The almighty ’’bastion of freedom of speech’’ has just exposed itself as not so free. Across the western world, students are demanding that their universities cut ties with Israeli institutions. The response from their government is that of mass arrests and police violence. In the USA over 1500 students have been arrested for protesting at university campuses. Right-wing politicians call for mass arrests and even (capitalist) social-democrats and greens use the power of the state to crush the brave students who stand up for Palestine.
Student protests at Dutch universities
Dutch students have joined their American comrades in starting massive protests at Dutch universities across the Netherlands. The response of the state is that of violence and mass arrests. While the right-wing media (De Telegraaf, PowNed, WNL) calls them ’’extremists and violent thugs’’, the reality remains that the Netherlands (like all EU nations) keep friendly relations with Israeli universities and institutions. Meanwhile the terrorist: State of Israel is ready to attack Rafah, the last free Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, which has not been attacked yet.
Western imperialism claims that Rafah is the red line Israel should not cross. But reality is that the terrorist regime is ready crossing the line, with no consequences. Western hypocrites like Joe Biden have said that Rafah is the red line and all military aid to Israel will stop, but it is unlikely that western imperialism suddenly has a change of heart. Dutch students understand the hypocrisy of the countries like the Netherlands. They are radicalised by the injustice and mass deaths caused by Israeli terrorism against Palestinian men, women and children.
GreenLeft mayor of Amsterdam in service of Israel
Femke Halsema is the mayor of Amsterdam from the GreenLeft party. She belongs to the right-wing of the liberal greens in the Netherlands. Halsema used to be party leader and moved GreenLeft away from its leftist green politics, towards accepting capitalism and western imperialism. Femke Halsema became mayor of the Dutch capital and has proven herself to be a supporter of the State of Israel. She ordered the police to crush the students, who had barracked themselves in the University of Amsterdam in protest of its friendly relations with Israeli institutions.
While the Dutch: Party of Labour is mostly pro-Israel, the GreenLeft remains divided. Its leaders are all pro-Israel, but a large percentage of its members is not. Many younger members reject the actions of the State of Israel and they have clashed with the party leadership, often getting their voices silenced in undemocratic moves to silence pro-Palestinian opinions.
A socialist alternative is the only solution
Many students favour the idea of one democratic secular country for Jews and Arabs. But the problem is that this is not possible. Even a unified socialist nation for both communities is an illusion, as Israeli workers do not feel any connection to ”Arabic” Palestine. On the other side, the Palestinians will not easily forgive the Israeli’s for the massive deaths, racism and oppression. This is why we say that Israel and Palestine must become socialist countries on the 1967 borders. Socialism will not end the hatred in one night but it can start a process of healing, if the economy is run for the majority and not a capitalist few!
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
Prince Bernhard zur Lippe-Biesterfeld of the Netherlands was a Nazi, a full member of the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP). This was already said by many, but the Prince of the Netherlands who died in 2004, always denied that he was a full Nazi. Bernhard only admitted that he was part of the Nazi SA and SS in his student years, but denied that he was ever a party member. This month, a Dutch researcher found the original NSDAP party card of Bernhard zur Lippe-Biesterfeld in his personal archive. Now we can say for sure; Bernhard was a Nazi piece of Orange monarchist shit!
Bernhard zur Lippe-Biesterfeld was born as a German noble prince on 29 June 1911. His family was the ruling House of Lippe, who ruled the Principality of Lippe inside the German Empire. When the German monarchy collapsed in 1918, the family remained wealthy thanks to the traitorous politics of the Social-democratic Party of Germany (SPD), who sided with the German ruling class against the revolutionary socialists. Bernhard remained part of the privileged elite of the instable Weimar Republic. Enjoying the wealth his family were allowed to keep thanks to the betrayal of German social-democracy.
The young Bernhard enjoyed fast cars and girls. This he would love for the rest of his life. By the late 1920’s, he was part of a far-right student club called the German Student Union, which was under full Nazi control by 1931. Hitler was not in power at that time, yet Bernhard decided to join the growing Nazi movement by joining the SA, SS and the National Socialist Motor Corps. Bernhard had no problems with the destruction of the Weimar democracy in 1933 and the banning of left-wing parties. He remained an anticommunist who loved right-wing dictatorships.
