US investor and writer Bill Browder gives a talk in the Festivities Hall of the University of Iceland Friday 20 November 2015 at 12–13, sponsored by RNH, the Public Book Club (Almenna bokafelagid) and the Institute of International Affairs at the University of Iceland. The title of the talk is “Putin’s Russia”. In Red Notice, a book recently published in Icelandic, Browder describes his eventful life and the reckoning with Putin. The grandson of Earl Browder, leader of the US Communist Party, Bill Browder rebelled against the left-wing views of his family and studied finance at Stanford University. He became one of the most successful investors in Russia after the collapse of communism, in a very unstable environment. For a while he supported Putin against the Oligarchs, but then Putin turned against him. When Browder’s Russian friend and lawyer, Sergey Magnitsky, was imprisoned by the Russian authorities, tortured and left to die, Browder took a vow that justice should be obtained for him. On his recommendation, the US Congress passed the “Magnitsky Act”, barring those responsible for Magnitsky’s death from entering the United States or doing any business on US territory. Allegedly, Putin regards Browder as his Enemy No. One. Browder’s book is being published in 22 languages. Its name is derived from a “red notice” which Interpol, at the insistence of Russian authorities, put out against Browder for alleged crimes in Russia, withdrawing it almost immediately when the charges were found to be groundless. Browder’s talk, as well as the publication of his book, forms a part of the joint project of RNH and AECR, the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists, on “Europe, Iceland and the Future of Capitalism”.

Former Justice Minister Bjorn Bjarnason chairs the meeting, and a discussion will follow the talk. Here is a speech recently given by Browder on how he became Putin’s Enemy No. One:

Professor Hannes H. Gissurarson, RNH Academic Director, attends the annual meeting of the European Platform of Memory and Conscience in Wroclaw, Poland, 17–19 November 2015. At the meeting he gives a presentation on a joint project of RNH and AECR, Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists, on “Europe of the Victims” and describes a new series of anti-totalitarian writings online which RNH is publishing in cooperation with the Public Book Club (Almenna bokafelagid). The works in the series originally came out in the intellectual battle of Icelandic democrats against admirers of the totalitarian states. They will be made available online (both in Google Books and on Kindle) and also printed in limited quantities. They are targeted to students writing papers in schools and to people with general interest in history, not least in the Cold War, when democracy was embattled. The project of creating an online library of libertarian and anti-totalitarian literature is also support by the Atlas Network.

The first book in the series came out 17 June 2015, when the Public Book Club celebrated its 60th anniversary. It was Articles on Communism (Greinar um kommunisma) by the famous British philosopher Bertrand Russell, also a Nobel Laureate in literature. These articles appeared in Icelandic newspapers and magazines in 1937–1956. Professor Gissurarson writes a Foreword and some Notes.

The second book in the series came out 19 June 2015, when a century had passed since Icelandic women acquired the right to vote in parliamentary elections. It was Women in Stalin’s Prison Camps (Konur i thraelakistum Stalins), the memories of two women who were without any guilt whatsoever kept in Soviet prison camps. Extracts of these memories appeared in Icelandic newspapers in 1951, 1953 and 1975. The authors were Elinor Lipper from Switzerland and Aino Kuusinen from Finland. Professor Gissurarson writes a Foreword and some Notes.

The third book in the series came out 23 August, which had been designated by the European Parliament as a Remembrance Day of the Victims of Totalitarianism. It was Out of the Night (Ur alogum) by Jan Valtin, a pseudonyn for Richard Krebs, who had been a Gestapo spy, but in reality a Comintern counter-intelligence agent. In 1941, this racy and readable autobiography was a best-seller in the United States. When the Social Democratic Book Club published the first part of it in the summer of 1941, the Icelandic communists organised a campaign against it with the result that the second part was only published in 1944, by “A handful of comrades”. The well-knwon communist writer Halldor K. Laxness and a communist renegade, economist Benjamin H. J. Eiriksson, debated the book and its message. Professor Gissurarson writes a Foreword and some Notes.

