{"id":43417,"date":"2025-11-17T10:51:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T09:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arbejdermuseet.dk\/?page_id=43417"},"modified":"2026-01-29T08:21:05","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T07:21:05","slug":"100-years-of-arbejdernes-oplysningsforbund","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/arbejdermuseet.dk\/en\/library-archive\/the-early-labor-movement\/100-years-of-arbejdernes-oplysningsforbund\/","title":{"rendered":"100 years of Arbejdernes Oplysningsforbund"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ever since the beginning of the labor movement, the idea existed that workers also needed to be spiritually and culturally uplifted in order to help change Danish society. Therefore, a number of educational initiatives were launched from the start of the movement. On January 9, 1924, they were united in the Workers’ Education Association, which became the frontrunner for general education and popular education in Denmark.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On this page you can read more about the initiatives that led up to the founding of AOF in 1924. And on the following pages you will learn more about AOF’s founding and the role the educational institution came to play in the next 100 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read about AOF from 1879-1924<\/a>, AOF during the occupation<\/a> and AOF from 1945 until today.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A study group held by the agitator school in the winter of 1923 at Ryesgades Skole. Standing on the far right is AOF’s co-founder and first business manager Harald Jensen.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Worker education 1879-1924<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The official founding of Arbejdernes Oplysningsforbund<\/em> on 9 January 1924 was the culmination of several years of active work for the development of organized worker education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, the history of labor education goes back further than the establishment of AOF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The earliest agitators<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The beginnings of labor education are difficult to date. One of the earliest people to clearly agitate for enlightenment was Frederik Dreier (1827-1853), also known as Denmark’s first socialist. In 1848, he published a pamphlet entitled “Fremtidens Folkeopdragelse”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Louis Pio also actively agitated for a better and more socialistic education for Danish workers than what was offered to them in philanthropic associations. Pio’s agitation for worker education took place in Socialistiske Blade,<\/em> which was first published in 1871.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Teach him, the worker, how, with the few legal means at his disposal, he can protect himself against the assaults of capital, give him the knowledge that belongs to him, so that one day, when the fullness of time comes, he can help to manage the factory in which he is now only an unwilling tool […]” – Louis Pio in his program statement in the first issue of Socialistisk Blade from May 1871<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The Workers’ Reading Society<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