During the 1936 Winter Olympics in Nazi Germany, Bernhard met princess Juliana of Orange, daughter of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands. The Dutch queen had been searching for a suitable husband for Juliana. Bernhard zur Lippe-Biesterfeld was seen as acceptable by the deeply conservative Wilhelmina, who wanted a noble born prince for her daughter. The fact that he was a Nazi Party member did not matter. Despite his membership Bernhard was not a dogmatic believer in the Führer. He was an opportunist, who only joined to be part of the new elite after January 1933.
By the time Bernhard zur Lippe-Biesterfeld and Juliana of Orange married, he was written out as a NSDAP party member, but only because he stopped paying membership fees. The new Dutch prince did remain deeply pro-German on many issues. When Hitler invaded Poland, Bernhard believed this to be a mistake. He wanted Nazi Germany to join with western imperialism to fight the Soviet-Union. Bernhard fully turned against Germany when it invaded the Kingdom of the Netherlands on 10 May 1940. Armed with a machine gun, Bernhard and his family fled the country and went to Great Britain in exile.
It is said that only one person enjoyed the war and that was Bernhard zur Lippe-Biesterfeld. He wanted to show the western allies that he as a German (and former Nazi) was willing to fight for them. He longed more than anyone for a chance to get at the Nazi’s as Ian Lancaster Fleming said. Unfortunate for him, Queen Wilhemina forbade him from participating in the war. Despite this he flew over 1.000 hours on British Spitfires and crashed two planes. In 1944, he was made commander of the Dutch air force in exile and was loved by many Dutch pilots for his commitment.
After the war ended, some wanted Bernhard zur Lippe-Biesterfeld as the next King instead of Wilhemina. But he did not have long to wait as his wife became Queen of the Netherlands in 1948. Although he played the role of a loyal husband, Bernhard had many affairs during the war. He was not a loyal husband to Juliana. Because of the Dutch monarchist system, Bernhard zur Lippe-Biesterfeld could never become king. He was named: Prince Consort of the Netherlands after 1948 and remain so until 1980.
During the Cold War, Prince Bernhard organised the capitalists of the world against the Soviet-Union and its allies. He founded the Bilderberg Meetings, a right-wing group that is promoting free market capitalism and its interests around the globe. Bernhard was the chairman of the Bilderberg Meetings from 1954 until 1975. For his loyalty to western imperialism many capitalists tried to win him over for lucrative contracts. Lockheed was one company who bribed the corrupt Prince Consort of the Netherlands in what became known as the Lockheed scandal.
Lockheed paid Bernhard over 1,1 million dollars (now 10.000.000 dollars in value) in the hope their F-104 would become the Dutch main fighter, which it would. His bribe was exposed in 1975 and Queen Juliana threatened to abdicate if Bernhard was prosecuted. Again, social-democracy came to the rescue and saved the Dutch monarchy by not putting the corrupt prince on trial. It was the Party of Labour led by Joop den Uyl who put the monarchy above justice. Bernhard was saved, but he was forced to step down from several public positions and was forbidden to wear his military uniforms again.
Queen Juliana adducted in 1980. But her husband remained loyal to western imperialism. All in the House of Orange knew that he was unfaithful and corrupt. But these facts were not shown in public. Bernhard remained active until his wife died in 2004. He was 93 years old when he too died in the year 2004 of cancer. Right until the end, Bernhard zur Lippe-Biesterfeld denied that he was a full member of the National Socialist German Workers Party. He lied all his life about this iron fact that is now finally exposed with the official NSDAP membership card found.
Bernhard was an opportunistic liar and a corrupt monarchist in the service of western imperialism. He was praised by his war comrades, but that does not hide the fact that he lied about his Nazi past and his support for Adolf Hitler as a student. Revolutionary socialists therefore denounce him as an ex-Nazi scum who switched sides out of opportunism. That is the real face of Bernhard zur Lippe-Biesterfeld, enemy of the working class and former member of the NSDAP, SA, SS and National Socialist Motor Corps!
The Netherlands will go towards a general election in November this year. After ruling for 13 years, prime minister Mark Rutte wil no longer be the front runner for the right-wing People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). Rutte led different coalitions, but all in the service of Dutch capitalism. Under his leadership the gap between the rich and the poor grew larger and larger. Today many poor need food banks and many students cannot afford to rent a room. Prices have risen very hard since 2020 leaving many in insecurity. The general election for the Second Chamber (parliament) unfortunate will not be an improvement for working class Dutch.
