ENAKOPRAVNOST

ENAKOPRAVNOST (Equality) offered Cleveland's Slovenian residents their first daily newspaper when it began publication in Apr. 1918. A primary impetus behind its appearance was the movement that resulted in the establishment of an independent Yugoslav state in the final months of World War I. Liberal in its political orientation, Enakopravnost avoided any religious affiliation but became the official medium of the Slovene Progressive Benefit Society in 1924. Edited for most of its first 2 decades by VATRO J. GRILL, it was published by Frank Oglar, president of the American Jugoslav Printing & Publishing Co. on St. Clair Ave. In the 1930s it printed 1 page per week in English. It became staunchly antifascist with the approach of World War II, when it was edited by Anton Sabec. Enakopravnost emerged from World War II as a defender of the communist Tito regime in Yugoslavia, which won it the unfavorable notice of the House Committee on Un-American Activities. It was also plagued by a steady turnover of editors. Leaving the local field to its rival daily, AMERISKA DOMOVINA, Enakopravnost ceased publication on 3 Apr. 1957.