Striking for peace - the way forward why we are focusing our attention on the trade-union movement. In this movement a good two million wage earners [Denmark's total population is around 5 million] are organized. This is the biggest and potentially most effective means for fighting back. This is the force that can bring the society to a standstill until
The following articles are the coverage of the end-of-October peace actions in Denmark from the November 1, 1984, issue of Klassekampen, paper of the Danish section of the Fourth International. The first is an editorial. It is followed by interviews with leaders of the actions. Klassekampen's introduction follows:
Once again the peace movement has demonstrated its power. Well over 100,000 people went into the streets throughout the country. It was a little less than last year, but nonetheless it was a very strong showing that gave the lie to claims that the peace movement is in crisis.
This year the peace movement co-organized their activity with other
This did not come about without some conflicts. For example the union district council in Roskilde made its own plans without contact ing the peace movement. And in Odense, the district labor council split. The unskilled workers union (the SiD) took part in the big peace demonstrations. But the district council as such kept to the sidelines, organizing its own, sparsely attended, affair.
What did the week of peace actions show and how can we go forward?
More than 100,000 demonstrators showed that there is still life in the Danfor fostering illusions, as the Communist party paper Land og Folk did, in saying that we are "stronger than
There is no need for an elite corps of heroic super peace activists who can vault over the barbed wire at the Karup base. There is no need either for study the demand for disarmament is won.
Our objective must be to work for a general strike on United Nations Day,
This is not because this is some ceremonial date but because that is the time that deployment of Cruise missiles is supposed to start in the Netherlands. This is the most natural date to focus on. It should be a strike of 15, 30, 60 minutes, or more. A strike expressed in a mass demonstration that can be seen, not one that remains confined in the offices, institutions and factories.
The strike must be an international one. So, the Danish trade-union movement should begin now making contacts with other unions in other countries that have also been involved in peace strikes. This can be a step forward toward building a people's strike against the missiles throughout Western Europe.
...the European experience
Thousands of people struck for peace for five minutes on October 24 in an action that shortly before got the support of the National Labor Confederation
This was the second symbolic strike against the step-up in the arms race in Denmark. The next time, people are going to ask, and rightly so, why should we strike again for only five minutes, when we have already done this twice without getting any results?
The reason for this failure does not lie in any lack of opposition to the stepup in the arms race. But the poor participation in the strike did highlight the ambiguity of the LO's commitment to peace work. If the LO had been serious about it and had called for a real mobilization and planned a hard-hitting general strike, say for a couple of hours, against nuclear weapons, there is no doubt that such an appeal would have gotten a major
That would have offered a
The peace movement has to take new initiatives in order to move forward. In this respect, it is dangerous to heed the forces that claim that new mass demonstrations are useless. One example of such arguments was given by a "rethinking youth" in the latest issue of the Left Socialist Party paper, Solidaritet: "What if these forces were used instead for spontaneous actions and provocations. Thinking back, I can't distinguish one demonstration from another. But I can certainly do that as regards the actions." International Viewpoint 26 November 1984
Soren BECH The decision of the West German trade-union Federation (DGB) to call a five minute-long general strike on October 5, 1983, against nuclear weapons was like a spark. A spark that ignited a series of warning strikes in the north of Western
After West Germany came Finland, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and then again in Denmark. In Sweden a conference of trade unionists — representing 750,000 workers - demanded a strike on United Nations Day,
In West Germany only about one mil lion of the eight million organised members of the West German trade-union federation supported the strike on October 5, 1983. But it was a reasonable success politically, as could be seen in the furious comments of the main bourgeois news-
For the first time in the history of the Federal Republic a political genbeen called against the
The Finnish trade-union federation (SAK) with one million members out of a population of five million immediately followed the West German example with a peace strike on October 26, 1983. One hundred thousand participated in peace activities in the workplaces, and in the there were 106 demonstrations throughout the country.
In Belgium on November 11, 1983, the social democratic-led trade-union federation (FGTB/ABVV), with one million members, called a peace strike, not for five minutes, but democratic trade-union federation (CSC ACW), with 1.3 million members, did not participate, except for the metalworkers
The strike was a very modest success. The level of participation was very different from workplace to workplace depending on the activity of shop stewards and activists. The leadership of the FGTB/ABVV had done very little to mobilise people.
On October 10, 1984, the Dutch social (FNV) organised a relatively big peace strike for 15 minutes. At least 90 per cent of the FNV members seem to have participated as well as a number of unorganised people, bringing the total to approximately 1.1 million, which is not so bad in a country of 14 million inhab-
Sixty thousand striking school pupils who turned out in the streets were photographed more by the press as the rest of the strike was less visible.
At the beginning of October a conference in Stockholm decided to work for
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DENMARK
a peace strike organised by the Swedish trade-union federation (LO) next year on United Nations Day. unions representing 750,000 workers had been calling for a peace strike and the LO leadership argued that the 'time isn't ripe'. The day after the peace strike conference in Stockholm the main social democratic newspaper, Aftonbladet, carried a major article discussing the proposal. The leader of the painters' union, John Petersson, called the idea of a peace strike 'childish' But the chief editor of the foodworkers' trade-union magazine, Bror Perjus, said that a coordinated strike in several West European countries would be a precondition for the action to be
Aftonbladet called upon its readers to phone the paper and give their views on the idea of a peace strike. Several hundred Swedes did so, and a lot of their comments were presented in the paper the next day.
experiences show clearly the possibilities in a strike for peace
It is vital that the peace movements of Europe link up with the labour movement through mass actions of this thing, does it mean if there are 10,000 people more or 10,000 less. important thing is not so much to make the demonstrations bigger, but to achieve a greater consciousness.
concrete demands There is the demand for a nuclear-free Denmark, on which I think everyone in the peace movement agrees. next step has to be to take up Denmark's role in Nato's nuclear strategy and the military reinforcement treaties.