The Netherlands is not one of the worst places to live. But Dutch society is very much driven by individualism and capitalism. It is expected from an individual to take care of him/herself, the (capitalist) government it not there to help working class people. Reality is that many do not dare to ask for help. This is mainly because the government can react very hostile, when it comes to benefits. They are forced by law to help the poor, but many poor fear the government due to stigmatisation. Between 2005 and 2019, the Dutch government also took a racist look on those who needed childcare benefits.
The Dutch childcare benefits scandal in 2019 exposed this institutionalised racism. It was discovered that the right-wing government of Mark Rutte had wrongly accused an estimated 26.000 parents of making fraudulent benefit claims, requiring them to pay back the allowances they had received in their entirety. Many ended up in massive debts because they could not pay the government back. It also led to fear in society and not daring to ask for benefits. The childcare benefits scandal happend under the eyes of the Party of Labour (PvdA) which was in a ruling coalition with the neoliberal VVD.
There are over 16 political parties in the Second Chamber of the States General, the parliament of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The biggest are the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), Democrats 66 (D66), Party for Freedom (PVV) and the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). The established left-wing is very weak. Only 27 out of 150 are under control of self called left-wing parties. Social-democracy is divided in one mainstream social-democratic party, one green party and one leftist populist party.
The Party of Labour (PvdA) is the main social-democratic party. It used to be a moderate left-wing party, until it accepted neoliberalism by the late 1980’s. GreenLeft grew out of a leftist coalition between the Pacifist Socialist Party, the Communist Party of the Netherlands and the Political Party Radicals. Despite the anti-capitalist origins of two founding members, GreenLeft today is not fighting for a green socialist alternative. It is a capitalist party that believes in a regulated green market economy.
For a long time the Socialist Party (SP) was seen as the most left-wing party. It was born as a Maoist party in 1972. It never officially denounced Maoism and Stalinism, but it slowly evolved into a social-democratic party by the late 1990’s. Because it abandoned its Maoist sectarianism, it was partially able to fill the gap on the left-wing spectrum, after the PvdA turned right-wing under Wim Kok. Under Jan Marijnissen (1986-2008), the SP grew massively. However it never was able to provide a socialist alternative and started to stagnate and losing elections, due to their reformism and willingness to work with the establishment.
Next to the big three are two others who also play on leftist voters. You have the Party for the Animals (PvDD) and BIJ1 (Together1). The Party for the Animals started out as a party that only cared about animal welfare, but it evolved into a more radical version of GreenLeft. BIJ1 is a party based on radical equality and economic justice. It is the only left-wing party that wishes to replace capitalism. The problem with both PvDD and BIJ1 is that they do not speak of socialism as the alternative, neither does the established left-wing.
The far-right is represented by many parties in the Second Chamber. Geert Wilders is fighting for Dutch nationalism since leaving the VVD in 2004. Wilders is the only member of the Party for Freedom (PVV), a open racist party that wishes to ban anything related to Islam. Another far-right party is the Forum for Democracy (FvD) led by Trump/Putin support Thierry Baudet. This far-right party actively opposes climate change, LGBTQI rights and embraces conspiracy theories. Baudet openly admitted that he supports Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. The PVV and FvD can build on the massive anger towards the establishment as the Dutch left-wing does not dare to fight for socialism!
For the elections in November, a new party is set to win seats in parliament. New Social Contract is the party of former CDA member Pieter Omtzigt. This Christian democrat co-exposed the childcare benefits scandal in 2019 and left the Christian Democratic Appeal. Omtzigt is supported because (unlike mainstream capitalist politicians) he is seen as a man of integrity. We revolutionary socialists do not think that Pieter Omtzigt is a alternative. New Social Contract is a capitalist party, but due to the massive confusion and anger could win the rebel vote.
After Mark Rutte, the old politics is not yet dead. And the new one is not yet born. In the short term, it is about defending our interests as hard as possible. The lack of manpower and confusion among the opposition increases our chances, if we take a clear course. Socialism is the only answer to the confusion that now characterises capitalism. Young people are already radicalising against capitalism. Experiences of Stalinism and social democracy often still create confusion. But during struggles, that confusion can give way to a socialist consciousness.
