Slaget på Fælleden
Slaget på Fælleden ( German for the battle on the commons ) is the name given to a violent clash between workers, the military and the police on May 5, 1872 on Nørrefælled in Copenhagen . In the history of Denmark it was the first major uprising of the new labor movement .
The background to the events was a journey by the masons that began in April 1872. The demand was the abolition of the so-called "slave hour", the eleventh working hour between 6pm and 7pm. The Danish branch of the International , Socialdemokraterne , was initially reserved towards the strikers, but when defeat loomed its leader Louis Pio decided to call a large meeting on Nørrefælled on May 5th. The aim should be to demonstrate solidarity with the strikers and to formulate a catalog of demands with them , which should be presented to Crown Prince Frederik .
As a prelude to the meeting, Pio wrote a very harsh article entitled “Målet er fuldt” (The measure is full) in his newspaper Socialisten . This article led to the arrest of the three labor leaders Pio, Harald Brix and Paul Geleff on May 4th, one day before the planned event.
Despite the ban, thousands of workers gathered on Sunday May 5th, although the strike organizers wanted to prevent this. The authorities used hussars to drive the unarmed crowd away.
The Slaget på Fælleden achieved the status of a political myth in the history of the Danish labor movement. One of the lessons learned from repression was the more moderate course the movement took in the 1880s.
literature
- Benito Scocozza and Grethe Jensen: Politics Etbinds Danmarkshistorie . 3rd edition, Politikens Forlag 2005. p. 257.