Tidevarvet
Weekly political magazine in Sweden (1923–1936)
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History and profile
Tidevarvet was established in 1923.[2] The first issue appeared on 24 November 1923.[3] The founders were five women, who were called the Fogelstad group: Kerstin Hesselgren, Honorine Hermelin, who was an educator, Ada Nilsson, who was a medical doctor, Elisabeth Tamm, a politician, and Elin Wägner, who was an author.[4][5] The founders had a liberal political stance.[5] It was started on the initiatives of the Liberal Women's National Association, which was also established by the group.[6][7]
Tidevarvet stated its mission in the first issue as follows: the magazine would be a “forum, an arena in which men and women can work side by side to forge a broad-minded vision and find ways of implementing it in legislation and community life.”[8] The magazine was published on a weekly basis.[9][10] It adopted a radical political[10] and pacifist stance.[9] Elisabeth Tamm subsidised the magazine.[11] Tidevarvet ceased publication in December 1936.[12][13]
Editors, contributors and content
The launching editor of the magazine was Ellen Hagen[5] whose term was between 1923 and 1924.[1] Then, Elin Wägner edited Tidevarvet from 1924 to 1927.[6] She was replaced by Carin Hermelin in the post who edited Tidevarvet from 1927 to its demise in 1936.[1][5]
Honorine Hermelin and Moa Martinson were among the contributors.[14] The latter published notes about her visit to the Soviet Union in the magazine,[14] which continued to be an influential platform to discuss social and women-related issues in Sweden until 1935.[4] Ada Nilsson also worked in the magazine.[15] The other significant contributors included Eva Andén, Emilia Fogelklou, Klara Johansson, Frida Steenhoff[5] and Ellen Key.[16]
Although Tidevarvet was a feminist publication, it did not publish specific issues on women arguing that all areas of society were concerned with women.[17] In addition to political content, the magazine frequently featured articles about physical training and sports.[17] These were mostly written by a medical doctor and political activist Andrea Andreen,[17] with numerous contributions by Ragnvi Torslow-Lundgren.[18] The magazine invited its readers to join the activities of the Svenska kvinnors centralförbund för fysisk kultur (Swedish Women's Federation for Physical Culture).[17]
Legacy
Hjördis Levin published a book about the magazine and its contributors, Kvinnorna på barrikaden (Swedish: Women on the Barricade).[5]