The Socialist Party in the Netherlands has now fully joined the established capitalist ”left” camp. From the early 1970’s until the late 1980’s, the SP was a dogmatic Stalinist party. Praising Mao Zedong and the Marxist-Leninist model. The party moved away from Marxism-Leninism (Stalinism) but never openly renounced it. In fact the Socialist Party dropped all references to their Stalinist origins and by the 1990’s, the SP had become a leftist populist party, positioning themselves to the left of social democracy.
Daan Monjé is a unknown name among the 32.496 members of the Socialist Party (SP) in the Netherlands. Only the older generation who were part of the SP between 1972 and 1986 remember the pipefitter from Rotterdam, who was expelled from the Communist Party of the Netherlands. Monjé supported the Chinese during the Sino-Soviet split and was kicked out of the main Stalinist party for supporting Mao. He founded the Marxist-Leninist Center in the Netherlands, which was remained Kommunist Party of the Netherlands (Marxist-Leninist) and then Socialist Party in 1972.
Although Daan Monjé was the absolute leader of the party, he was not the face of the SP. He stayed in the shadows and used his business skills to make money. Hans van Hooft Sr. was the official chairman of the SP since 1972, but Daan Monjé was the actual leader as van Hooft followed his orders and commands. By the mid 1980’s, Monjé lost power as his health declined. During the famous British mine strike, he send food packages to the strikers although the SP had not decided to do that.
In 1986, Monjé died at the age of 60. He was succeeded by Jan Marijnissen who had been the political face of the SP since 1978. After also becoming political leader, Marijnissen started to abandoned most Marxist-Leninist dogma’s. By the 1990’s, the Socialist Party had become a populist left-wing party who did not even speak of socialism. The ideal of building a socialist society was no longer a core issue. The new party program of 1999 did not mention the expropriation nor nationalization of the means of production.
Despite the social-democratization of the Socialist Party, the removal of its Stalinist ideology was welcomed by many left-wingers. Because the Party of Labour (PvdA) had abandoned its social-democratic ideology for neoliberalism, the SP was able to win votes and could enter the Dutch parliament in 1994. It also won more seats in the next elections, because the PvdA ruled in a neoliberal way together with the liberals of the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and Democrats 66 (D66).
Revolutionary socialists of the Offensive group (Dutch section of the Committee for a Workers International) joined the Socialist Party in 1998. They rightfully saw that the SP was winning support among working class people. Although the Stalinist ideology was gone, Offensive members realized that the top-down structures of Stalinism remained. Jan Marijnissen and his ex-Stalinists did not welcome socialist ideas. They wanted the SP to move towards the centre, to become an acceptable partner for the capitalist establishment.
Marijnissen had been the public face of the party since 1978 and ruled in a authoritarian way. It was impossible for genuine socialists to challenge the reformist course as party congresses were more public shows then actual debate moments. The SP moved more to the centre after the huge victory in November 2006. Back then the party won 25 seats and in the year 2007 it was able to welcome it’s 50.000 member. The capitalist establishment called for the SP to join a coalition government with the parties of capitalism and Jan Marijnissen was willing to do that.
The Christian Democratic Appeal and the Party of Labour were very sceptical. They did not wanted to work with a party that claimed to oppose capitalism in the past. The conservatives and social democrats did not wanted to work with Marijnissen, who was blamed in the media for not abandoning more SP ideas in order to join the capitalist government of the Netherlands. Marijnissen then tried to appeal to the social democrats and failed as the PvdA did not wanted to work with the SP. Then in 2008, Jan Marijnissen left the office of political leader to Anges Kant.
Kant was unable to be a charismatic leader. She had been a loyal follower of Marijnissen but unable to lead the SP. Under her leadership, the Socialist Party lost 10 of her 25 seats in the 2010 parliamentary elections. It was also under the leadership of Agnes Kant that the SP started a witch hunt against Offensive, the revolutionary socialist group. People like Marijnissen and Kant never liked the criticism of Offensive. Although a small group, Offensive was loud and their socialist ideas were in direct opposition to the reformist social-democratic party line.
The SP leaders branded Offensive a ”political party”, by doing so they could ban Offensive members from also being SP members. This was a bureaucratic manoeuvre because Offensive was never a actual political party. It had around forty members, but its ideas were far more dangerous to the reformist SP leaders then the actual size of the group. Offensive was kicked out of the SP, it would not be the last tendency to be branded a ”political party” in order to get expelled.
