ABSTRACT
There was an important historical precedent for the 1983 West German boycott. Many Dutch citizens had objected to the census taken in the Netherlands in 1971, and had sabotaged it in sufficient numbers to cast real doubt on the usefulness of its results. The 1983 boycott, then, was the beginning of something new in terms of the political scope the issue would eventually take on. The role of the critical press was crucial. The boycott form of protest made a great deal of sense as a general framework. Even the more typical consumer boycott may or may not succeed in damaging the target business, depending on whether the boycott participants constitute a significant portion of the normal market share for the target product or service. Some of the more mundane boycott tactics discussed in the Spring of 1983 can be seen as milder forms of this approach, for example ''accidentally'' crumpling census forms, spilling coffee on them or writing illegibly.
