''Gaa Paa!'' ("Forward!" or literally "Go On!") was a Norwegian-language

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

, important for its role in promoting socialism to a Scandinavian immigrant audience in the United States in the early 20th century. It was established at Girard, Kansas in November 1903, and moved to

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

the following year. The Norwegian-language press played an important role in society as one of the main vehicles of communication and education. Between 1865 and 1914, 565 papers and magazines existed in the United States, with newspapers founded in every large town where Norwegians lived and in many small towns as well. ''Gaa Paa'' was particularly notable because it lasted for over two decades which was a long run in the world of left-wing papers of the time. The Norwegian-American press served immigrants who could not yet read English and was a source of cultural life for those immigrants who were most comfortable reading and speaking their mother tongue, as well as a way to keep cultural ties alive for the next generation. The papers covered a broad range of topics; educating readers on the history and government of their new country; commenting on local agricultural news and on news from Europe and Norway; entertaining with poems and literature, and acting as organs for a variety of political views. In the case of ''Gaa Paa,'' its socialist views came under scrutiny in the World War I period and it changed its name in 1918 in an effort to avoid a ban from the US Mail, taking the name ''Folkets Røst'' (People's Voice). It appeared under that title until October 1925. Its demise coincided with the aging of the socialist couple who published the paper for over two decades, Helle and Emil Mengshoel. In the aftermath of the 1919 split of the

Socialist Party of America The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of Ameri ...

(SPA) which led to the establishment of the Communist Party of America (CPA) and

Communist Labor Party of America The Communist Labor Party of America (CLPA) was one of the organizational predecessors of the Communist Party USA. The group was established at the end of August 1919 following a three-way split of the Socialist Party of America. Although a legal ...

(CLP), ''Folkets Røst'' remained allied with the

social democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...

SPA and promoted the candidacies of other like-minded groups. The weekly newspaper was the largest and longest-running radical

Dano-Norwegian Dano-Norwegian (Danish and no, dansk-norsk) was a koiné/mixed language that evolved among the urban elite in Norwegian cities during the later years of the union between the Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway (1536/1537–1814). It is from this ...

(Bokmål) periodical in North America.

Publication history

Establishment

In 1903, Julius A. Wayland, publisher of the national weekly '' Appeal to Reason,'' decided to launch a Norwegian-language socialist newspaper from his base of operations at Girard, Kansas, a small town located in the southeastern part of the state. Wayland's paper made the small farming community into a “Mecca for Socialism” according to one author. Wayland realized that many Scandinavian immigrants were disposed to join the socialist movement and he wanted to recruit them to the socialist cause. Wayland invited the married socialist activists Emil Lauritz Mengshoel and Helle Crøger Mengshoel to relocate to

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

to edit this new publication.Lovoll, ''Norwegian Newspapers in America,'' pg. 264. Emil Mengshoel had had experience with several papers at this point, and as a committed socialist, he was happy to leave his position at the conservative ''Republikaneran'', based in Iowa. The plan was for the new paper to share the costs of publishing with ''Appeal to Reason''. Wayland had met Emil Mengshoel — the editor of the radical

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

Populist newspaper ''Nye Normanden'' (New Norseman) — though his prior contributions to the ''Appeal to Reason,'' making him a logical choice for the editorial desk. Helle Crøger Mengshoel was a formidable activist in her own right, having worked previously as a

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

organizer in Christiana, Norway (today's Oslo).Robert L. Mikkelsen, "Norwegians," in Dirk Hoerder with Christiane Harzig (eds.), ''The Immigrant Labor Press in North America, 1840s-1970s: Volume 1: Migrants from Northern Europe.'' Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1987; pg. 192. She was friends with many prominent Norwegian socialists and some of her letters are available through the archives of the Norwegian-American Historical Society. The couple assented to Wayland's request, moved to Kansas, and on November 29, 1903, the first issue of ''Gaa Paa'' (Forward) rolled from the ''Appeal's'' presses. Burdened by other tasks, Wayland soon decided to step down from his direct role as publisher of ''Gaa Paa'', instead subsidizing publication of the paper through direct donations. The paper continued to be edited by the Mengshoels, joined by Helle Mengshoel's son, Andrew Olaf Devold, to make an editorial board of three. Throughout its history ''Gaa Paa'' would remain, in the words of historian

Odd S. Lovoll Odd Sverre Lovoll (born October 6, 1934) is a Norwegian-American author, historian and educator. Background Odd Sverre Lovoll was born in Sande, in Møre og Romsdal, Norway. He immigrated to the United States in 1946 and is a naturalized United S ...

