''Østerdalens Arbeiderblad'' was a Norwegian newspaper, published in

Elverum is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Østerdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Elverum. Other settlements in the municipality include Heradsbygd, Sørskog ...

Hedmark Hedmark () was a county in Norway before 1 January 2020, bordering Trøndelag to the north, Oppland to the west, Akershus to the south, and Sweden to the east. The county administration is in Hamar. Hedmark and Oppland counties were merged int ...

county. It was named ''Østerdalens Social-Demokrat'' from 1915 to 1919 and ''Hedmark Fylkes Arbeiderblad'' from 1923 to 1925.

Pre-history

The Labour Party for many years lacked an organ in the region

Østerdalen Østerdalen () is a valley and traditional district in Innlandet county, in Eastern Norway. This area typically is described as the large Glåma river valley as well as all its tributary valleys. It includes the municipalities Rendalen, Alvdal ...

. The region was to a certain degree covered by '' Hedemarkens Amts Socialdemokrat (Solungen)'' from 1908, and by ''

Demokraten ("The Democrat") is a local newspaper in Fredrikstad, Norway. Second in its city behind , it is published three days a week. The chief editor is Tomm Pentz Pedersen. It was established in 1906 as , being affiliated with the Labour Party. Retri ...

'' from September 1909. Northern Østerdalen was to a certain degree covered by Røros newspaper ''

Arbeidets Rett ''Arbeidets Rett'' is a local newspaper published in Røros, Norway. History and profile ''Arbeidets Rett'' was first published as ''Mauren'' on 16 January 1907, but has been published under the current name since 4 January 1912. The newspaper is ...

''. In April 1913 the board of the party chapter in Southern Østerdalen (a constituency for general elections) decided to start working for their own newspaper. They first tried to negotiate with ''Solungen'', but to no avail, and ''Solungen'' also went defunct. In May 1915 the party chapter definitely decided to print their own newspaper.Solbakken, 1951: pp. 139–143

History

''Østerdalens Social-Demokrat'' was started on 7 July 1915. The first editor was Olav Sæter, and "faktor" was Johs. Borchgrevink. In January 1916 Olav Vegheim was hired as manager and sub-editor. The name was changed to ''Østerdalens Arbeiderblad'' in 1919. In 1922 Sæter was elected to the Parliament of Norway, and Johannes Stubberud became acting editor-in-chief. The newspaper struggled financially. In 1921 there were proposals to merge the newspaper into ''Demokraten''. It was rejected for the time being, but a committee to work with this question was named in 1923. When it became clear that the Labour Party might be split in two, the board ''Østerdalens Arbeiderblad'' sympathized with the communist opposition, prompting Stubberud to resign and be replaced by acting editor Evald O. Solbakken. On 10 November 1923, after the Communist Party of Norway was founded and ''Arbeideren'' (the new name of ''Demokraten'') aligned with that, a conference was held where most people agreed that ''Østerdalens Arbeiderblad'' should be discontinued and ''Arbeideren'' take over as organ for Østerdalen. On 11 November the tide turned completely as the supervisory council decided that ''Østerdalens Arbeiderblad'' should side with the Labour Party. Elverum Labour Party also decided to stay in the party instead of following the communists. Solbakken was fired, and Sæter returned. He remained so until 1932. Other acting editors during the newspaper's existence were Gerhard Iversen, Georg Svendsen and Johs. Borchgrevink. As the Labour Party had lost both ''Arbeideren'' of

Hamar Hamar is a town in Hamar Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. Hamar is the administrative centre of Hamar Municipality. It is located in the traditional region of Hedmarken. The town is located on the shores of Mjøsa, Norway's largest lake ...

and '' Glomdalens Arbeiderblad'' of

Kongsvinger Kongsvinger () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Glåmdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Kongsvinger. Other settlements in the municipality include Aus ...

, ''Østerdalens Arbeiderblad'' became the party organ for the entire Hedmark county. It was subsequently renamed to ''Hedmark Fylkes Arbeiderblad'' in December 1923, and had local offices in Hamar and Kongsvinger. It remained under that name until July 1925, when ''

Hamar Arbeiderblad ''Hamar Arbeiderblad'' (often referred to locally as "HA") is local newspaper published in Hamar, Norway by Hamar Media. The paper is edited by Carsten Bleness. HA was one of the first newspapers to place the internet edition of a newspaper behind ...

'' was set up as an alternative for the Hamar district. The name was reverted. In the southern county where the Labour Party still had no newspaper, ''Østerdalens Arbeiderblad'' published a "spin-off product" called ''Solør-Odal Arbeiderblad''. This ended in 1926 when '' Kongsvinger Arbeiderblad'' was established, from the ashes of the now-defunct ''Glomdalens Arbeiderblad''. Several local party chapters in Østerdalen felt it unnecessary to have three newspapers in the county. Discussions whether to have one, two or three newspapers took place over the next years. In 1932 the county convention in the Labour Party asked the local chapters in Østerdalen what they wanted. When seven chapters signalized the wish for ''Hamar Arbeiderblad'' as their regional newspaper, ''Hamar Arbeiderblad'' set up an office in Rena. The people in Elverum Labour Party and ''Østerdalens Arbeiderblad'' gave up. After its last issue on 2 December 1932, the newspaper was incorporated into ''Hamar Arbeiderblad''. ''Hamar Arbeiderblad'' moved its Rena office to Elverum; the office was bombed asunder by Germany during the Norwegian Campaign.Solbakken, 1951: p. 146

References

1932 disestablishments in Norway 1915 establishments in Norway Defunct newspapers published in Norway Labour Party (Norway) newspapers Mass media in Elverum Norwegian-language newspapers Newspapers established in 1915 Publications disestablished in 1932 {{italic title