A brief history of the Danish Labour Movement

Introduction

The aim of this text is to give a non-Danish audience a brief introduction to the history of the Danish working class and the labour movement.

The text was originally published in print as a summary for the book “Kampen for en bedre tilværelse” (“The Struggle for a Better Life”), published by SFAH in 1990. The book, written by Knud Knudsen, Hanne Caspersen and Vagn Oluf Nielsen, is the first overall account of the development of the Danish labour movement from its early beginning in the 19’th century through to 1990. The book is primarily aimed at a non-expert audience. Readers who understand Danish can order the book directly from SFAH. Please make any enquiries via e-mail to sfah@aba.dk.

The summary is written by Gerd Callesen, and translated into English by Lena Fluger. It is reproduced here by kind permission from the author. Lars K. Christensen, who has also written a new chapter on the last period 1982-2000, has adopted the original summary for the web.

Please read the copyright notes before any printing etc