page_title: Arbeideren (Hamar)
section_title: 1909–1913
hierarchical_section_title: Arbeideren (Hamar) / Labour Party period / 1909–1913
context_page_description: Arbeideren was a Norwegian newspaper, published in Hamar, Hedmark county. It was started in 1909 as the press organ of the Labour Party in Hedemarken and its adjoining regions, and was called Demokraten until 1923. It was issued three days a week between 1909 and 1913, six days a week in 1914, three days a week again between 1914 and 1918 before again increasing to six days a week. It was renamed to Arbeideren in 1923, and in the same year it was taken over by the Norwegian Communist Party. The Communist Party incorporated the newspaper Gudbrandsdalens Arbeiderblad into Arbeideren in 1924, and until 1929 the newspaper was published under the name Arbeideren og Gudbrandsdalens Arbeiderblad. After Arbeideren had gone defunct, the name was used by the Communist Party for other newspapers elsewhere.
  The chief editors of the newspaper were Olav Kringen, Ole Holmen, Fredrik Monsen, Paul O. Løkke, Alfred Aakermann, Olav Larssen, and finally Trond Hegna, Ingvald B. Jacobsen, Olav Scheflo, Eivind Petershagen, and Jørgen Vogt. Fredrik Monsen, Evald O. Solbakken and Knut Olai Thornæs were acting editors from 1924 to 1925.
context_section_description: The Hamar-based newspaper Demokraten ("The Democrat") was started on 15 September 1909. The initiator and first editor was Olav Kringen, who had ample experience as the editor of Social-Demokraten from 1903 until 1906. Demokraten was the Labour Party organ for the Mjøsa Cities and Hedemarken, but in its first years it also covered Gudbrandsdalen and Østerdalen, two northern regions. The name Østoplandenes Socialistiske Partiblad was considered for the newspaper, but the historical name Demokraten prevailed. The name was suggested by local Labour MP Karl Amundsen. Demokraten's coverage of Gudbrandsdalen soon ended, and in southern Østerdalen a new labour newspaper, Østerdalens Arbeiderblad, was set up in 1915. In northern Østerdalen, Arbeidets Rett was popular among the labour movement. According to reports in Demokraten the newspaper again began to cover news from a part of Gudbrandsdalen, namely the city Lillehammer, in 1912.
  When it came to building up a new newspaper, Kringen had a certain personal drive, as he ran for parliament in 1909. When he lost the election, he also lost interest to a certain degree. He resigned in 1912 and Ole Holmen, a member of the Vang municipal council, took over as chief editor. However, he ran afoul of other people involved with the newspaper and was fired in 1913.
  The newspaper originally had the tagline Socialistisk blad for Oplandene ("Socialist Paper for Oplandene"), but in 1910 this was changed to Talsmand for Arbeiderbevægelsen ("Spokesman for the Labour Movement"). It was printed by the company A. Sæther. The newspaper was issued three times a week until 1 July 1913, from which point it was increased to six times a week. As part of this ambitious increase, Demokraten also had 3,000 copies in circulation, unprecedented in its history.
caption: An approximate map where Hedemarken is shown in blue, northern Østerdalen in red and southern Østerdalen in yellow.