Social Democratic Youth of Denmark

Social Democratic Youth of Denmark Danmarks Socialdemokratiske Ungdom (DSU)
Chairperson	Peter Hummelgaard Thomsen
Secretary General	Louise Juul Jensen
Founded	1920 (1920)
Headquarters	Frederiksberg, Denmark
Mother party	Social Democrats
International affiliation	International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY)
European affiliation	Young European Socialists (ECOSY)
Scandinavian affiliation	Forbundet Nordens Socialdemokratiske Ungdom (FNSU)
National affiliation	Dansk Ungdoms Fællesråd (DUF)
Website	dsu.net

The Danmarks Socialdemokratiske Ungdom (Danish: Social Democratic Youth of Denmark, DSU) is the youth organisation of the Danish Social Democrats.

History

The Social Democratic Youth movement of Denmark was established in 1920 after a break-up of the former youth organisation, the Social Democratic Youth League (Danish: Socialdemokratisk Ungdomsforbund (SUF)). At first, the organisation was known as the "DsU" (not to be confused with the DSU, the Danish Chess Union).

The founders of DSU wanted to change the Danish society by reforms and not by revolution.

Affiliations

DSU is a member of Dansk Ungdoms Fællesråd (DUF), the Forbundet Nordens Socialdemokratiske Ungdom (FNSU), the Young European Socialists (ECOSY) and the International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY).

Chairmen

The incumbent chairman of DSU is Peter Hummelgaard Thomsen who was elected at the DSU 2008 congress in April. The general secretary of the DSU is Louise Juul Jensen who was elected at the 2008 congress too. Both were re-elected at the 2010 congress.

Former DSU chairmen:

• 1920-1927 Christian Christiansen
• 1927-1929 Hans Hedtoft, Prime minister of Denmark 1948-1955
• 1929-1933 Johannes Hansen
• 1933-1937 H. C. Hansen, Prime minister of Denmark 1955-1960
• 1937-1942 Poul Hansen
• 1942-1946 Victor Gram
• 1946-1952 Per Hækkerup, Danish foreign minister 1962-1966
• 1952-1958 Børge Jensen
• 1958-1961 Niels Kristensen
• 1961-1967 Ejner Hovgaard Christiansen
• 1967-1970 Hans Carl Nielsen
• 1970-1974 Niels Enevoldsen
• 1974-1978 Frode Møller Nicolaisen
• 1978-1982 Finn Larsen
• 1982-1986 Jan Petersen, Former MP for Socialdemokraterne and present mayor of Norddjurs municipality (2010-2013)
• 1986-1990 Jens Christiansen, Former Secretary-General for Socialdemokraterne
• 1990-1992 Anette Berentzen
• 1992-1996 Henrik Sass Larsen, MP and former political spokesman of Socialdemokraterne
• 1996-2000 Morten Bødskov, MP for Socialdemokraterne and incumbent Danish minister of Justice
• 2000-2004 Kristian Madsen, present leader writer at the Danish newspaper Politiken
• 2004-2008 Jacob Bjerregaard Jørgensen, MP for Socialdemokraterne
• 2008- Peter Hummelgaard Thomsen

Organisation

The legislative and most powerful assembly is the national congress, held every second year in April or May. It consists of 235 delegates, mainly elected in the local branches. The congress is approving the annual accounts of the national organisation, it is deciding new organizational work programmes and political resolutions and proposals and is finally electing a national executive committee.

The national executive committee ("Forretningsudvalget") consists of 13 elected members, here the President, the Vice-President and the Secretary General included. They are elected at the congresses too. The President and the Secretary General are receiving an economic compensation/fee for their jobs.

Above the national executive committee, DSU has a kind of "second chamber", the major council Hovedbestyrelsen, which consists of the national executive committee (13 members) and 28 local representatives, elected in the 10 regions. The Social Democratic Party of Denmark and the Social Democratic student organisation Frit Forum each have 1 observer.

DSU has six different nation-wide, permanent committees with members from all levels in the organization and from everywhere in Denmark. The committees have the following topics and tasks:

• Activities and seminars (planning of national events etc.) (abb. "AKU")
• Education politics (abb. "UDU")
• Equal opportunities (equality as a matter of gender, sexuality, ethnicity etc.)
• International affairs and cooperation (abb. "IU")
• Labour market affairs (abb. "AMP")
• Social affairs (abb. "SPU")

DSU is divided into 10 regions, following the borders of the Danish major constituencies. Each region has a regional executive committee and is every year electing their local representatives to the major council.

DSU has around 60 local branches. The local branches are responsible for local activities and local campaigns. DSU has in the local communities an important role in the campaign work for the Social Democratic Party of Denmark. Especially when it comes to the so-called Door to door-campaigning method, inspired from the 2008 Obama election campaign, the DSU has an important role.

External links

• Official homepage of Danmarks Socialdemokratiske Ungdom (Danish)

References

See also

• Socialdemokraterne