Louis Pio
Louis Pio | |
---|---|
Chicago, Illinois | |
Occupation(s) | Journalist, socialist political organizer |
Known for | Founding Danish Social Democratic Party |
Louis Albert François Pio (14 December 1841 – 27 June 1894) was a Danish politician who founded and served as the first chairman of the Danish Social Democratic Party from 1872 to 1874 and again from 1876 to 1878.
Early life
Pio was born 14 December 1841 in
Activist for Socialism
Pio had become interested in socialism through his reading of Danish folk literature, which often depicted the oppressed joining together to oppose their oppressors. But it was not until 1871, when news of the
Pio is known for his tactical skill in employing strikes. He argued that three conditions must be met before a strike could be initiated: a majority of the strikers must be members of the International; there must be sufficient funds to sustain the strikers; and strikes must not occur simultaneously in more than one trade. These tactics brought workers concrete gains in the form of higher wages, and were the primary reason for the rapid growth in membership achieved by the international worker's association for Denmark beginning in late 1871.[2]
On 4 May 1872 Pio, Brix, and Geleff were arrested for calling a public workers' meeting, in defiance of a government prohibition against such meetings. Widespread disturbances followed their arrest. Pio was sentenced to five years imprisonment. He was cultivated as a martyr by the socialist movement, and continued to write articles which were smuggled from prison and published in Socialisten. Released early, he reestablished himself as the movement's leader in 1875. The movement had become increasingly popular, and the newspaper, now called Social Demokraten had a wide circulation. But the movement became increasingly unhappy over Pio's authoritarian leadership style. In 1877, he left Denmark, to the great indignation of Danish socialists, who discovered that he had been bribed by the police to leave the country. He traveled to Smoky Hill River, Kansas, to found a socialist colony, which soon failed because of the lack of agricultural expertise among the colonists. He moved to
References
- ^ a b c d Short biography on Louis Pio (in Danish)
- ^ a b c d leksikon.org: radical Danish site's biography of Pio
- ^ The Dilemma of the Social-Democratic Labor Parties by Erling Olsen, Daedalus Vol. 113, No. 2, Nordic Voices (Spring, 1984), pp. 169-194
- ISBN 9780873517720. Retrieved 21 September 2020.