An important victory for Danish workers
The first sharp struggle against the austerity program of the treated and suffered a nervous breakdown in jail.
government that came to power in Den- At the same time, mark in the fall of 1982 was fought by the dockers. the authorities sweeping powers for "preventative
The cuts in unemployment benefits hit the dockers directly detention" of persons they thought "likely to promote viosince labor on the docks is organized according to a casual
Early in 1983, they went out on strike and stayed out The "Toilet Seat Cabinet," as the Schlueter regime is popularly known, was clearly launching a major repressive attack on
The dock strike was met with heavy police repression, some-
For example, a march by dockers a crucial test of strength.
and their families was broken up by police with clubs, dogs, and The following article by a correspondent for Internationalen, the paper of the Swedish section of the Fourth International,
Following the strike, the dockers leader, Karl Joergensen, describes the outcome of this confrontation was jailed on the charge of complicity in an alleged arson that French postal strike, the paper of the Danish section of the
Fourth International has not yet arrived in Paris.
Joergensen, a middle-aged family man, was very harshly thing quite new in Denmark. took place during the action. Greger SAGERSTROEM
It seemed to be an ordinary Wednesday. [September 7]. Fall had arrived in Esbjerg, and a strong wind was blowing The threat of rain was in the air. It was exactly 6:00 a.m. in the coffeehouse in the harbor area, and a lot of dock workers were already gathered morning coffee or the day's first beer. about this morning, it was not just any
People were coming in with red in cars and buses from all over Denmark, from Fyn, from Sjaelland and Jutland. This Wednesday the workers were gathering for a fight, to fight for the release of Karl Joergensen, who had been held in detention and isolation for nearly six
He was accused of complicity in the fire at the KFK's silo on the Esbjerg docks.
Although it was still early in the morning and the demonstration would not begin until 1:00 in the afternoon, more and more Dock the most varied professions, gathered with their red banners. Today, everyone wanted to be there.
At 9:00 a.m. the trial against Karl Joergensen began in the Esbjerg courthouse. His family was there, along with a lot of his workmates. There were about sixty people in all, including the press, in the small courthouse.
Kenneth Juul-Olsen plained the rules of the proceedings. the same time, he complained that in all his 25 years on the bench he had never been subjected to so much pressure. The 12-person jury also told of heavy pressure
You had to pay a price for taking part in this class trial. The judge declared quite seriously that the campaign that had been started up for Karl Joergensen and the demonstration to be held that day had to be considered a violation of the law that says that no one can try to influence, or put pressure
The trial began and the prosecutor, Preben Alsoee, started to present his case:
"It is not my responsibility to say whether the strike was right or not. But it is my responsibility to see that Danish law was maintained throughout this confliet as well."
This Danish law obviously gave the police and other "defenders of democracy" the right to provoke, harass, and mistreat workers during the conflict!
During Jorgensen's testimony, the prosecutor was clearly irritated. Joergensen told how the police treated the workers on the docks, including in the Esbfrom the gallery, you could see how hard a time the prosecutor was having with this case, this small-time legal
He had run into more resistance than he could handle. He was faced with an honest worker, who stood fast despite all the dirty tricks and harassment he was subjected to.
With the questioning of the first chief witness, the prosecutor could see that all his charges were falling flat. The witness took back what he had said earlier.
Joergensen also showed what he was made out of. When the prosecutor turned to Karl Joergensen during the questioning of witnesses and called him by his
Joergensen refused to answer He said that his name was Karl Joergensen and henceforth the prosecutor had to
At this time, the coffeehouse was completely inundated, but you could see the outlines of the cortege. It started just
There were certainly four to thousand people marching toward There were 249 red trade-union banners from all parts of the country, followed by hundreds of ban-
The march was accompanied by music and chants over loudspeakers. was no ordinary Wednesday!
Once the cortege came into the cityhall square, speeches began.
the Schlueter government introduced a Thus, the trial against Joergensen became there surrounded by a forest of flags. Shouts echoed throughout the town: "Let Karl out, put Schlueter in! This is the Workers Wednesday!"
The trial was continuing in the courthouse. The prosecutor's No. 2 witness was on the stand. He confirmed in general what the first had said. He took back everything he had said earlier that incriminated Joergensen. He testified that the police had acted in such a way that heavy pressure had been put on him and that he just lied
He said that in the previous hearing, he had got hold of the first witness' deposition, and that he only had to follow it. He just laid it on a bit thicker, as he put it, so that no one would notice the similarity.
At this point, the prosecutor gave up The case they built up against Karl. was too weak. When his lawyer, Hans Kjellund, got up to begin questioning the witnesses, the judge stopped him. Enough had been said already. Karl Joergensen was a free man.
It was about 3:00 in the afternoon, and when the dock-workers union spokesperson, Karl Peder Pedersen came into the coffeehouse to say that Karl was free, no one believed him, and so he had to say it again. Then the celebrations began.
The assembly in the sports stadium which was supposed to be a discussion meeting with various political figures and trade-union representatives, turned into a celebration of the workers'
When Karl Joergensen came in he was greeted by two thousand people. on the benches and did not want to stop
It took some time before Karl could reach the podium. Everyone he stood there, a worker surrounded by his mates, surrounded by hundreds of
Then it started, spontaneously. The then more and more, and the "Internationale" filled the stadium.