, "basically a family venture". In the fall of 1904, the paper was moved to Minneapolis, closer to its primary readership in the Norwegian immigrant communities of the

Upper Midwest The Upper Midwest is a region in the northern portion of the U.S. Census Bureau's Midwestern United States. It is largely a sub-region of the Midwest. Although the exact boundaries are not uniformly agreed-upon, the region is defined as referring ...

, where it would remain for the next two decades. The move was completed during the second half of October 1904, with offices established at 1910 East Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis, in the heart of the Scandinavian enclave in the Twin Cities. There, the paper was close to advertisers and could form mutually beneficial relationships with socialist organizations.

Development

''Gaa Paa'' was bolstered by the establishment of the Scandinavian Socialist Federation (Skandinaviske Socialistforbund) in 1910, a national organization which united local Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish language socialist clubs scattered around the United States.Odd S. Lovoll, "Gaa Paa: A Scandinavian Voice of Dissent," ''Minnesota Historical Society,'' vol. 52, no. 3 (Fall 1990), pg. 88. The organization of the disparate groups helped ''Gaa Paa's position'' as the only

(Bokmål) socialist weekly, but in 1911, the paper soon was challenged when the Scandinavian Federation launched its own publication, ''Social-Demokraten'' (The Social Democrat).Lovoll, "Gaa Paa: A Scandinavian Voice of Dissent," pg. 90. A feud developed between the privately owned and the Federation-owned papers as they battled for subscribers in a fairly limited market. ''Gaa Paa'' was regarded by one contemporary observer as "the reddest and most radical of Norwegian newspapers," touting itself on its masthead as the "Organ for Scandinavian Workers in America." The paper based its editorial line upon the principles of

International Socialism Proletarian internationalism, sometimes referred to as international socialism, is the perception of all communist revolutions as being part of a single global class struggle rather than separate localized events. It is based on the theory that ...

, with emphasis placed on the notion of

class struggle Class conflict, also referred to as class struggle and class warfare, is the political tension and economic antagonism that exists in society because of socio-economic competition among the social classes or between rich and poor. The forms ...

.Lovoll, "Gaa Paa: A Scandinavian Voice of Dissent," pg. 93. Despite its purple prose, however, the paper steered far away from the anti-political industrial union the

Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines genera ...

(IWW), explicitly disavowing that organization's commitment to the use of the tactics of

sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identitie ...

and

direct action Direct action originated as a political activist term for economic and political acts in which the actors use their power (e.g. economic or physical) to directly reach certain goals of interest, in contrast to those actions that appeal to oth ...

. Rather than holding to an apocalyptic view of attaining socialism through armed revolution, editor Mengshoel was influenced by the ideas of writers Laurence Gronlund and Edward Bellamy, emphasizing the functional superiority of the economic form of state ownership and the implication that evolution to socialist production and distribution would be a protracted, inevitable, evolutionary process. In other words, the Mengshoels believed that by educating workers about the benefits of capitalism, socialism would prevail by peaceful means - at the ballot box. ''Gaa Paa'' attained a circulation of 5,000 in 1912Lovoll, "Gaa Paa: A Scandinavian Voice of Dissent," pg. 87. and managed to maintain a largely stable readership of about 4,500 during the years up to American entry into World War I. ''Gaa Paa'' had a national readership and published work by writers from Norway to North Dakota well as from enclaves of Norwegian-American radicalism located in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

and

Astoria, Oregon Astoria is a port city and the seat of Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1811, Astoria is the oldest city in the state and was the first permanent American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains. The county is the northwest corne ...

.Lovoll, "Gaa Paa: A Scandinavian Voice of Dissent," pg. 92. The paper also opened a business office in the Midwestern ethnic metropolis of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. In 1914, Andrew Devold, (Helle Mengshoel's son from her first marriage) threw his hat into the political ring on the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

ticket and won election to the

Minnesota state legislature The Minnesota Legislature is the bicameral legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota consisting of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives. Senators are elected from 67 single-member districts. In order to account for decennia ...

. He became the second Socialist elected to that body in the state. Devold was at the time listed as editor and publisher of ''Gaa Paa'' together with his stepfather, Emil Mengshoel. After leaving ''Gaa Paa'' in 1917, Devold went on to win election to the

Minnesota State Senate The Minnesota Senate is the upper house of the Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. At 67 members, half as many as the Minnesota House of Representatives, it is the largest upper house of any U.S. state legislature. Floor sessions are hel ...

in November 1918.Lovoll, "Gaa Paa: A Scandinavian Voice of Dissent," pg. 95. He held public office continuously from 1914 until his death in office in 1939. His legislative work focused on passing labor laws, and he is credited as authoring the first universal eight-hour law.

