Bakery Lecture by Skafti Ingimarsson, Historian - In icelandic.

In this lecture, Skafti Ingimarsson will discuss Einar Olgeirsson (1902–1993), secretary of the Communist Party of Iceland (1930–1938) and chairman of the People’s Unity – Socialist Party (1939–1968). The talk will cover Einar’s childhood and upbringing in Akureyri, his studies at the Reykjavík Junior College, University of Copenhagen, and Friedrich-Wilhelm University in Berlin, and show how his time in Germany shaped his political views for life. It will also discuss Einar’s participation in the labor and political movements in Akureyri during the interwar years, highlighting that no other politician contributed as much as he did to the development of the labor movement in North Iceland in the 1930s, a time when Icelanders were emerging from poverty to relative prosperity.

Skafti’s lecture is based on his recent book: Now Red Flags Wave: The History of the Communist and Socialist Movements in Iceland 1918–1968. The book is largely based on Skafti’s doctoral dissertation, which he defended at the University of Iceland in spring 2018.

The Bakery Lectures are a collaborative project between the Akureyri Academy and the Akureyri Bakery. Their goal is to present projects that people have worked on at AkAk, offer events in Sunnuhlíð, and give the townspeople an opportunity to learn and discuss a variety of topics.

Everyone is warmly welcome!