Agnes Kant was replaced by Emile Roemer in 2010 after losing the election. Roemer was a nice schoolteacher but not a socialist. Although a SP member since 1980, he seemed to have abandoned all ideas of Marx and Lenin like Jan Marijnissen. Emile Roemer tried to follow the line of appealing to social democracy, but again the PvdA refused. The weak SP leader failed to be seen as the left-wing opposition voice to Mark Rutte, the neoliberal leader of the VVD and prime minister since 2010. Instead the right-wing leader of the Party of Labour was portrayed by the capitalist media as the only leftist choice.
Although the SP did not lost seats in the 2012 elections, the PvdA did win voters. These voters should not have gone to a capitalist party like the PvdA. In the end, the social democrats joined a right-wing government with the liberals and PvdA voters were betrayed. Again Emile Roemer failed to capitalize on this fact. In the 2017 general election, the SP lost another seat and ended up with 14 seats in the House of Representatives.
Lilian Marijnissen is the daughter of Jan Marijnissen. She replaced Emile Roemer in 2017 after the schoolteacher gave up. Like her father, Lilian is not a socialist and proofed this when she launched a witch-hunt against the left opposition inside the SP. Because there was criticism and a growing socialist tendency among new young socialists. The youth of the SP was organized in RED – Young in the SP. Inside the youth section, Marxist ideas were debated. This was acceptable as long as it remained there. But the Marxist wing grew and soon the Communist Platform became the next target of the party leaders.
Since 2014, the Communist Platform was working to spread its ideas inside the Socialist Party. Because it was small at first, it could operate freely. However the small group got louder when RED members were won over to its ideas. Members of the Communist Platform (CP) had set up the Marxist Forum (MF) to debate revolutionary Marxism, which alarmed the leaders who feared a take over. Both the CP and MF were branded as ”political parties” and then banned. However inside RED a rebellion started when the SP youth elected a leader who was expelled for being a member of the CP.
RED refused to bow to Lilian Marijnissen and the anti-communist secretary: Arnout Hoekstra. Ironically, Hoekstra had been praised by RED in the past, for being a ”Marxist”. In reality, Arnout Hoekstra was never a supporter of Marx. Together with Lilian Marijnissen and party chairwoman Jannie Visscher, he launched the witch-hunt and claimed that Communist Platform members were ”dangerous communists” who stand for a violent revolution. This anti-communist purge led to the full expulsion of RED as the youth group of the Socialist Party.
Purges also happened in Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Utrecht. The expelled SP members set up new socialist parties. In Rotterdam they build Socialists 010, Democratic Socialists Amsterdam was build in the capital and Socialists Utrecht also was set up. However the new socialist parties failed to win seats in the municipality elections, this mainly due to the very low turn-out and the fact that they are very young parties. The Socialist Party lost 107 seats in local municipality councils, reducing its political strength even more.
Now in March 2022, the SP is on the same level as it was before 2003. Twenty years of work has been destroyed because of people like Jan Marijnissen, Agnes Kant, Emile Roemer, Lilian Marijnissen and their loyal puppets like Jannie Visscher and Arnout Hoekstra. Out of the 50.740 members in 2007, only 32.496 remain as of 2022. In 15 years, 18.244 people turned away from the SP. Revolutionary socialists think that a majority left because the SP did not offer them a genuine alternative. Yes, there were high hopes after November 2006, but the reformist leaders did not build on that.
Socialist Alternative (the successor of the Offensive group) has come to accept that the SP is now lost. The expelled members need to work together to build a new broad workers party. Although the new socialist parties have not yet won seats, there is potential for a genuine socialist party. The Party of Labour, GreenLeft and Socialist Party are the established capitalist left-wing in the Netherlands. Portrayed as ”leftist” by the establishment, while in reality they accept the monarchy, the bourgeois state, the market dictatorship, NATO and the EU, institutions any genuine socialist must reject.
It is now time to build a socialist alternative to these three pseudo-leftist parties. Socialist Alternative, the Dutch section of International Socialist Alternative is working closely with the new socialist parties and calls on all workers to join them, in building a broad workers party on a socialist program.
In Berlin, a majority called for the expropriation of large landowners and housing speculators. Although the capitalist media and establishment vilified the referendum on expropriation, over 56% voted in favour. A three year campaign resulted in this victory at the ballot. Socialist Alternative in Germany (International Socialist Alternative) participated in the referendum and calls on workers and youth to keep fighting. Because if they trust capitalist politicians, then the outcome will be completely ignored. In the Netherlands there is also a housing crisis. Rents are sky high and house prices are on the rise. In Amsterdam and Rotterdam there have been protests and Socialist Alternative in the Netherlands participated in them.
