Big step forward for anti-missiles movement pressure, therefore, from
The May 6-12 week of action had been planned for a long time. terribly enthusiastic. But things began to change when the FNV decided to call for a work stoppage within the framework of the week of protest. In short order, the day set for the strike became the focus of
May 6-12, the Dutch peace movement held a big week of action against the Cruise missiles. It was a marked success. people were drawn into the campaign against nuclear weapons. Robert WENT
The week culminated in the follow-
According to the estimates of the FNV (Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging), the country's biggest labor confederation, with about a million members, some 900,000 people participated in the 15-minute work stoppage May 10 to pro-
The National Secretariat of the Against Nuclear Weapons) estimated that 40,000 to 50,000 high school students participated in the strike.
- On Saturday May 12, there were thirty demonstrations to conclude the week of action. These were not the peak, which was the strike, but many tens of thousands of people participated in them. There were more people than ever at the encircling of the Soesterberg airbase (8,000). And the city of Leeuwarden in the northern part of the country had the biggest demonstration in its history
The week of action came at a time when the government has begun to talk again about postponing the decision on the stationing of the missiles. A government crisis over the missiles question is still possible. The right-wing government
Once again, a lot of new can radicalize into a movement against Nato, and because he knows that there is not a sufficient base of support for deployment in the CDA. Therefore, following the planned timetable for installation (1986) is more or less excluded. Van den Broek (along with the VVD) is more thinks that the missiles should be deployed, period, but in the meantime he is prepared to accept a compromise. other Nato countries has increased enormously. At the meeting of the Nuclear Planning group in early April, de Ruiter was leaned on heavily. The heat was also put on at the semiannual meeting of the
Planning Commission in Brussels in May. Nato heat on the Dutch
According to the Dutch press, the minister of defense, Michael Heseltine, demanded "political leadership" from the Dutch government. And in a closed session the Italian minister Spandolini is supposed to have told de Ruiter that Italy is deploying the missiles even though the country is *40% Comthe protest. The opinion polls show what happened during the week of action itself. At the start, only 40% of the pop ulation was aware of the actions. On the Wednesday of the strike, the percentage went up to 75%.
The FNV call for a short strike came after trade-union activists in more and more places started becoming involved in the fight against nuclear weapons. Cees Commandeur, the secretary of the FNV and the person responsible for actions for peace and security in the FNV national leadership, said in an interview in Klassenstrijd, the paper of the Dutch section of the Fourth International: "We have been occupied with this for
The round of discussions in 1981, followed by the defining of positions in 1982 and the participation in the 1983 demonstration built up our union rank and file."
strike can be called a success. The FNV estimates that 900,000 people participated. They did so both demonin canteen meetings, quietly by not doing anything at their workplaces for 15 minutes. tively, the strike was firm in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, where public transport stopped and meetings with music and speakers were held in a lot of public
Throughout the country, the peace movement and the union jointly organheaded by Ruud Lubbers has a major-
The Dutch section ity of 79 out of 150 seats in parliament.
in the week of action against the missiles
This is two less than last year, because two Christian Democrats have formed their own fraction, among other things because of disagreement on the missiles.
The building of the week of action and particularly the strike was one of the best the biggest government party, the campaignsthe Dutch section of the Fourth International has ever been involved in.
CDA (Christian Democrats), 10 to 15,
In several places, members of the Socialistische Arbeiders Partij (SAP — Socialist members of parliament are still against
Workers Party, Dutch section of the Fourth International) played a central role in organizing the strikes, both citywide and in the various factories and institutions.
The Christian Democrats therefore
Everywhere, the youth organization in solidarity with the SAP, Rebel played an important role in organizing the high-school students' strikes, and in some places cannot vote straight out for installation.
In Nijmegen, in twenty minutes, Rebel activists sold 86 copies of
But refusing to deploy the missiles would
In Breda, also in a brief period, they sold 75 also mean a government crisis, because the right-wing liberals of the VVD (Voor
In the coming weeks, the focus will be the actions during the parliamentary
Vrede en Demokratie"
- "For Peace and debate and building the boycott of work for the Woensdrecht base
Democracy") have announced that they will be the discussion in the peace movement and the unions over "Where do we would leave the cabinet if that happened.
The minister of foreign affairs, Van den
Among other things, in the campaign around the European elections, the SAP is working to get support for the initiative of Danish unionists to get a European
Broek (CDA) is at loggerheads with his
Our objective is to promote discussion of this colleague de Ruiter (also CDA), who holds the portfolio for defense.
De Ruiter deployment, because he fears that the peace movement
International Viewpoint 4 June 1984 it was decisive.
their paper during the student strike.
papers, all they had.
go from here?"
people's strike against the missiles.
as from leading figures in the left parties.
ized hundreds of rallies, crossroads occupations and other actions. The whole a two-hour-long program. It would be a hopeless task to try to give a full picture of the strike. It spread outwards from various strongpoints, from Philips, Unilever, the Rotterdam docks, and from the Fokker airplane factory (which also produces military aircraft.) in Amsterdam to education and a considerable part of the personnel in public administration.
On May 10, it was demonstrated once again that strikes have not only to be lem there. The FNV distributed too little material - too few leaflets, posters and buttons. And not all the member unions pitched in effectively to build the strike.
