Olav Kringen

Olav Kringen (24 July 1867 – 6 October 1951) was a Norwegian newspaper editor.

He was born at a croft in Sel Municipality, Norway. He 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 and Dakota. For the next two years he worked in the press, editing the magazine Nye Nordmanden and Fremad. He was also a correspondent for the newspaper Labour Leader, having been influenced by Keir Hardie and socialism in general. He was also a member of Kristiania city council from 1904 to 1907. Because of disagreements in the party, in 1906 he reverted to being a journalist in Social-Demokraten. He briefly edited Smaalenenes Socialdemokrat before establishing the newspaper Demokraten in Hamar in 1909.

In 1921 the Labour Party was split in two, as a social democratic wing did not favor the party's recent adoption of the Conditions of Admission to the Communist International. Kringen joined the newly formed party, the Social Democratic Labour Party. He briefly edited the newspaper Trøndelag Social-Demokrat. He soon backed out of partisan politics. He died in October 1951 in Oslo.