Professor Hannes H. Gissurarson is the general editor of the series. Sigurgeir Orri Sigurgeirsson designs the book covers; Kristinn Ingi Jonsson is in charge of proof-reading; Fridbjorn Orri Ketilsson scans the books; and Hafsteinn Arnason oversees the technical aspects of publication online. What is also stressed in the publication of the series is the important contribution by Icelanders who took up the fight against the totalitarians, Larus Johannesson, Geir Hallgrimsson, Eyjolfur K. Jonsson and others.

In 2016, the online publication of five works are planned: 1) Khruschev’s Secret Speech on Stalin, 25 February, sixty years after its delivery, which was a major blow for Icelandic communists; 2) El campesino: Life and Death in the Soviet Union by Valentín Gonzalez and Julián Gorkin, 17 July, when eighty years have passed since the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, in which El campesino fought, before fleeing to the Soviet Union; 3–4) Baltic Eclipse by Ants Oras and Estonia — A Small Nation under the Yoke of Foreign Power by Anders Küng, 26 August, when 25 years have passed since Iceland became the first country to re-recognise the independence of the Baltic countries. David Oddsson, Prime Minister in 1991, had translated Küng’s book in 1973, then a student of law; 5) Service, Servitude, Escape by Aatami Kuortti, a 1934 account by an inmate of the Gulag, 25 December, when 25 years have passed since the collapse of the Soviet Union. In some cases, events will be organised in connection with the publication of the books.

Future republications include the Icelandic translation of the Black Book of Communism, edited by Stéphane Courtois, a collection of articles about Communist China by Johann Hannesson, who worked as a missionary in China, a collection of speeches against communism by leading Icelandic intellectuals, poet Tomas Gudmundsson and writers Gunnar Gunnarsson, Gudmundur G. Hagalin, Kristmann Gudmundsson and others, Darkness at Noon and Soviet Myth and Reality by Arthur Koestler, Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell, I chose Freedom by Victor Kravchenko and The God That Failed by Koestler, André Gide and others.

Three talks are scheduled at a meeting of Politica, the Association of Politics Students at the University of Iceland, Thursday 12 November 2015 at 19.30 in Room O-101 in Oddi, the Social Sciences House, on “The Oddsson Era”: Mayor of Reykjavik in 1982–1991 and Prime Minister of Iceland in 1991–2004, David Oddsson was a dominant and powerful politician. The speakers are Professor Hannes H. Gissurarson who edited a festschrift on Oddsson’s sixtieth birthday in 2008, Dr Vilhjalmur Egilsson, President of Bifrost College and a Member of Parliament 1991–2003, and Ogmundur Jonasson, a Member of Parliament since 1995 and a government minister for the Left Greens in 2009–2013. Professor Gissurarson writes in his blog: “Much can be said about Oddsson’s Era, even if he was of course not the only person on stage. But it is interesting that Oddsson increased the support of the Independence Party in the three municipal elections which he fought in 1982, 1986 and 1990, irrespective of whether the Indepencence Party was in government or not. It is no less interesting that Oddsson has served longer than anyone else as Icelandic Prime Minister, both totally and continuously.”

Professor Gissurarson’s participation in the meeting forms a part of the joint project with AECR, the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists, on “Europe, Iceland and the Future of Capitalism”. Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister in 1979–1990, seen here with David Oddsson in 1991, was the protector of AECR.

In a lecture Thursday 5 November 2015, at 16.30 in Oddi House, Room O-101, Professor Hannes H. Gissurarson analyses and criticises the moral defence of capitalism provided by Ayn Rand, the most influential female philosopher ever. Admission is free and all are welcome. Rand’s books have sold in around 30 million copies. Three novels by her, Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead and We the Living, have been published in Icelandic translations. The lecture is co-sponsored by the Institute of Public Administration and Politics at the University of Iceland. It also forms a part of the joint project of RNH with AECR, the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists, on “Europe, Iceland and the Future of Capitalism”. Sjofn Vilhelmsdottir chairs the meeting.