For many working class people in Europe, it becomes too difficult to live in a major city or capital. The reasons are clear, house prices are high and rents also. Working class people cannot afford the housing prices or the rents. In the city of Amsterdam, renting a house can start with 700 and go up to 1500 euro’s a month. Since most Dutch workers earn a salary between 1800 and 2500 euro’s after taxes, many cannot afford to rent a house. Buying houses used to be more popular and possible. But Dutch houses have always been more expensive. In the Netherlands house prices rose with 17,8% compared to 2020. Since 2012, the prices for houses have increased with 78%.
Germany has the same problem. In the German capital of Berlin, few workers can afford a house of their own. Because the local government sold most houses to private landlords and speculators, rents have increased very hard since 2002. Ironically it was a ”left-wing” city government that sold off public houses to capitalists in order to increase funding for the capital. Revolutionary socialists have opposed this since the beginning. However social democrats of the Social-democratic Party of Germany, the ex-Stalinists of the Party of Democratic Socialism and the greens from Alliance 90/The Greens, decided to sell off houses rather then keeping them under state ownership.
This was a time of neoliberal dogmatism. State ownership of anything was called outdated and ineffective by free market fundamentalists. Social democrats and greens decided to go with this fundamentalist dogma and abandoned what little left-wing ideas they had. The former Stalinists who ruled East-Germany desperately wanted to proof that they could govern under capitalism. Under the leadership of Gregor Gysi, the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) entered a coalition government with the right-wing social democrats and greens in Berlin. The PDS then agreed on selling public houses which was a huge outrage among workers. It led to a massive election defeat for the PDS.
In 2018, the results of the SPD, PDS and B90 decision was clear. Berlin became unaffordable for most working class Germans. A campaign was started to expropriate all large landlords who own more then 3.000 houses. The capitalist political parties and the media hated this campaign and opposed it. They used all dirty tricks to scare Berliners from voting YES. One lie was that poverty would increase if capitalist house owners would lose their property. The Social-democratic Party of Germany also opposed the expropriation idea. The Left Party (successor of the PDS) supported the YES camp as did the Alliance 90/The Greens, they were supported by the young social democrats who defied their mother party by joining the YES side.
On the NO camp was next to the SPD, the other parties of German capitalism. Christian democrats from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) opposed the expropriation as did the liberals of the Free Democratic Party (FDP). Far-right nationalists of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) also stood by the NO camp and the landlords. The Left Party was able to win more support because they supported the popular referendum. By using socialist methods the YES campaign did win with 56% of all voters voting YES. The Left lost the parliamentary election, but won support in Berlin. This proofs that the party can win support and voters if they dare to oppose the establishment, which nationally the Left Party failed to do.
In the Netherlands, Socialist Alternative supported two major protests against house shortages and high rents. A reason for the housing crisis is the scrapping of old houses and replacing them with modern yet expensive homes. Old working class neighbourhoods are scrapped and replaced with homes too expensive for workers to live in. In Amsterdam and Rotterdam this policy is carried out with support from the established ”left-wing”, the Party of Labour (PvdA), GreenLeft and Socialist Party (SP). The SP maybe a junior member of the Amsterdam city government, but they are part of the ruling coalition and share co-responsibility.
We revolutionary socialists support the expropriation of landlords who own more then 3.000 houses. Compensation is to be paid on grounds of proven need. Most capitalists will not receive any compensation because most houses in Berlin are owned by only five real estate companies, who own thousands of homes. The German Democratic Republic had public houses with low rents. After Stalinist East Germany joined the capitalist Federal Republic of Germany, the city government of Berlin suddenly had many houses. They sold some to East Germans or starters in the 1990’s. But after 2002, the coalition of SPD/PDS/B90 decided to sell the remaining public homes to speculators and the real estate sector.
Under capitalism it is difficult if not impossible to force expropriation down on capitalists. The ruling class has build the system and they own most (if not all) elected politicians. We know that the candidate of the social democrats for the upcoming municipality election in Berlin, has clearly said that she does not support the expropriation. With the right-wing also refusing to carry out the demand of the referendum, it is clear that the real battle will be in the streets of the capital. This is why Socialist Alternative in both Germany and the Netherlands has participated in the battle for affordable homes and rents. For us the battle is linked to the global struggle of working class people, against the injustice that is the capitalist system!
