Mass Labor Protest and Trade Union Activism in Early Post-War Copenhagen

Abstract

In the closing stages of the Second World War, a wave of labor unrest broke out all over the world. The big industrial workplaces were often the centers of the revolts. In Denmark, the two general strikes, the August Uprising (Augustoprøret) of 1943 and the People’s Strike (Folkestrejken) of 1944, were key flashpoints in this phenomenon, but the wave of labor protest continued after the end of the war. The chapter is questioning the old but still prevailing assumption of popular grievance as decisive for the success of political protest and social movements by focusing on the two biggest mass labor protests in the early post war period, the July 4 Demonstration in 1945 and the Typographical Strike in 1947. The argument goes that organization and mobilization at the meso-level need to be studied to understand mass labor protest. The analysis is mainly based on archival material from the lead actors of the two events, namely the combined union organizations at the shipyard and diesel engine manufacturer Burmeister & Wain, and the Communist-led Copenhagen branch of the Danish Typographical Union. Communist activists played key roles, but Social Democrats also took part in the protests.