Wartime repression

In contrast to the overwhelming majority of the Norwegian-American press, ''Gaa Paa'' maintained an anti-war orientation even after American entry into World War I in April 1917.Carl H. Chrislock, ''Ethnically Challenged: The Upper Midwest Norwegian-American Experience in World War I.'' Northfield, MN: Norwegian-American Historical Association, 1981; pg. 66. While taking a position of "undiscriminating hate" of "German junkerdom, English aristocracy, and American money power," primary editor Emil Mengshoel expressed sympathy for Minneapolis socialists who dared to resist

conscription Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

. The paper never was so bold as to explicitly advocate resistance to registration and the draft, instead attempting to toe the fine line of legality while remaining true to the anti-militarist St. Louis proclamation of the

. As with other non-English publications, ''Gaa Paa'' was also faced with the burdensome task of supplying English translations of all political articles and editorial comments during the wartime years.Chislock, ''Ethnically Challenged,'' pp. 75-76. Efforts to soften tone and comply with statutory regulations in order to appease federal authorities proved inadequate for Postmaster General

Albert S. Burleson Albert Sidney Burleson (June 7, 1863 – November 24, 1937) was a progressive Democrat who served as United States Postmaster General and Representative in Congress. He was a strong supporter of William Jennings Bryan and Woodrow Wilson, so Wil ...

, however, and in 1918 ''Gaa Paa'' was denied access to the United States mails. This proved a harsh blow to the financially unstable publication, threatening its survival. In an effort to keep the publishing operation alive, the Mengshoels resorted to an artifice widely used to beat European censorships, relaunching their publication with a new name, ''Folkets Røst'' (People's Voice) — a name regarded as one less militant than ''Gaa Paa.'' The old publication was shut down in October 1918 with the ostensibly "new" paper first seeing print on December 21, 1918, following a pause in publication of some two months.Lovoll, "Gaa Paa: A Scandinavian Voice of Dissent," pg. 98.

Socialist split of 1919

''Gaa Paa'' moved away from the Socialist Party slightly in the spring of 1918, when it began printing columns written by Sigvald Rødvick, top Norwegian-language official in the national office of the Non-Partisan League (NPL), a rival organization.Lovoll, "Gaa Paa: A Scandinavian Voice of Dissent," pg. 96. The publication lent its editorial support not only to the Socialist Party candidacy of former editor Andrew Devold for the Minnesota State Senate and to pro-war Socialist

Thomas Van Lear Thomas H. Van Lear (April 26, 1869 – March 4, 1931) was an American politician who served as the 28th Mayor of Minneapolis from January 1, 1917 to January 6, 1919. Van Lear was a member of the Socialist Party of America. Early life Van Lear ...

in his bid for reelection as Mayor of Minneapolis, but also to the candidate of the NPL for Governor of Minnesota,

Charles A. Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...

. Following the split of the Socialist Party in the summer of 1919 into Socialist and Communist factions, with the latter forming rival organizations known as the Communist Party of America (CPA) and the

(CLP), the Mengshoels remained loyal to the old organization, putting them at odds with the bulk of the Scandinavian Socialist Federation, which along with a number of other language federations of the Socialist Party quit the organization to join the fledgling Communist organizations. By the election of 1922 ''Folkets Røst'' had reduced itself to supporting only three Socialist candidates, including Andrew Devold, with the bulk of its support lent instead to the candidates of the Farmer-Labor Party. This political maneuver, in addition to helping return Andrew Devold to the Minnesota Senate, had the additional benefit of temporarily boosting circulation figures, with the paper managing to briefly match its pre-war press run.Lovoll, "Gaa Paa: A Scandinavian Voice of Dissent," pg. 99. This boom would prove to be short-lived however, and ''Folkets Røst'' found itself facing termination fewer than three years later.

Termination and legacy

A combination of factors led to the demise of ''Folkets Røst'' in October 1925, including a fragmentation of the market for the radical Norwegian-language press resulting from the Socialist-Communist split, a gradual decline in the number of Norwegian speakers in America, and the declining health of editors Helle and Emil Mengshoel. Helle Menshoel's declining health prevented her from assisting with production of the paper during her final years. She died in 1929. The newspaper also found itself in dire financial straits, with Emil Mengshoel forced to find outside employment to help support the family. The quality of the paper declined and it was briefly reduced to a bimonthly publication schedule prior to its final termination. A partial run of ''Gaa Paa'' and ''Folkets Røst'' is available on microfilm, with the master negative held by the

Minnesota Historical Society The Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS) is a nonprofit educational and cultural institution dedicated to preserving the history of the U.S. state of Minnesota. It was founded by the territorial legislature in 1849, almost a decade before statehoo ...