Johan David Haslund Gjøstein (5 January 1866 – 15 February 1935) was a Norwegian educator, newspaper editor and politician.

Personal life

Johan Gjøstein was born at Hystad,

Stord Stord is a municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Sunnhordland. Stord is sometimes called "Norway in miniature" since i ...

as the son of teacher Amund Vikingsen Gjøstein (1820–1873) and his wife Anne Munthe Olsen (1826–1901).Johan David Haslund Gjøstein
– Norwegian Social Science Data Services (NSD) He was the younger brother of politician and educationalist Ole Georg Gjøsteen. Johan Gjøstein was married to

Anna Gjøstein Anna Gjøstein (15 June 1869 – 6 January 1956) was a Norwegian proponent for women's rights. Personal life Gjøstein was born in Ås on 15 June 1869, a daughter of Ole Andersen Moberg and Ovidia Simensdatter Skræmma. While she was a child, ...

, an early

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

pioneer and socialist politician.

Career

Johan Gjøstein completed his teacher's education in Stord in 1884, and was hired as a primary school teacher in

Stavanger Stavanger, officially the Stavanger Municipality, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the third largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the ...

the same year. He left after one year, but returned in 1890. Parallel with his teaching position, he worked as a newspaper editor for six years. He founded the small, handwritten newspaper '' 1ste Mai'' in 1895. The newspaper only lasted for eight issues, but returned on 30 September 1899 and still exists. Gjøstein sat as editor from 1899 to 1906. In 1909 Gjøstein left his teaching position to become headmaster. He supported the idea of the

comprehensive school A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is restricted on the basis ...

, of which his brother was one of the foremost proponents in Norway, to the point of being called "the

father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. A biological fat ...

of the comprehensive school in Norway". In 1898 Johan Gjøstein was elected for the first time to the city council of Stavanger. He then served in the executive committee from 1901 to 1910, and as mayor from 1911 to 1912. After this he continued as a regular council member until 1931. In 1912 he was also elected to the

Norwegian Parliament The Storting ( ; ) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years based on party-list proportional represe ...

, representing the Labour Party. He was re-elected in 1915 and 1918, serving through 1921. He had formerly ran for election unsuccessfully in 1906 and 1909. In December 1921 Gjøstein was appointed school director of the dioceses of

Agder Agder is a counties of Norway, county () and districts of Norway, traditional region in the southern part of Norway and is coextensive with the Southern Norway region. The county was established on 1 January 2020, when the old Vest-Agder and Au ...

and

. In the same year, a faction of the Labour Party broke away to form the Social Democratic Labour Party, due to disagreements over the Labour Party involvement in

Comintern The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...

and adaption of the

Twenty-one Conditions The Twenty-one Conditions, officially the Conditions of Admission to the Communist International, are the conditions, most of which were suggested by Vladimir Lenin, to the adhesion of the socialist parties to the Third International (Comintern) cr ...

. Gjøstein followed the breakaway faction, and was elected for the Social Democratic Labour Party in 1922, representing the

Market towns of Vest-Agder and Rogaland counties The Market towns of Vest-Agder and Rogaland counties () was an electoral district for Stortinget, parliamentary elections in Norway. It comprised the Kjøpstad, market towns () of Flekkefjord (town), Flekkefjord, Kristiansand (town), Kristiansand a ...

. This was his final term in Parliament. In Stavanger, Gjøstein was a member of the board of the local electricity works, the

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

, the school board. He chaired the local Labour Party chapter for some time, and co-founded several trade union. He was a member of several national political committees, including the committee that planned the

Sørland Line Sørland is a seaside resort, fishing village, and the administrative centre of Værøy Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is located on the southern side of the island of Værøya. The village is the main population center of the isla ...

. He was also a deputy board member of the

Bank of Norway Norges Bank (, , ) is the central bank of Norway. It is responsible for managing the Government Pension Fund of Norway, which is the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, as well as the bank's own foreign exchange reserves. History The histor ...

. He left the position as school director on 1 January 1935, and died in the same year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gjoestein, Johan David Haslund 1866 births 1935 deaths Norwegian educators Norwegian newspaper editors Politicians from Stavanger Labour Party (Norway) politicians Social Democratic Labour Party of Norway politicians Members of the Storting 1913–1915 Members of the Storting 1916–1918 Members of the Storting 1919–1921 Members of the Storting 1922–1924