APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110016-6
espoused today by a minority, this creed remains strong, especially among the young, and provides a convenient launching platform for left radical crusades. In addition, it would appear that such general Danish traits as openness and tolerance make the nation in times of crisis, vulnerable to the plots of its foes.
In largely contented Denmark, activists must tailor their approach carefully. Political repression is virtually unknown, and thus the cloak of martyrdom is denied the provocateur. Moreover, radical proposals must stand the test of reason in a free marketplace of ideas. As a consequence, protest demonstrations tend to be disciplined, small, and peaceful. Such violence as occurs is usually manifested in the form of isolated, individual acts.
Dissidence is largely confined to isolated pockets of workers and intellectuals. Occasionally professors, students, and media specialists of leftist inclinations help stir the Scandinavian tendency to make moralistic judgements, particularly against the rich and powerful. The Seaman's Union is Communist controlled, and the General and Special Workers' Union, the nation's largest, has led a turbulent existence in recent years because of strong far leftist factionalism. As other Western European countries, Denmark is also at times beset by repercussions of the Arab-Israeli situation, as partisans of both sides continue their feuds on foreign soil.
2. Subversion
Extremist movements have not prospered in Denmark. Such groups as exist are far left in the political spectrum. They constitute little danger to the state, though they presumable could act as a sabotage arm for an outside political force in the event of an international crisis. Even then, Danish security forces would have under close surveillance those organizations capable of mounting a subversive effort. Chief among the groups currently under scrutiny - now that the Socialist People's Party has become respectable and the Left Socialist Party has been eclipsed - is the small Communist Party of Denmark. In addition, certain leftist splinter groups, "peace" societies, and front organizations attract official attention by reason of their preachments and ties.
a. Communist Party of Denmark
The Communist Party of Denmark is an orthodox Moscow-oriented organization, presumably prepared in an emergency to act on orders of the Soviet Communist Party. It is subsidized by the USSR, and party chairmen Knud Jespersen is generally regarded as a stooge of the Kremlin. The party membership of 5,000 by and large constitutes a hard-core cadre of "true believers." At present it is deemed unlikely that any large number serves the Soviet intelligence apparatus. The capacity of the party to wreak mischief in other ways is always there, however, and on the basis of claimed gains in strength in 1972-1973 may be growing.
The DKP has had occasional good fortune in recent years harnessing and riding issues of some popular appeal. Its propaganda organs, for example, have struck a sympathetic chord by arguing that membership in the EC tends of subvert both Danish national independence and traditional Scandinavian ties. The Communists have also capitalized on broad Danish opposition to US policy in Vietnam through a front group "Vietnam 69," which at one time including Anker Jorgensen, subsequently Prime Minister, among its members.
Overall the DKP appears to have had only indifferent success in penetrating Danish official circles. Two Communists held minor ministries in the all-party coalition of May-November 1945, but this was the first and last government participation enjoyed by the DKP. In 1970 the party acquired its first parliamentary deputy in a decade, when Hanne Reintoft, floating from one leftist group to another, finally came to rest in the Communist camp.
Efforts in the post-World War II to infiltrate the police and military establishments foundered on the rock of official vigilance. Working from the sidelines, individual Communists doubtless have engaged in acts of espionage and sabotage, though only on a limited scale. Instances of labor unrest also have been traced to the DKP, but strenuous party efforts to capture a sizable segment of the trade union movement have on the whole had only limited success in the face of the far greater "working class" strength of the Social Democratic Party. One instance of successful DKP "common front" strategy was the marshaling of labor opposition to EC membership. In the Copenhagen area a limited integration with SFP and left-wing Social Democratic Labor elements produced a body of 100 to 200 union officials, self-styled as the "Chairman's Initiative," which, even after the accession to Denmark to the EC, continues to pursue anti-Social Democratic and anti-LO policies. In Aarhus and Odense similar far-left groups have acquired some influence in local trade union councils.
b. Communist splinter organizations
To the left of the DKP are a number of small splinter groups, all formed since the Sino-Soviet schism and none of which has participated in national
35
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110016-6