The elections in the Netherlands have resulted for another defeat of the established ”left-wing”. Both the social democrats of the Party of Labour (PvdA) and Socialist Party (SP) preformed bad. Worse, the SP lost massive and is even more reduced to a minor political force. GreenLeft (GL) was also defeated as many of its voters choose for Democrats 66, a social-liberal party. This election is a huge victory for the bourgeoisie and the Dutch government. Liberals and conservatives will be able to rule on for another four years. They will force the bill of Covid-19 on the working class now that billions are spend to save big business. Those billions have to be repaid and the ruling class always demands that workers pay for it. Revolutionary socialists are not surprised by the lose of social democracy. The SP with their witch-hunt against Marxists and the SP youth section has alienated many leftist voters.
For 11 years now the Socialist Party (SP) in the Netherlands is in decline. In 2007 the party had 25 seats out of 150 in the Dutch parliament and 50.000 members. Many hoped with the SP that there would be a alternative build to the pro-capitalist social democrats of the Party of Labour (PvdA) and GreenLeft (GL), both who had accepted capitalism. But the SP leadership had other plans. Jan Marijnissen who led the party since 1986, wanted to participate in a coalition government. He praised the Norwegian: Socialist Left Party (SV), who had done what Marijnissen wanted. Like the SV, the Dutch SP had this misguided idea that they could reform capitalism. So Jan Marijnissen wanted to join the government. But the conservatives of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and social democrats did not trusted an activist like Marijnissen. The SP was kept out of the government.
The Norwegian SV was punished for participating in a capitalist government. They never managed to regain the number of voters they got in 2001. Instead of learning from the mistakes made by the moderate socialists in Norway, Jan Marijnissen went on to social democratize the Socialist Party. Then in 2008, he stepped down as parliamentary leader. Agnes Kant replaced Marijnissen and under her failed leadership, the SP started to decline. She was quickly replaced by schoolteacher Emile Roemer for the 2010 elections. Roemer was a nice guy, but he lacked the spirit to fight. The party lost 10 seats in the elections, yet the reformist leadership refused to see its errors. Emile Roemer led the SP into a stagnation and between 2010 and 2017 over 5.000 members left the party.
Revolutionary socialists warned the Socialist Party that their failed attempts to become accepted as a coalition partner for the ruling class, would not sit well with their electorate. Instead of listening the SP under Jan Marijnissen started a witch hunt against the Marxist group Offensief (Offensive) in 2009. Offensief members were forced to choose between the party and their ideals. Some joined the SP others remained principled and were expelled. In the cities of Amsterdam and Arnhem, the Socialist Party joined local governments with either the neoliberals, social democrats or conservatives. This alienated so many that the SP became seen as ”just another party” not working in the interests of working class people.
Now in 2021, the SP will hit another historic low. Five seats have been lost as the established left-wing in the Netherlands is at its weakest. Social democracy (PvdA) remains weak with only 9 out of 150 seats. GreenLeft is also reduced to nine seats and the SP also got nine seats in the new parliament. The neoliberals of the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and Democrats 66 (D66) are the winners. However despite what you might think, they won the elections using leftist rhetoric. Even the VVD claimed they wanted to increase the minimum wage. D66 used progressive propaganda and they had a charismatic woman to lead them. Left-wing voters were fooled and many fell for the trap of D66, who has carried out austerity and cuts since the 1990’s.
The Party of Labour did not win or lose any seat. But for the social democrats this is another historic defeat. Despite their use of left-wing propaganda, the PvdA has not won anything. We understand this result, because the social democrats carried out austerity under the second Mark Rutte cabinet between 2012 and 2017. The racist: Dutch childcare benefits scandal, was carried out under PvdA leadership in the Ministry of Social Services. GreenLeft suffered the same fate as the SP. Its pro-capitalist leaders also desperately wanted to govern under capitalism, this alienated them from their base who did not wanted this. It is a trap many reformist leftists fall in. Governing under capitalism means that left-wing parties have to accept that they cannot change anything fundamental.
