Jorn Andersen
Jørn Andersen, or “Jørn the eagle”, as he was affectionately called, has died at the age of 69. He collapsed on the street near his home in Copenhagen and attempts to bring him back failed.
We have lost a good friend and comrade far too soon. Jørn had not been active in revolutionary politics for a few years up to his death, but before that he had been a key member of the International Socialists (IS), from 1984 to the day of his death.
Jørn grew up on a farm just outside Glejbjerg, a small village in Jutland. After finishing school, he became an electronics mechanic apprentice at Bang & Olufsen. At B&O, Jørn learned the art of being a good workmate and at the same time being able to argue for his political position. This workplace upbringing followed him throughout his political life.
Jørn became interested in politics in the early 1970s and joined a land reform party, probably the most radical in the region. But Jørn quickly moved to the left and became a socialist, joining the Left Socialists (VS), like many young non-Stalinist socialists, in the late 1970s.
Jutland was the stronghold of the workers’ opposition within VS, which was moving rightwards. In 1984, Jørn was on the wing that left and formed the IS.
At the same time, Jørn personally began to put down roots. In 1984 he formed a couple with Dorte Lange and they had two children, Anne and Sonja.
Jørn’s ability to take the time to discuss with people, many times and into the small hours, characterised him. It was also this ability that made him eminent at building IS, but also the movements more broadly.
Jørn’s efforts in building the movement against the Iraq war in 2003 were probably the highlight of his political life. Then based in Copenhagen, he helped to form an anti-war group in the locality. He sat on the nationwide steering committee that built the largest anti-war demonstration in Denmark since the Vietnam demonstrations in the early 1970s.
Some 30,000 marched in Copenhagen against the Anders Fogh Rasmussen government’s support for Danish participation in the illegal Iraq war. The more than 100 local groups were the backbone of the “No to War” movement which, in collaboration with others on the left, produced a nationwide newspaper, and for some years was a living movement against war. Jørn was an invaluable player in this movement.
He also played a central role in organising activities around the climate summit, Cop15, in Copenhagen in 2009, not least the massive demonstration on the Global Day of Action, which gathered 100,000 participants. As chair of the preparation group for Cop15, Jørn had the task of holding together both radical climate activists and more mainstream climate organisations. His unifying instincts, and his political understanding of the united front, meant that he could hold together both the breadth and the radicality in one room. Eventually, the Social Democratic trade unions also joined. The protests at Cop15 were the largest we had seen at the time and became a turning point in the climate movement, not just in Denmark but internationally.
But he was not just a good trade union activist, a movement and party builder. He was also an excellent Marxist theorist and disseminator of theory. One of his last political contributions was a series in the newspaper Socialistisk Arbejderavis (Socialist Workers Paper) called “Socialism for Beginners”. In very few lines, Jørn was able to explain complex ideas and contradictions in simple prose that made sense.
Personally, Jørn was an introvert. But underneath this outward appearance there was a loving and caring man. Jørn could not only talk about politics, even though it was his preferred topic, but he could also provide valuable advice to friends and family if they needed it. Even though the last years of his life were not a bed of roses, physically or mentally, you were not disappointed if you took the time to find Jørn again.
In the absence of active political engagement, he rediscovered his interest in cycling and his passion for technology. He very recently bought a motorcycle, which was one of the passions of his youth, so old friends were visited by a motorised Jørn.
We, both in the International Socialists and in the IST (International Socialist Tendency), have a lot to thank Jørn for. He contributed so much and sacrificed so much of his life to the revolutionary movement. There are not many of Jørn’s kind. It has been a privilege to know him.
He was not sentimental. He would say to us if he could, “Don’t waste time mourning—organise!”