FNV's biggest member union, KABO, did not even call for a strike nationally, but lett the strike action to its local organizations. In many cases local leaderships of the FNV and member unions went no further than sending out a few leaflets to the workplaces.
But where there was a group of activists, a committee, or even just a few enthusiastic people working, a strong action nearly always came out of it. Various FNV local leaderships were amazed on the evening of the strike, because a lot more happened than they considered possible.
additional barrier was intimidation and threats of reprisals from a lot of bosses. In various factories and establishments, the organizers of the action were put under so much pressure that the strike was dropped at the last minute. In a number of cases, the number of participants was greatly reduced.
Alongside the strike in the factories, offices and institutions, the largest youth actions in years took place. tegen Kernwapens, a coordinating committee including thirty local had decided to organize a high-school
At the start, there was doubt about the possibilities for organizing a real strike. But once the work began, it went tremendously well. In all, 40,000
50,000 high-school students struck, including 3,000 in Rotterdam, 5,000 in
3,000 in Breda, Deventer, 2,500 in Arnhem, 3,000 in Leeuwarden, 2,500 in Groningen, 1,000 in Middelburg and 3,000 in Haarlem.
Scores of new activists in Jongeren tegen Kernwapens, 170 in Nijmegen alone.
For the week of action, high schools in various places were declared nuclear free. As the week went on, a lot more schools were added to the list.
In the high schools also, there were problems of intimidation and threats of
In various schools, students were locked in so that they could not take part in the strike. Moreover, there are about a dozen known cases of suspen-
A new factor was the attempt in various places by the far-right organization Constructief Jong Nederland to ob-
Because of the massive support for the protests, the CJN had no success anywhere.
Intimidation and repression were also a problem in the soldiers actions. recent months, actions declaring bases and companies nuclear free have gone astonishingly well.
At the G.M. Koot base in Garfive out of the thirteen companies have declared themselves nuclear free, and the campaign is still continuing
Willem I base in Den Bosch, two out of five companies have declared themselves nuclear free.
During the week of action, campaigns started in eight military across the country to declare companies and housing units nuclear free.
There were also other actions during signed to protect against radiation as well as chemical and biological warfare handed out leaflets at the Utrecht train station. They were taken in by the police.
Soldiers from the Willem I base who tried to hang a banner against the Cruise missiles in a lot near the base were arrested. They were accused of planning to demonstrate in uniform while on duty.
Immediately after the week of action, two soldiers refused to go on guard duty at the Woensdrecht base. missiles are expected to arrive here., and so guarding the base means guarding it against antinuclear activists.
Three soldiers from Steenwijk refused while they were on guard duty to accept the truncheons they were issued. diers are regularly refusing to do SITE guard duty, that is to guard places where nuclear weapons may be stored. On May 22, Eddy Spikerman was brought before a military tribunal because he refused to do SITE guard duty.
Eddy is a member of Rebel, a revolutionary youth organization in solidarity
Fourth International and its Dutch section. The soldiers trade union, the VVDM, and the Soldiers Committee Against Nuclear Weapons (Kommitee Sol-
Tegen Kernwapens - KSTK) collected 5,000 signatures on behalf of Eddy during the week of action.
the start, the ENV indicated that it wanted to involve people entitled to unemployment benefits in the strike. This came at the same time as hundreds of actions have been taking place throughout the country against the new cuts in unemployment benefits scheduled to go into effect July 1, as part of the government's so-called July Package. The FNV has done something in this regard, but
The FNV encouraged those drawing unemployment insurance to participate in said in his interview with Klassenstrijd: "What you can see is that people are going to link the question of the missiles with the July Package. And I'm not unhappy about that, because in the final analysis it's all against the same govern-
In a lot of places, the unemployed did participate under the slogans, missiles and No July security not bombs." This highlighted the fact that the struggle against the de. ployment of the Cruise missiles is a fight against the right-wing government and its approach to
Both the FNV and the national Committee to Stop the Cruise Missiles (2) are enthusiastic about the way the week of action went, and especially about the success of the May 10 strike. The president of the FNV, Wim Kok, has said that he does not exclude a repetition of the strike. And Cees Commandeur has said that nothing is excluded, not even a 24-hour strike. He has also called for a boycott of all work for, and on, the Woensdrecht base.
The Wood and Building Workers Union (Bouw-en-Houtbond) is working on a memorandum showing how many jobs would be created if the 700 million guilders spent allotted to building a new hospital and soundproofing the homes that will be disturbed by overtlying military aircraft. The report can be used to mount a campaign throughout the union for blacking all work for Woensdrecht.
In the immediate future, actions are planned for June, when the parliament will debate the Cruise missiles question. The outcome of this debate will be in large part determined by how the peace movement carries on from here.
The FNV organized thirty rallies throughout the country on May 10, in which a total of a demonstration in The Hague against cuts in
The call from the unemployed for an hour strike against the cuts has gotten no response from the FNV leadership, and in the factories and institutions not even any informa tion campaign about the July Package has been
The Kommitee Kruisraketten Nee ganization includes all the peace FNV. the soldiers union, the VVDM, as well as the left parties represented in parliament and the left liberal Demokraten-66 Party.
This set the stage for the introduction of a whole series of concessions in the name of preserving the "labor-business partnership." The labor chiefs exchanged no-strike pledges for the dues check-off. This guaranteed the bureaucrats a fixed
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