Industrialization had come to Denmark in the…

Industrialization had come to Denmark in the second half of the nineteenth century.

The nation's first railroads had been constructed in the 1850s, and improved communications and overseas trade have allowed industry to develop in spite of Denmark's lack of natural resources.

Trade unions develop starting in the 1870s.

There is a considerable migration of people from the countryside to the cities, and Danish agriculture becomes centered around the export of dairy and meat products.

The two concepts of internationalism and nationalism have become very much part of the history of the Danish labor movement, which gathers momentum when social issues become associated with internationalism.

Socialist theory and organizational contact with the First International, which links labor movements in various countries, has paved the way, and Louis Pio has merged as the driving force.

In 1871, following the bloody defeat of the Paris Commune, he had begun publishing socialist journalism.

Campaigning strongly for an independent organization of the workers under their own management, he has organized a Danish branch of the First International.

This becomes the foundation stone for the Social Democratic Party under the name of Den Internationale Arbejderforening for Danmark (The International Labor Association for Denmark).

As a combination of union and political party, it adroitly brings together national and international elements.

Pio sees internationalism as vital for the success of the workers' struggle: without internationalism, no progress.

He points out that the middle classes cooperate across national frontiers and use nationalistic rhetoric as a weapon against the workers and their liberation.

The Danish section starts organizing strikes and demonstrations for higher wages and social reforms: moderate demands, but sufficient to provoke the employers and the forces of law and order.

Things come to a head in the Battle of Fælleden on May 5, 1872.

The authorities arrest the three leaders, Louis Pio, Poul Geleff and Harald Brix, charge them with calling a public workers' meeting, in defiance of a government prohibition against such meetings, and convict them of high treason.

Widespread disturbances had followed their arrest.

Pio, sentenced to five years imprisonment, will be cultivated as a martyr by the socialist movement, and will continue to write articles which were smuggled from prison and published in Socialisten.

Released early, he will reestablish himself as the movement's leader in 1875.