Class Struggle International III: Denmark

Editorial: [German version will follow within the next few days.] The aim of our series “Class Struggle International” is to make accessible experiences, analysis and history of the international workers’ movement. In our 3rd edition we are turning towards Denmark: Often depicted as a role model of the social democratic welfare-state, Member of Revolutionäre Kommunistische Partei Asbjørn Byskov gives us a glimpse into the actual conditions in this so called ”Role model” country. Globally, capitalism is at a crisis, so is Danish capitalism. Denmark, a country heavily relying on export, is enmeshed in a world economy that engages in protectionist warfare. As national states are trying to turn their household crisis into the crisis of the neighbouring states, the export rates of Danish economy are a-shrinking. The answer of the Danish ruling class is a mixture of desperate measures, similar to those in other developed countries: Attacks on the working class in terms of layoffs, attack on the aforementioned welfare state, state spending of %5 GDP when it comes to militarisation and armament. Whilst the old, corrupt political powers in Denmark are stumbling from one scandal to another, the Danish left is incapable of organising the working class. Instead, they are focusing on governing the crisis, making them an easy target for anti-establishment sentiments and class rage. Beneficiary of this situation is right wing party Dansk Folkeparti (DF), and, by spreading demagogic hatred, further divides the working class. But there is a growing number of revolutionary communists, organised as Revolutionært Kommunistisk Parti (RKP), winning over more and more comrades to put class struggle back on Danish streets. The Danish as well as the German sections of RKP are organised in the Revolutionary Communist International. [Editor’s Note: Asbjorn is a comrade of RKP, and his viewpoints have all sympathies within the editorial board. Although the editorial board in its whole is not entangled in genuine, daily RKP politics nor a spearhead of Trotsky-exclusive communist thought and practice.]

The organic crisis of Danish capitalism

Denmark is often presented as a country that has cracked the code. A country where workers and capitalists live together in harmony. However this fairytale from the establishment is far from reality, and as capitalism continues to decline, the irreconcilable relationship between worker and capitalist becomes as clear as day. Recently, on the 13th of May, peaceful demonstrants blocking the entrance of Mærsk (The biggest Danish shipping company that supplies Israel with weapons), got brutally beaten by the police to defend the profits of capitalists.
Denmark is no exception to any other capitalist country, and therefore it is not able to escape the problems capitalism faces as a global system.

While the wealthiest receive tax reductions, the majority has over the years experienced attacks on their standard of living. Rent and housing prices skyrocketed, working class families can’t afford to live in the big cities, birth rates are declining, the school and healthcare systems are falling apart.

A survey showed that the biggest concern of Danes between 15 – 45 years was the cost of living. Close to 50% of them live paycheck to paycheck. Roughly 40 % of them are worried that they will not be able to retire with financial security.
The wealthiest 1% in Denmark owns 29,8% of the total value in Denmark, while the poorest 50% only owns 4,1%.
In may the annual report from the charity organisation “Kirkens Korshær” reports that approximately 160.000 Danes skip a main meal per day because of lack of money.
220.000 Danes experience that their economic situation does not allow them to fulfill basic needs.
The numbers speak for themselves, Denmark is no exception: it faces the same problems under the organic crisis of capitalism.

The material conditions in Denmark: Novo Nordisk softens the blow

The economy is the foundation for political development and consciousness. After the second world war, the Danish economy was in a state of growth which made it possible for the working class to fight and win a certain degree of welfare and standard of living. Since the 70s these gains have been under attack and undermined, especially after the 2008 crisis the molecular process has been accelerated and faith in bourgeois democracy has been eroded, with only 14% of Danes having faith in the political system’s ability to handle long-term challenges and 41% having little or very little faith in it. This is followed by only 11% of Danes having faith in politicians, according to the Danish think tank “Mandag morgen”.

Additionally, only 24% of Danes believe that their descendants will live a better life and a third of the Danes believe their descendants will live a worse or much worse life.
Denmark highly relies on export, which constitutes 69% of the Danish GDP. Before 2020, Germany was the country Denmark exported to the most, but the USA overtook that place. However the US economy is on the brink of crisis and the European economy is also under pressure. The German economy has had negative growth rates in 2023, 2024 and 2025, the industrial production has been reduced with 17% since 2017 and the number of bankruptcies is on the level as during the financial crisis in 2009. This has and will further have consequences for the Danish economy with export reaching a dead end.
As in the rest of the world, Denmark also faces the overproduction crisis of capitalism which results in the Danish capitalists spending loads of money in speculation instead of investing in the development of production.
If it had not been for the medicinal industry in Denmark, the production in the industry would have decreased 16% from 2022 to 2023. In 2024 Novo Nordisk stood for 60% of the growth in the Danish economy.

However, this medicine adventure has peaked and is on the decline. During the past year Novo Nordisk stocks have experienced a 70% decline, which amounts to 3.000 billion DKK (401,2 billion EUR), tantamount to more than the total Danish GDP in 2024 which was 2900 billion DKK (388,5 billion EUR), resulting in 5000 layoffs in Denmark alone.
Novo Nordisk is not the only company doing layoffs in Denmark, which makes unemployment a rising problem in Denmark.
Exports are reaching a dead end, combined with decrease in production, an increase in the amount of layoffs and with Denmark being one of the countries in OECD with the highest household debt. All this is laying the basis for economic crisis.
The ruling class in Denmark tries to postpone this economic crisis with increasing military production and reopening of gasfields, however this is not a sustainable solution that only temporarily postpones the crisis and does not make life better for the majority.

