Olav Kringen was a Norwegian newspaper editor.

He was born at a croft

Croft (land)

A croft is a fenced or enclosed area of land, usually small and arable with a crofter's dwelling thereon. A crofter is one who has tenure and use of the land, typically as a tenant farmer.- Etymology :...

 in Sel

Sel

Sel is a municipality in Oppland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Otta....

, 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

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

 and Dakota

Dakota Territory

The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of North and South Dakota.The Dakota Territory consisted of...

. For the next two years he worked in the press, editing the magazine Nye Nordmanden and Fremad

Fremad

Fremad was a Norwegian-language weekly newspaper published from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA, between 1894 and 1935. During its first two years of publishing, the socialist Olav Kringen edited the paper....

. He was also a correspondent for the newspaper Labour Leader

Labour Leader

The Labour Leader was a British socialist newspaper published for almost one hundred years. It was later re-named New Leader and Socialist Leader, before finally taking the name Labour Leader again....

, having been influenced by Keir Hardie

Keir Hardie

James Keir Hardie, Sr. , was a Scottish socialist and labour leader, and was the first Independent Labour Member of Parliament elected to the Parliament of the United Kingdom...

 and socialism in general.

Upon his return to Norway in 1897, he became affiliated with the Labour Party

Norwegian Labour Party

The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in Norway. It is the senior partner in the current Norwegian government as part of the Red-Green Coalition, and its leader, Jens Stoltenberg, is the current Prime Minister of Norway....

, and was hired in their newspaper Social-Demokraten

Dagsavisen

Dagsavisen is a daily newspaper published in Oslo, Norway. The former party organ of the Norwegian Labour Party, the ties loosened over time from 1975 to 1999, and it is now fully independent...

. He was involved in the Second International

Second International

The Second International , the original Socialist International, was an organization of socialist and labour parties formed in Paris on July 14, 1889. At the Paris meeting delegations from 20 countries participated...

 from 1900 to 1906, being a delegate at the International Socialist Congress, Paris 1900

International Socialist Congress, Paris 1900

The 5th International Socialist Congress of the Second International era was held in Paris from September 23rd to 27th in Paris. It was originally supposed to be held in Germany in 1899, but difficulties with the German authorities prevented this....

 and the International Socialist Congress, Amsterdam 1904

International Socialist Congress, Amsterdam 1904

The International Socialist Congress, Amsterdam 1904 was the Sixth Congress of the Second International It was held from 14 to 18 August 1904.The Congress was held in the Gebow, Amsterdam....

. He translated "The Internationale

The Internationale

The Internationale is a famous socialist, communist, social-democratic and anarchist anthem.The Internationale became the anthem of international socialism, and gained particular fame under the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1944, when it was that communist state's de facto central anthem...

" and the Communist Manifesto into Norwegian.

He continued writing for Labour Leader, and also wrote for Sozialistische Monathefte, Avanti

Avanti! (Italian newspaper)

Avanti! is an Italian daily newspaper, born as the official voice of the Italian Socialist Party, published since December 25, 1896. It took its name from its German counterpart Vorwärts.-History:...

and Decorah-Posten. From 1901 to 1903 he edited Det 20de Aarhundre

Det 20de Århundre

Det 20de Århundre was a periodical published by the Norwegian Labour Party.Its purpose was to print background articles on ideology and issues. For news, the party had a full network of newspapers, with Arbeiderbladet as the leading organ.Editor from 1920 to 1923 was Arvid G. Hansen...

, a partisan periodical. He then edited Social-Demokraten from 1903 to 1906. He was also a member of Kristiania

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

 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

Demokraten

Demokraten is a local newspaper in Fredrikstad, Norway. Second in its city behind Fredriksstad Blad, it is published three days a week. The chief editor is Tomm Pentz Pedersen ....

before establishing the newspaper Demokraten

Arbeideren (Hamar)

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...

in Hamar

Hamar

is a town and municipality in Hedmark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Hedmarken. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Hamar. The municipality of Hamar was separated from Vang as a town and municipality of its own in 1849...

 in 1909. In Demokraten Kringen had a certain personal drive, as he stood on the ballot in the Norwegian parliamentary election, 1909

Norwegian parliamentary election, 1909

-Results: Liberal Left Party is part of coalition with Conservative Party-References:***...

. When he failed at being elected, he lost interest to a certain degree. He backed out in 1912.

In 1921 the Labour Party was split in two, as a social democratic wing did not favor the party's recent adaption of the Conditions of Admission to the Communist International

Twenty-one Conditions

The Twenty-one Conditions, officially the Conditions of Admission to the Communist International, refer to the conditions given by Vladimir Lenin to the adhesion of the socialists to the Third International created in 1919 after the 1917 October Revolution. The conditions were formally adopted by...

. Kringen joined the newly formed party, the Social Democratic Labour Party

Social Democratic Labour Party of Norway

The Social Democratic Labour Party of Norway was a Norwegian political party in the 1920s. Following the Labour Party's entry into the Comintern in 1919, its right wing left the party to form the Social Democratic Labour Party in 1921...

. He briefly edited the newspaper Trøndelag Social-Demokrat. He soon backed out of partisan politics. He died in October 1951 in Oslo.