby created for the nation's future development.

The leader has revealed the Bolshevik world danger that has threatened Norway particularly strongly, and made clear the destructive influence of Jewish big capital on the material and spiritual life of the Norwegian people.

The Leader has brought a new outlook on life to us Norwegians. He has formed a popular uprising, a movement, an organized party that preaches the new ideology to the Norwegian people. It must be awakened to awareness of its high national value. Interest in genuine Norwegian culture must be regained. In the party's programme, the lines are drawn for a real people's government with socially just and economically orderly conditions.

The party has the welfare and goals of the nation and the entire people in mind. The party must raise the people to be healthy, useful and good citizens whose greatest interest is to strengthen the community. The party must instill in the people faith in themselves and the will to continue life as an independent nation. In this way, the party becomes the bearer of the people's true political will. The party must therefore lead the people and determine the broad lines and goals for the state's activities in all areas of society.

The will of the people is realized through the state's administrative apparatus. Laws and other decisions are implemented through the state, which also ensures that they are complied with.

Party and state thus each have their own tasks to fulfill. They must therefore not be fused together, but must be in full harmony with each other. They must work together for common goals, for the good of the whole people. They are both issued by the people themselves. They are completely dependent on each other, inextricably linked and must be seen as a unified whole."

The law reads: "Law on party and state."

Nasjonal Samling is the state-bearing party in Norway and firmly connected to the state.

The party's organization and activities and the members' duties are determined by the Nasjonal Samling Leader. Oslo, 12 March 1942.

Through this basic law, the actual development that has been completed over the past two years has been given its legal marriage.

NS is the state-bearing party and the basis for the Norwegian national labor state.

Party and state are inextricably linked into a whole, and we must ensure that this indissoluble relationship will continue for the good of the Norwegian people and its future.

Another and very important law was likewise given by the Prime Minister on 12 March.

It bears the designation:

"Act on protection against certain attacks on the state and the party etc." This law states in 8 1:

"Anyone who intentionally makes or passes on untrue or grossly distorted statements that are likely to seriously damage the welfare of the state or the government's or the party's business or reputation, or who contributes to it, shall be punished with imprisonment of up to two years, but not less than 3 months, provided that the act is committed in public.

If the act is committed negligently, the guilty party is punished with fines or with imprisonment of up to 3 months."

These are broadly the thoughts we can think about today about the party's tasks and goals and the relationship between the party and the state. How the final design within the framework of the new arrangement will be realized, the external conditions and the external problems and difficulties will dictate. However, we know that the path is the right one, and we also know that the goal will be reached. That is why today a movement that numbers tens of thousands of idealistic and fanatical fighters, firmly organized in a party organization that extends its roots to every village and town from Lindesnes to the North Cape. When these tens of thousands of people with iron-hard energy go in to achieve the goals the movement has set themselves and to realize the new order in our people, then it is not for their own sake that they are fighting, nor for the sake of the party. We fight because all of us, as men, are holy and fervently convinced that our people today face the great fate of either — or, and that the path which is the path of the Nasjonal Samling is the only one that can lead our people free and saved through this the biggest Ragnarok the world has yet experienced, into a bigger, richer and happier future, both for our own people and for Europe and the world.