sabroe was born near silkeborg, but moved to copenhagen as a 14-year-old to take up an apprenticeship as a shoemaker. he soon became a social democrat and a member of a group of radicals called the "karl marx club". in 1887, he became a journalist at a provincial newspaper, in randers, moving the next year to the paper "demokraten" in the larger town aarhus, where he eventually served as editor, from 1895 to 1908. moving then to kolding, he became editor of the "kolding socialdemokrat" from 1908 to 1910. he spent the rest of his life in copenhagen, where he worked at the "social-demokraten" from 1910 to 1913.