Labour Scandinavianism and Cooperation of Nordic Labour Organisations

This chapter traces the development of Nordic labour cooperation to emphasise transnational aspects of labour history. This is done by extending the time frame and scope to include informal networks of the nineteenth century, in addition to the organised cooperation. It is also done by considering how new concepts were created to shape and promote objectives of a social democratic nature. By applying a longer historical and transnational perspective, the chapter shows the entanglement of labour collaboration across borders and beyond. It also shows that the cooperation from the 1880s and onwards was institutionalised, enhanced and expanded, in great part due to the Nordic cooperation committee of the labour movement. Despite different international strategies, the social democratic labour organisations indeed had overlapping interests, which made them join forces, contributing to Nordic integration.