The Kingdom of the Netherlands is one of the few European countries, were Labour Day or 1 May is not a free day. Despite that social-democrats participated in Dutch governments, the first of May was never declared a free day for workers. This is mainly because the Party of Labour is not radical nor revolutionary. In coalition with liberals and conservatives, the Dutch social-democrats behaved moderate and in line with the power structures of capitalism.
Capitalism in the Netherlands
Despite what many think, the Netherlands is not a liberal leftist paradise. The country does tolerate a lot of personal freedoms, but its economic politics are driven by politicians in the service of capitalism. No Dutch government has ever dared to oppose big business, not even the government of Joop den Uyl, who is called the most leftist prime minister. After Wim Kok became leader of the social-democrats in 1986, the Party of Labour embraced the neoliberal third way and became a typical party of the bourgeoisie. Today Dutch social-democracy is no longer seen by workers as their voice in politics.
The capitalist left-wing in the Netherlands
The Party of Labour is not the only pro-capitalist ”leftist” party in the Netherlands. They have joined up with the liberal greens of GreenLeft, a party that was founded in 1991. GreenLeft is a party of liberal greens, who call for a naive mixture of eco-capitalism with Europeanism, meaning they love the European Union and its undemocratic capitalist institutions. GreenLeft is popular among the progressive bourgeoisie, but it has nothing to offer ordinary workers. The Dutch liberal greens are too willing to join a capitalist government to proof their loyalty to the establishment.
While the social democrats have embraced the capitalist system, there is a third party that claims to be leftist. This is the Socialist Party, founded in 1971 as a revolutionary Maoist party, promoting the idea of the Chinese Stalinist leader: Mao Zedong. It slowly abandoned Maoism and embraced a strange mixture of leftist populism before becoming more mainstream social-democratic by the late 1990’s. Today you can call the Socialist Party a social-democratic party with nationalist characteristics. Their propaganda is sometimes anti-capitalist, but their program is not. The leftist populists do not call for socialism nor fight for a socialist Europe. This is why the Socialist Party has not won an election since 2010.
Inequality growing due to inflation
Workers in the Netherlands were told by social-democracy not to fight too much. The Party of Labour tried to keep the workers in line by call on them to talk with their capitalist bosses instead of striking. After the rise of Wim Kok, the social-democrats told trade unionists that they had to accept austerity, deregulation and market based politics, because There Was No Alternative. This mentality wrecked the Dutch trade union movement as many workers came to the conclusion that unions did not worked in their interests. The capitalist media helped too, by portraying the unions as bureaucratic and elitist. Today only 870.000 workers are members of the Federation of Dutch Trade Unions.
After the Covid-19 crisis and the start of the War in Ukraine, the capitalist class started to increase prices for almost all products. They say that they have no choice, but we know that they just want to keep up their profits at all costs. Dutch workers are understanding that they need to fight back and the Federation of Dutch Trade Unions is willing to fight again. But what is lacking is a political vehicle as too many trade unionists remain influenced by the failed methods of social-democracy. The Netherlands also lacks a workers party on a socialist program, that fights for a socialist Netherlands as part of a voluntary European Socialist Federative Republic
Revolutionary Socialist Media 