From revolutionary paroles to democratic rhetoric: replacement of the political vocabulary within the Norwegian Labour Party in the interwar period

ABSTRACT This article examines the Norwegian Labour Party’s political language in the interwar period to uncover the relationship of its contentious shifts in political strategy and rhetoric. This is done through a quantitative and qualitative empirical case study of Labour’s use of the two concepts, ‘revolution’ and ‘democracy’. The findings show that Labour’s change from a radical-left position to reformism was accompanied by gradual replacement of its rhetorical repertoire, most notably in that its revolutionary paroles were superseded by democratic rhetoric. The findings show also that the development towards reformism did not imply full endorsement of the established democratic system, but rather that a reformist stance was adopted with the objective of changing to a system of social and economic democracy. In its analysis of the Norwegian Labour Party’s rhetoric the article provides new insights, which help to explain changes to its strategies that have greatly puzzled historians. From a wider perspective, the article offers a nuanced understanding of Norwegian exceptionalism within the Nordic labour movement.