Page "Thorvald Stauning" Paragraph 9

Like many other workers ' leaders of his generation, such as Hjalmar Branting in Sweden, Stauning was a charismatic leader who played an important role in integrating Danish society after the social changes following the Industrial Revolution and common suffrage.

His campaign slogan, " Stauning or Chaos ," () resonated in a nation undergoing a period of massive unemployment caused by the economic, social and political turmoil of its neighbors and trading partners, notably Denmark's chief trading partner Germany.

The following Great Depression brought Danish unemployment to unprecedented heights.

This period of widespread social malaise was fertile ground for populist leaders like Franklin D. Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, who could communicate a confident and coherent vision to the masses.

Stauning was such a man for Denmark, and his popularity won the Social Democratic Party 46 % of the total votes in the 1935 Folketing election, a figure never again reached by this or any other Danish party.