Land og Folk was a Danish communist newspaper published from 1919 to 1982. It became the main communicative media of the Communist Party of Denmark from 1920 and boomed in circulation during World War II, growing from 12,000 copies in 1940 to 120,000 in 1945. The paper was printed in Copenhagen, but distributed countrywide.
History and profile
The newspaper was established as a weekly in 1919 under the name of Arbejdet. In 1920, the paper became the central communicative organ of the Communist Party of Denmark. The following year it was renamed to Arbejderbladet after the formation of Kommunistisk Føderation. From 1934, the paper was published daily. The paper was published as Arbejderbladet until June 1941 and was renamed to Land og Folk on 1 March 1942, after a brief publication as Politiske Maanedsbreve. During the German occupation of Denmark in World War II, on 22 June 1941, and a few months before Denmark joined a revised anti-comintern pact in November that same year, Danish police arrested and detained hundreds of communists. On 22 August 1941 the paper was banned. However, the paper continued to be published illegally by the Danish resistance movement until 1945. The paper boomed during the occupation, growing ten-fold from 12,000 copies in 1940 to 120,000 in 1945 after the liberation. In 1950, an automatic Mercedes printing machine and in 1969 a printing press were given to Land og Folk by the East Germancommunist party, SED. Frede Jakobsen served as the editor-in-chief Land og Folk which was based in Copenhagen. In the 1960s the subscribers of Land og Folk included large number of Russians and the paper was sent to Moscow each day. Land og Folk ceased publication in 1982. The photo archive of Land og Folk is kept in Arbejdermuseet in Copenhagen.
Circulation
In the 1920s its circulation ranged between 4,000 and 6,000 copies. During the next decade its circulation was significantly increased and became nearly 12,000 copies in 1940. By the end of the Nazi occupation in 1945 the paper had a daily circulation of 120,000 copies. During the last six months of 1957 the paper had a circulation of 10,833 copies on weekdays. The circulation of Land og Folk was 7,100 copies in 1975.
