Description

In May of 1989, on a quiet street in Copenhagen, police discovered an apartment that had served for years as a hideaway for Denmark’s most notorious 20th-century bank robbers. The members, who belonged to a communist organization and lived modest lives in the Danish capital, had, over a period of almost two decades, sent millions in stolen dollars acquired in spectacular heists to Third World liberation movements, in particular the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. One of the most puzzling and captivating chapters from the European anti-imperialist milieu of the 1970s and 1980s, Turning Money into Rebellion is the first-ever account of the story in English, covering the events from Middle Eastern capitals and African refugee camps to the group’s fateful last robbery that earned them a record haul and left a police officer dead. The book includes historical documents, illustrations, and an exclusive interview with Torkil Lauesen and Jan Weimann, two of the group’s longest-standing members. It is a compelling tale of turning radical theory into action and concerns analysis and strategy as much as morality and political practice.

About the Author

Gabriel Kuhn is a Stockholm, Sweden–based author and translator. He is the author of All Power to the Councils! A Documentary History of the German Revolution of 1918–1919 and Sober Living for the Revolution: Hardcore Punk, Straight Edge, and Radical Politics.

Praise For…

“This book is a fascinating and bracing account of how a group of communists in Denmark sought to aid the peoples of the Third World in their struggles against imperialism and the dire poverty that comes with it. The book contains many valuable lessons as to the practicalities of effective international solidarity, but just as importantly, it is a testament to the intellectual courage of the Blekingegade Group.”  —Zak Cope, author, Dimensions of Prejudice: Towards a Political Economy of Bigotry

“The story of how some pro-Palestinian activists become Denmark’s most successful bank robbers is more exciting than any thriller.”  —Åsa Linderborg, editor, Aftonbladet

"Turning Money into Rebellion should be seen as part of a political battle, but from the side of those who struggled, according to the reality with which they were presented, on the side of the oppressed." —Joshua Moufawad-Paul, Marx and Philosophy Review of Books

"In an age of Twitter and Facebook 'solidarity,' Turning Money Into Rebellion is a timely reminder that 'Solidarity is something you can hold in your hands.'" —Timothy Kerswell, Journal of Labor and Society

"It is the intersection of theory and action that transforms Turning Money into Rebellion from a historical study of an obscure Danish cadre organization into a book that anyone interested in issues of international solidarity ought to read." —Dhruv Jain, monthlyreview.org