Danish reformism in times of counterreform: Enhedlisten

As mentioned before: the standard of living has worsened and politicians are undermining the welfare that the working class has won in the past. People are getting used to the word “reform” now meaning a reduction and not gain in welfare. Only 11% of Danes have faith in the politicians. The faith in the politicians has been lost for a large number of people especially in the youth, due to the politicians complicity and lack of action on the genocide in Palestine.
There have also been a number of scandals with politicians in the Danish parliament. One of the scandals include a former socialdemocratic minister who has been convicted of posessing material of child abuse. However his companions in the Danish parliament gave him a special “disability pension” as a politician, meanwhile working class Danes have to struggle and fight for a long time to even be considered for a normal „disability pension”. These scandals have left a growing number of people in Denmark with the feeling that the politicians are not representing them and that the whole parliament is rotten. A largely growing number despise the establishment, however the only parliament party that manages to utilize this sentiment is Dansk Folkeparti (in short: DF; engl.: Danish People’s Party), which is a right wing populistic party in Denmark that brought remigration onto the political scene in Denmark (an expression that they have stolen from the deeply reactionary movement Generation Identitaire). The recent election in Denmark resulted in 9,1% of the votes going to “DF”, which is a big increase since 2022 where they managed to get 2,6%. However, their success is not a result of having a strict and racist immigration policy, in that case the Socialdemocratic party could as well have had those votes, since they have adopted the same anti-immigrant stance for populist reasons. The success of “DF” is due to them utilizing the anti-establishment sentiment by addressing, that there are problems in Denmark with for instance the cost of living. Their success lies in that they are the black sheep of Danish politics, that they are disliked by the establishment, which is why the growing number of anti-establishment people are attracted to them.

The success of “DF” at the elections could have been avoided if the left wing, especially if Enhedlisten (Einheitsliste) had filled the vacuum of anti-establishment sentiment. Instead of appearing anti-establishment, Enhedslisten has constantly tried to become more accepted by the establishment by supporting militarisation, NATO and having a vague position on Palestine. Instead of filling out the vacuum, Enhedslisten makes it even bigger by trying to be what a growing number of Danes despise: the establishment.

Recently, 70 days after the election, the politicians managed to put together a new government consisting of 4 different parties, which is a result of all of the 12 political parties in parliament’s weakness, miscredibility and the crisis in bourgeois politics.
The coalition agreement of the government consists merely of declarations of intent without funding, which is a sign of a coalition that has not been able to agree on these policies.
The previously mentioned Enhedslisten is a part of this coalition and they paint the coalition in rosy colours. Enhedslisten boasts about this allegedly being “the biggest expansion of our welfare state in many, many years” and that going to the dentist will be free for everybody in 10 years, however this is just declarations of intent and an ambition without reality, since there are a number of conditions for this. For instance “[t]he implementation of dental care must happen while showing consideration for the capacity in dental care and the economic consequences of the state”; therefore it is no surprise that the funding for implementation is not mentioned. In the bottom of the coalition’s declaration of intent it vaguely states that “the government will concurrently be able to allocate financing of the described initiatives”.
Overall, the politics pursued by the new coalition will be a continuation of the former one, with a continuation of the racist immigration policy, firm support for Israel, support for the war in Ukraine, and militarisation where the government aims to spend 5% of the Danish GDP, the funding for which will come from replacing 30.000 public employees with AI.

Enhedslisten was supposed to utilize this anti-establishment sentiment. Now being in a coalition government with 3 other parties, among them the Socialdemocrats, Enhedslisten has officially been accepted as a part of the establishment. Instead of remaining critical, Enhedslisten has cheered for the government coalition which can only stand with the parliamentary votes coming from Enhedslisten. This in turn just leaves people with high expectations, which they will not be able to fulfill.
Thus giving the opposition – which only consists of the far right – an opportunity to constantly attack the government, now that the supposedly left parties have formed a coalition. Hence, DF will win more and more people over and into their following, people who become disappointed with the government’s inability to make life better for the working class and turn the crisis of capitalism around.
This recent election also fragmented all the parties to such a degree that all 14 parties of parliament now almost have the same size; the traditional parties of power have all been shattered and their votes pushed into other smaller parties. This in turn also makes it harder for the parties to rule, and reflect a general level of fragmentation and polarization in society.

Revolutionært Kommunistisk Parti (RKP)

Revolutionen har brug for dig! – The revolution needs you!

The Danish section of the RCI, the RKP in Denmark are still too small to absorb this huge vacuum, although we will not paint a rosy picture like Enhedslisten nor remain passive while the working class is under attack. Our numbers are growing and our presence is felt more than ever before, both on social media with Instagram and Tiktok and in the streets of the biggest cities with posters, stickers, papersales and interventions at demonstrations. We are having a great presence in the big cities in Denmark, by dominating the streets with our material, where we aim for that anyone from the vanguard knows that the RKP exists.
With a solid base in theory, the cadres of the RKP can convince this layer of our ideas and give them the answers they seek. This has brought the RKP to 339 members by the end of 2025. At this time we are about to cross the 400 member mark. Our events in Denmark like 1st of may, Frauenkampftag and revolution festival are growing in numbers of participants. And on 1st of May and Frauenkampftag we have been able to do events in multiple big Danish cities. We have to some degree gotten attention from the bourgeois media and politicians, where they have tried to use us to strengthen their own agenda, however that has failed for them and made it possible to get our ideas out to a broader audience, letting them know that the RKP is something different from the establishment, that wants to end the barbarism we are facing.

Forwards to 500 comrades. Long live internationalism, Long live the RCI.