7. in October 1879, the Workers’ Reading Society was founded in the Workers’ Association and Assembly Building in R\u00f8mersgade in Copenhagen. Here, the growing working class could attend meetings, reading circles and listen to lectures. But most importantly, the Reading Society gave workers the opportunity to borrow books. Public libraries did not yet exist, and as books were expensive, low-income earners found it difficult to afford to buy them. The Reading Society quickly became a success and both the book collection and the number of members grew rapidly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Workers’ Reading Society Book Lending in 1903. The book lending service quickly moved from R\u00f8mersgade to Nansensgade due to the popularity of the association. Later, the reading society got its own house on N\u00f8rre S\u00f8gade.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The society’s great popularity also meant that it was successful in attracting recognized authors to give presentations – including Jeppe Aakj\u00e6r, Georg Brandes, Holger Drachmann and his sister Erna Juel-Hansen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Arbejdernes L\u00e6seselskab, founded in 1879, was the working class’ first attempt to break the shackles of ignorance and to enter the field of spiritual life. Books were an unknown luxury for the workers of my childhood. No one had the means to become the owner of a real book.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Read also Prime Minister Thorvald Stauning’s speech at the Workers’ Reading Society’s 60th anniversary party in 1939.
Read the entire speech<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On November 30, 1922, Arbejdernes L\u00e6seselskab acquired a property on N\u00f8rre S\u00f8gade. This is where AOF’s history began, as it was here that the joint committee held their meetings. From 1932, AOF’s Copenhagen branch was based in the Reading Society’s premises, which in the 1930s also housed DSU, DUI, Faglig Ungdom, Arbejdernes Samariterforbund and Smedendes l\u00e6rlingeafdeling. The Reading Society’s domicile on N\u00f8rre S\u00f8gade thus became a cultural centre for workers’ education in the 1930s, which allowed for close unity between the organizations.it was therefore only natural that AOF’s Copenhagen branch took over both the house on N\u00f8rre S\u00f8gade and the company’s funds when Arbejdernes L\u00e6seselskab was closed down on December 20, 1962.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nina Bang, who was also a historian and researcher, teaches the unemployed in 1918. Nina Bang had already published “L\u00e6rebog i Danmarkshistorie” in 1892. She worked to democratize and reform the school system through a “People’s School” that would prepare working-class children for the society of the future. In 1918, she was also elected to the Danish Parliament.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Karl Marx Club<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In the 1880s, a number of discussion clubs were established. One of them was the Karl Marx Club<\/em>, founded by social democrat A.C. Meyer in 1886. In addition to an introduction to socialist literature, the club wanted to educate its members so that they could express themselves clearly when engaging in discussions. The Discussion Club also met in the Assembly Building in R\u00f8mersgade, where members were taught, discussed and debated the issues of the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Banner for the Karl Marx Discussion Club. Inscribed is “Knowledge is Power”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On July 1, 1898, the People’s University of Copenhagen was founded on the initiative of seven left-wing discussion clubs, including Arbejdernes L\u00e6seselskab and the discussion club “Karl Marx”. The aim was to spread knowledge of the methods and results of science and make academic education accessible to everyone. This happened in a hurry when Folkeuniversitet opened branches in several cities on Funen, Jutland and Zealand during the winter of 1898-99.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The desire for an evening school for workers was expressed at several Social Democratic congresses in the early 1900s. The party wanted more workers to be able to improve their professional skills, and it would also equip Social Democratic party members for the challenging, democratic work in trade unions and municipalities, among other things. In 1910, the first evening school for workers was founded in Copenhagen. The workers’ school had a difficult start-up period but was reorganized in 1916 under the leadership of Landtag member and lecturer C.V. Bramsn\u00e6s. The school was renamed “The Social Democratic Workers’ School” and was later expanded to be a 3-year education where trade unions could enroll particularly suitable members for training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In August 1922, the head of the Social Democratic Labor School, C.V. Bramsn\u00e6s attended an international workers’ meeting in Brussels. The focus of the meeting was worker education across Europe. At the meeting, he realized that Denmark was lagging behind in terms of education work. Bramsn\u00e6s therefore set out to intensify the work for a systematic and organized information federation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea of an information association<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In collaboration with Social Democratic Party Chairman Thorvald Stauning – who was also passionate about the education issue – Bramsn\u00e6s put the issue of an organized education on the agenda for the Social Democratic Party’s main board meeting in the autumn of 1922. At the main board meeting, it was decided to set up a joint committee to further investigate the possibilities of a unified education activity. In addition to representatives from the party, the joint committee also consisted of representatives from the Confederation of Trade Unions (LO), the Danish Social Democratic Youth (DSU) and the Cooperative Union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the winter of 1922-23, the joint committee discussed the possibilities for the organizational structure of the information association. The joint committee reached an agreement that the Federation should be structured as an organization for organizations. The union would thus consist of the labor movement’s already existing professional and political organizations, which would pay a membership fee. The size of the membership fee depended on the organizations’ membership numbers. Thus, workers who were already part of an organization or federation automatically had a membership in AOF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“The committee is convinced that a special institution with special bodies is necessary. But this institution should not be a new, independent organizational branch of the labor movement, merely in cooperation with the others. On the contrary, it must be the already existing organizations that, through such a joint body, unite the scattered forces in order to make the educational work within the labor movement as effective and fruitful as possible.” – (Joint Committee Report in the Proposal for the Workers’ Educational Association.)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The foundation<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

On January 9, 1924, Arbejdernes Oplysningsforbund was formally founded by the four pillars of the labor movement: De Samvirkende Fagforbund (later LO and from 2022 FH), Socialdemokratiet, Den Socialdemokratiske Ungdom and Det Kooperative F\u00e6llesforbund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The labor movement’s various educational activities were thus gathered under AOF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The photo shows both Bramsn\u00e6s (in the middle with a white cloth in his breast pocket) and Harald Jensen (left) at Esbjerg Folk High School. The woman in the photo is Folk High School principal Laura Hedebol-Alkj\u00e6rsig, who from November 1921 became the first and so far only female Folk High School principal in the labor movement<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

C.V. Bramsn\u00e6s was elected chairman and typographer Harald Jensen was elected secretary, in practice the association’s business manager. From the start, the board consisted of 18 members: The cooperating trade unions and the Social Democratic Party each elected 6 representatives. The Cooperative Union and the Danish Social Democratic Youth each had to elect 3 representatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new information association was to embrace:<\/p>\n\n\n\n