Imagine a cold autumn day in the Norwegian mountains around early 1900’s, standing with a pick-axe hammering stones piece by piece in the changing weather. Working hour after hour, 7 days a week with a fatty soup and dry bread for dinner and drafty barracks shared with ten other men and a female cook. That was the life of a railroad worker, a Rallar.
Restless, rootless and with only a few belongings, the Rallar were the construcion builders of Norway during the second half of the 19th century industrial period — Those who put aside comfort, family life and stability to blow through mountains without safety regulations and excavators. There were many names for them; slusk (sloppy), rallars (swedish slang for railroad or wheelbarrow), or bus (mischief). These words were considered derogatory and described a person of thieving, lazy or vagrant nature, but the Rallars used these words with pride of their own lifestyle and work. Rallars were men of all ages, those who came from poor homes in Sweden or sons of land tenants in Norway during the Swedish-Norwegian union from 1814.
The need of a pair of strong hands
Hydropower plants, railroads and infrastructure were developed to improve the poor inland transport routes. Norway is a country of a long coastline which served as the main transport and trade route for thousands of years. With an increasing demographic spread, minerals and mines discovered inlands the industrial revolution helped transport it to the coast more efficiently. Engineers were hired from Germany and Denmark to construct railroads over difficult terrains, and the Rallars came to the construction sites to live and work for months at a time. These sites were often located in isolated, wild nature or close to small villages, hence the social and cultural characteristics of Rallars became a social and cultural phenomenon where they lived. Male companionship, Swedish-Norwegian slang, folk music and working clothes consisting of soft broad brimmed hats, busserull (a long-sleeved jacket or shirt worn on the outside of other clothes) and colorful neckerchiefs were staple pieces of a Rallar.
Among the wildest mountains in the bleakest valley
a rail from Bergen we have finished laying.
On the rails the loaded train rolls,
where the wolf ran years ago
From east to west a travel is tied
and attached by the skilful hand of the Rallar
but the salary was small, which the state gave us,
- only often an unwreathed grave!
Here a work is erected in the eternal snow
which future generations can see with pride
here the danger was defied with jokes and songs
to the lilting sound of the sledgehammer(Bergensbanen Rallar song, early 20th century by Ferdinand Iversen. Parts translated from “Rallaren og hans viser”. Rallars often used songs to coordinate their working rythm, although this song was written after the work was done.)
Bergensbanen, or the Bergen railway was done in 1909, after over 30 years of work. The railroad was at first built from Bergen to Voss in 1874–1883, and considered of no importance other than to carry wealthy British tourists to the mountains. However, it became the most known infrastructure in the country by the time it got connected to the capital of Oslo in 1909. The full song describes the hard working conditions where one could only work outside four months a year from June to October, and where the tunnel workers worked all year around in isolated and highly dangerous construction sites in the steep mountains. Around 2400 Rallars joined the work at Bergensbanen, and some of them lost their lives at work.
As working conditions were hard, salaries could be witheld by the contractor or supplies cut short by the local farmers, disagreements and syndicalism evolved to be a part of the Rallars to solve their problems. Norwegian Syndicalist Federation was established in 1916 and had their biggest crowds amongst the construction workers at several railroad sites. Direct action for better working rights, led to Rallars becoming pioneers in the Labour Movement of the early 20th century in Norway. More than that, Rallars also had powerful leaders and agitators since mid 19th century, which helped to spread the awarness and unity of workers for fair pay and liveable working conditions. As the 20th century came, Rallars were already an known group in the Norwegian society and their syndicalistic tendencies became clear when the Company town Rjukan was constructed deep in the mountain valley of the Telemark region. With Rallars and factory workers leading the work and the superiors being few, revolt was quite common in the first years. Unions were forming rapidly and if the factory workers striked, the Rallars who built the railroads in Rjukan also striked in sympathy. Agitators demanded to take all means of production to their own and sack their superiors, furthermore making strikes violent on several occasions.
A radical approach to better wages and working conditions didn’t always end well when meeting the law enforcement, superiors or the reformed Labour Movement. In some places Rallars got better treatment while in other construction sites they lost their job. Knowing how and when to act against the employers were key to survive long enough in the hard working conditions and get paid. To be reckless was not well regarded, as it could cost you not only a salary, but your life as well, since health and safety regulations were unheard of. Drunkeness, fights and criminal behavior were not tolerated within the Rallar society either, as people relied on each other heavily under the remote and hard conditions they lived in. The female cook were respected as their caretaker, providing sometimes a motherly comfort and friendship with her group of Rallars. She cooked, washed and made clothes for them, kept their barracks clean and warm after a long day out. Many cooks married a Rallar and had their whole family living on the construction site too. A legendary cook was Svarta Bjørn “Black Bear”, or Anna Rebecka Hofstad. As a 20-year old she joined the Rallars during the construction of Ofotbanen, the world’s first arctic railway between Narvik and Kiruna. She lived on the construction site of Rombaksbotn, and cared for 15 men in the arctic mountains under primitive conditions. Her nickname allegedly came from a Sami, who gave Anna the name based on her black eyes, hair and strenght. She must have been quite a person, as many Rallars shared stories about her in magazines and newspapers even while she was a alive. Anna died of tuberculosis in 1900, only 22 years old. But she became a symbol of all the hard-working cooks on the barracks and is celebrated every year on the Winterfest in Narvik.
The wanderer settles down
As the 20th century went on, industrial towns such as Notodden, Odda and Rjukan became the permanent home for many rootless Rallars. The towns which they participated to build were now flooded with work-opportunities and better living conditions with safety, healthcare and housing for a Rallar’s family. The 1920’s were the height of the Labour Movement’s political struggles and the radical actions of Rallars continued to affect other industrial workers as well. With modernization of construction work from the 1930’s and 50’s introducing machines instead of horses and pick-axes, Rallars were not needed in big numbers to build power stations or railroads. Many moved on to other similar jobs in factories or industrial sites while others stayed until retirement. From the 1950’s the Rallar period was coming to an end, and their stories were written and published as memoirs of a long-lost time when hard and dangerous work was common.
Today the Rallars left behind a cultural heritage of not only songs and clothing but also railroads still in use, hydropower stations, towns and tourist roads such as Rallarvegen.
