EUI Contentious politics and crowd behaviour Kristiania and Lisbon 1870-1920

The dissertation delves into riots in Kristiania (Oslo) at the end of the 19th century. The relation between different city spaces and identities are highlighted as important, in addition to the actions that lead up to, constitute and come in the immediate wake of riots. The purpose of the study riots and crowd behaviour has been to contribute to the understanding of crowd behaviour during capitalist development and the emergence of an organised labour movement. In pursuit of the crowd, a complete account necessitates bringing in the crowds? social, cultural, economic and political context. Broadly speaking some of the overarching context has been shown to be the development of capitalism and the (/an) organised labour movement. The argument goes that the changing character of demands, actions and organizational forms in response to industrialization is closely connected to the process of proletarianisation, a change in action repertoire, and the emergence of labour unions and the strike. These are overarching keywords say little about the specific context of the city itself, and an exclusive emphasis on long-term processes and protest axes offer an incomplete and deterministic picture of the subject. In more specific terms then, it is the local history and trajectory of Kristiania that defines what this development actually entails (i.e. how structuring processes happen). What I hope to be left with is a sober social history where the grand narrative is important, but where micro or local history plays the lead role in the investigation of the interaction between crowds and a developing working class for itself. Thus, this dissertation is a local ? or micro even ? history that focuses on Kristiania during the 1890s in particular. To illustrate the period and pursue answers connected to crowd behaviour, I have chosen to look at the variety of local actions during one restless International Day of the Worker on the 1st of May (1893) and on cases of local exhibitions of crowd behaviour. One of the many interesting aspects of studying the crowd ? along with its many synonyms (the mob, the rabble, the masses, etc.) ? is that it has been objectivised by intense politicisation. It is therefor an aim of this dissertation to restore some agency to the crowd; the crowd is treated as politically able subjects. I take cautionary cues, however, from E.P. Thompson who notes that a careful approach is needed when studying groups such as ?the crowd?, ?the working class? or ?popular culture? in order to avoid obscuring the diversity within such groups. Variations of this warning has been reiterated and elaborated on by subsequent historians, such as Kevin Passmore, who points out how the use of such concepts ? including related presumed conditioning processes ? at the onset of an investigation may run the risk neglecting important groups? agency in history. Who the crowd is becomes an important first empirical question, and we cannot take anything for granted.