Olav Kringen

Who was Olav Kringen?

Olav Kringen was a Norwegian newspaper editor.

He was born at a croft in Sel, and was a manual laborer in Norway before emigrating to the United States in 1887. There, he studied and took a teacher education. He worked as a teacher in Minnesota and Dakota. For the next two years he worked in the press, editing the magazine Nye Nordmanden and Fremad. He was also a correspondent for the newspaper Labour Leader, having been influenced by Keir Hardie and socialism in general.

Upon his return to Norway in 1897, he became affiliated with the Labour Party, and was hired in their newspaper Social-Demokraten. He was involved in the Second International from 1900 to 1906, being a delegate at the International Socialist Congress, Paris 1900 and the International Socialist Congress, Amsterdam 1904. He translated "The Internationale" and the Communist Manifesto into Norwegian.

He continued writing for Labour Leader, and also wrote for Sozialistische Monathefte, Avanti and Decorah-Posten. From 1901 to 1903 he edited Det 20de Aarhundre, a partisan periodical. He then edited Social-Demokraten from 1903 to 1906. He was also a member of Kristiania city council from 1904 to 1907. He reverted to being a journalist in Social-Demokraten in 1906, because of disagreements in the party. He briefly edited Smaalenenes Socialdemokrat before establishing the newspaper Demokraten in Hamar in 1909. In Demokraten Kringen had a certain personal drive, as he stood on the ballot in the Norwegian parliamentary election, 1909. When he failed at being elected, he lost interest to a certain degree. He backed out in 1912.