Then there is the question of a nuclear-free Scandinavia. That is really more of a political step than a military one.
On the European level, we think that
Next steps for the peace movement
Q. What did the week of peace ac-
Pernille Jensen. skomite for Fred og Sikkerhed (Coordinating Committee for Peace and Security)] The union district councils were co-organizers of the peace demonstrations. But on the other hand, this did not necessarily mean that the union member.
mobilized to Indeed, it is a fact that less of them took
Question. Why was that?
Answer. there were two
The first is that last year the
A. The mobilization has been maintained, and this shows that all the debates around the peace actions this year did not keep people from coming out - quite the
Q. But, the numbers were less than
Not so much. Hardly at all in comparison with what happened in West
We might have feared far worse, after the missiles have been deployed and so on. But I think that the debate showed people that the peace movement is still alive and developing.
the question of division into blocs and detente should be highlighted. It was forgotten in the campaign against the 572 missiles, and this is what created the crisis in the West German peace movement
We have to be careful not to make the same mistake but rather to look at issues as they interconnect. That is, not just to work with a few demands aimed against the missiles, but to take up the question of the division into blocs and Europe's role in general.
Q. But the division into blocs and Europe's role does not seem so concrete.
In reality, the demand for the removal of the 572 missiles is also a very
Now we have to formulate demands on the other questions that are as conreasons. peace movement was more focused on opposition to the 572 missiles. The demonstrations took place right before the important Nato meeting in December. That is, what, if any- sions about demonstrations. This year we tried to focus on the demand for a nuclear-free Denmark, but Interview with Flemming Bock, that proved less effective, at least so far. chairman of trade unionists for peace
A second reason is that the press played up the split in the peace movement so much. That certainly kept a lot of people fron oming out.
Q. So, what's the next step?
A. We think that there are three We have, to be sure, a vague declaration of intent in the parliament. But the role of the peace movement has to be to bring more pressure to bear.
Secondly, we have to demand that Denmark take the initiative to get direct negotiations among the Scandinavian countries to declare Scandinavia a nuclear-free zone.
Finally, there is the question of the missiles. The Danish rejection of the missiles has to be followed up by concrete initiatives. One opportunity for this would be the Nato meeting to be held this December, where the demand should be raised for stopping the deployment of any more missiles.
Kai Bollmann from Nej til Atomvaaben (No to Nuclear Weapons) took a positive view about the extent of the demonstrations this year. 20
A. In Nej til Atomvaapen, we take a rather reserved attitude toward the big demonstrations.
Doesn't it look as if the strikes this year involved as many people
It looks that way. But you have to remember that the actions this year did not have the same news interest as last year. Moreover, it would be wrong to judge them simply by the instances in which traffic was blocked.
It is important to stress two things:
First of all, this was an international action. « We know that there were trade-union peace activities in Finland, Germany and Czechoslovakia. Secondly, the most important thing is the impact that the actions will have. important is what the LO intends to do.
What role did the LO play?
A. In any case, it was no thanks to the LO that the actions got the support
First of all, it was only at the last minute that they sent out one solitary circular on supporting the action, even then they messed it up, saying that the action should start at 11:55 a.m. and end at noon, instead of, as we proposed, starting at noon and lasting for 15 minutes. It sowed confusion.
crete as 'No to the missiles.' We have not yet really had the time to do that, among other things, because of all the discus-
We now have to work on two things for next year:
The strikes have to be longer and ex tended to other countries. So, I said in my speech at the demonstration on Saturday that the LO should take an international initiative to get a common trade-union peace action.
Q. Isn't that the same idea as that of the Campaign for a European People's
We should not pin ourselves down to one people's strike. We cannot foresee whether the strike will be for five minutes, for 15, or for an entire day. main thing is to get international coordin-
The peace strike this year was more extensive in the provinces and the reason for thinking this is that the Fagbevaegel. sen for Fred [the Peace Movement] was organized in more places this year than and central and western Zealand, Fagbevaegelsen for Fred mobilized for
The next step is to build up nat
International Viewpoint 26 November
WEST GERMANY.
This disruptive action, which came out of the ranks of the "Anti-Imperialist Bloc," and was supported by the Wuppertal Buro, undermined the possibilities for united action. In the future, we must collaborate in every way possible to maintain the common goal of stopping US intervention in Central America.
Against the backdrop of this conflict, there distrubances when Brandt were
Interrupted by chanting and spoke.
whistling, the target of rotten eggs and paint bombs and fireworks, Brandt called
30,000 demonstrate in Bonn against US intervention in Central America for an end to the bombing and death squadrons in El Salvador and to the genocide in Guatemala. He said that those who have rightly protested against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan cannot remain silent when the US is paying the contras in Central America, mining harbors and carrying out sabotage action.
This brought furious condemnations
From Was Tun, paper of the German section of the Fourth International.
November 11, 1984.
Despite driving rain at the start and chilly weather, about 30,000 responded to the call from the Coordinating Committee of the Peace Movement to demonstrate "For Peace and Justice in Central America" in Bonn on November 3.
Klaus DRAEGER
In three columns, the demonstrators marched toward Bonn's Hofgarten, after initial rallies at the assembly points.
The bloc formed shortly before the demonstration, under the title "Defend the