The two main combatants of the internal struggle were Aksel Larsen and Thøger Thøgersen (da), but Larsen gained superiority by leading and organising the rapidly growing movement of the unemployed. In March 1930 Larsen was elected chairman of the National Committee of the Unemployed by more than 100,000 unemployed who had gathered in Copenhagen. He became famous for giving a speech in October that year from a row boat in the canals around the seat of parliament while evading the police's attempts to arrest him.