"We have had such a letter movement on two occasions in Denmark when more than a quarter of the adult Danish population participated. Such an achievement, however, demands a really great effort and also a great deal of money"
About this Quote
The line reads like a modest bureaucratic brag, then pivots into a quiet warning: mass civic participation is possible, but it is never free. Bajer is pointing to Denmark’s “letter movement” not as a quaint burst of patriotic stationery, but as a disciplined technology of democracy. Getting more than a quarter of the adult population to do anything voluntarily is staggering; he treats it less as miracle than as logistics.
The phrase “such an achievement” carries a double edge. It flatters the movement’s organizers while stripping the romance away from popular will. Bajer insists that public opinion doesn’t simply appear; it has to be built, scheduled, supplied, paid for. In that sense the quote is almost anti-mystical: political energy is a product of infrastructure. Paper, postage, printing, coordination, time off work, meeting halls. Money isn’t a vulgar afterthought; it’s the condition that decides whether participation becomes a one-time surge or a repeatable practice.
Context matters. Bajer, a Danish writer and peace advocate working in an era of rising mass politics, understood that persuasion was shifting from salons and parliaments to organized publics. “Letter movement” signals an early form of networked campaigning: decentralized voices made legible through a shared action. The subtext is also strategic: if you want moral pressure to register at the level of the state, you must fund the machinery that makes collective expression unavoidable.
He’s not lamenting the cost; he’s pricing democracy honestly.
The phrase “such an achievement” carries a double edge. It flatters the movement’s organizers while stripping the romance away from popular will. Bajer insists that public opinion doesn’t simply appear; it has to be built, scheduled, supplied, paid for. In that sense the quote is almost anti-mystical: political energy is a product of infrastructure. Paper, postage, printing, coordination, time off work, meeting halls. Money isn’t a vulgar afterthought; it’s the condition that decides whether participation becomes a one-time surge or a repeatable practice.
Context matters. Bajer, a Danish writer and peace advocate working in an era of rising mass politics, understood that persuasion was shifting from salons and parliaments to organized publics. “Letter movement” signals an early form of networked campaigning: decentralized voices made legible through a shared action. The subtext is also strategic: if you want moral pressure to register at the level of the state, you must fund the machinery that makes collective expression unavoidable.
He’s not lamenting the cost; he’s pricing democracy honestly.
Quote Details
| Topic | Peace |
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