Professor Gissurarson poses many questions, including these: What is the difference between self-love and avarice? Is Rand’s contrast between creators and parasites well-founded? Which Icelandic entrepreneurs and businessmen correspond most closely to Rand’s description of creators and innovators? Does love always need to be deserved, as Rand asserts? Is there no such thing as social responsibility? What is the difference between the case for capitalism made by Rand on the one hand and by economists Friedrich A. Hayek and Milton Friedman on the other hand? In the lecture, short episodes are shown from a docudrama on Rand (who is played by Helen Mirren) and from the film version of The Fountainhead (with Gary Cooper giving a Randian speech).

Gissurarson Slides on Ayn Rand

Professors Ragnar Arnason and Hannes H. Gissurarson, both members of the RNH Academic Council, read papers at the annual conference on new research in the social sciences, “The Mirror of the Nation,” organised by the Social Science Research Institute at the University of Iceland Friday 30 October 2015. Their papers are given at the same time, 11–12.45, in two seminars, Arnason’s paper in Room 207 in the University Main Building, Gissurarson’s paper in Room 102 in Logberg, the Law Faculty House.

Arnason’s paper is titled “An efficient and sustainable debt situation”. The abstract is as follows: Iceland’s foreign debt situation is problematic. Probably total debt is far beyond what is most efficient from a macroeconomic point of view. However, it cannot be reduced without a corresponding reduction of GDP available for consumption and investment. Lesser consumption implies lower living standards. Lesser investment implies less capacity to produce goods and thus to maintain future living standards. Lower living standards however encourage people to leave, especially people with marketable skills. Thus the nation’s human capital will be eroded which, in turn, will lessen its capacity to continue to reduce debt and to maintain adequate living standards. Obviously, it is therefore important to find out how much foreign debt is sustainable in the sense that it does not bring about an economic crisis. This is what this paper is about. Economic analysis is used to elucidate the most important factors of the situation and their connection. The optimal and the sustainable foreign debt situations are deduced, while the most efficient debt reduction process is described and a criterion offered for that debt reduction which would be required for transforming an unsustainable situation into a sustainable one.

Gissurarson’s paper is titled “Proposals to Sell, Annex or Evacuate Iceland, 1518–1868”. The abstract is as follows: Iceland, a remote country with a harsh climate, and a Norwegian-Danish dependency since 1262, was not much coveted by European powers, despite her fertile fishing grounds, technologically accessible since the early 15th Century. In 1518 and 1524, Danish King Christian I unsuccessfully tried to pledge Iceland against a loan from English King Henry VIII. In 1535, King Christian III also tried to do this, but again Henry VIII turned down the request. In 1645, King Christian IV tried to pledge Iceland against a loan from Hanseatic merchants, but yet again, there was not sufficient interest. Indeed, so harsh seemed Iceland’s climate that in 1784–5, after a massive volcanic eruption and an earthquake, it was seriously contemplated in Copenhagen to evacuate the Icelandic population to other parts of the Danish realm. However, during the Napoleonic Wars the British government briefly considered annexing Iceland. Sir Joseph Banks, who had toured Iceland, wrote three reports, in 1801, 1807 and 1813, recommending this. Ultimately, the British government decided against it: Iceland was not sufficiently attractive. In 1868, a report was written at the initiative of the U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward on a possible purchase of Iceland, but the idea was so ill-received that Secretary Seward made no further move. The conclusion is that Iceland was a marginal society until it became, in the 20th century, strategically important, enjoying the military and political protection of the U.S. from 1941 to 2006. After that, Iceland became marginal again and thus expendable.

The lectures by Professors Arnason and Gissurarson form a part of the joint project of RNH and AECR, the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists, on “Europe, Iceland and the Future of Capitalism”.