Criminal Law Against Industrial Action

The new provision of the criminal code was directed against almost any measure intended to stop strikebreakers from working. Picketing and demonstrations should be punished as harassment and intimidating behavior. In a seminal case, the Supreme Court refused to accept that the mere fact that a large group of workers people approach those willing to work to stop them working, is not in and of itself a use of force or a threat of violence. This was followed by many lowers courts. The result was that after a few years the prosecutors realized that it was almost impossible to get a conviction in such cases. Although this was due to an interpretation of the law by the professional judges, the juries were blamed by the conservative press for acquittals, which were chastised as refusals by politically appointed jurors to apply the law. Thus, the law was perceived as politicized by both socialists and conservatives.