Joining capitalist governments means that you accept the ruling class, the ruling system. Capitalist governments are here to uphold the principals of the market economy. When a leftist party joins a coalition government under capitalism they are co-responsible for all politics that harm the working class. The Dutch neoliberals won this elections because there was no genuine alternative to them. Working class people also were misled by the progressive propaganda employed by the neoliberals of both VVD and D66. The far-right in the Netherlands won and lost. The anti-Islamic: Party for Freedom (PVV) lost three seats, yet the Forum for Democracy (FvD) won six. FvD is a Covid-19 denial party. They deny the danger of the virus and won many supporters because of their willingness to deny reality and facts.
FvD was exposed in 2020 as a far-right party who’s leader made racist remarks on closed WhatsApp groups. However the Covid-19 crisis allowed the party won voters. FvD campaigned on ending the Dutch lockdown and opening all shops. The Netherlands is in a lockdown since December 2020, due to rising numbers of infected people with Covid-19. FvD leader Thierry Baudet knew he needed something new to win supporters. The lockdown gave him that as millions desperately want an end to the restrictive rules. Baudet denies the virus is dangerous, he compares it to the common flu. This denialism makes him popular with those Dutch who believe in conspiracy theories about Covid-19. While the PVV supported strict measures FvD opposed them, winning the far-right vote.
The elections on 17 March 2021 are a victory of the ruling class and government in the Netherlands. It is a major defeat for the established left-wing and it proofs our criticism of the SP. Their drive for parliamentarism and social democratization has now led them back to their 2003 level of seats and support. Dutch workers need a socialist alternative and neither the PvdA, GL and SP have been willing to fight for it. This is the sad reality of the situation in the Netherlands. With the Dutch trade unions electing a reformist SP member as its leader, it seems that even the unions are not willing to fight back against the ruling class and their politicians. Working class Dutch need to prepare for the worst, because the costs of Covid-19 (billions) will be forced on them. Austerity and cuts will continue on, with the established left-wing unable to stop them.
Socialist Alternative – ISA in the Netherlands has said that there is willing to fight back. Young Dutch have stood up for the climate and injustice. Covid-19 rules prevent mass demonstrations, but there is willingness to fight. What all the social movements lack is a clear understanding that capitalism is the main problem. With no workers party to combine the social movements for a socialist alternative, many remain trapped with the established left-wing. Social democrats, greens and moderate socialists are now so weak they cannot offer anything. If the SP is to grow again, it must become a party of activism and struggle. However 10 years of stagnation and pure parliamentary work has shown us that it is unlikely the SP will learn. 20.000 members have walked away since 2007 because of this.
SP leader Lilian Marijnissen (daughter of Jan Marijnissen) has supported the purges against Marxist SP members and she did not stop the witch hunt against RED (ROOD), the former youth section that was cut off from the mother party. Her father may have made the SP big between 1986-2007, but his reformist politics also gave way to his social democratic successors. Emile Roemer and Lilian Marijnissen have wreaked the Dutch left-wing with their failed attempts to transform the SP into a mainstream social democratic party. We hope that the next Mark Rutte 4 cabinet will have a short life. However it will not go down that easily. Mass movements are needed and a political party, willing to fight for a alternative to the current capitalist system of racism, injustice, exploitation and climate destruction.
In about two weeks there will be elections for the Dutch parliament (Tweede Kamer). Despite that 37 political parties participate in this election, none offer a socialist alternative out of the Covid-19 crisis. The Dutch have a variety of parties, from far-right nationalists to neoliberals, greens, social democrats and animal rights advocates. But none of them are willing to brake with the system that causes injustice and oppression for working class people. None dare to say that capitalism is the problem and must be replaced by socialism. The only two parties on the left-wing who oppose the sharp edges of capitalism are the moderate Socialist Party and BIJ1, a party that supports multiculturalism and antiracism.
The Netherlands is a country in northern Europe with 17 million people. It is a parliamentary monarchy with a king. The Dutch parliament is called the Tweede Kamer or Second Chamber, with the Senate acting as First Chamber (Eerste Kamer). Mid March the elections will result a new parliament and a new government. The right-wing coalition of Mark Rutte will probably return to rule the Netherlands. Rutte is prime minister of the kingdom since 2010. He is a member of the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). The VVD is the largest party in the Tweede Kamer and the most capitalistic of all Dutch political parties. It is a right-wing neoliberal party promoting free markets, deregulation and market based politics.
Unlike other countries, the Netherlands does not have a two party system. The VVD maybe the largest in the number of seats, but they do not have a majority. This is why the neoliberals need coalition partners. Right-wing Christian conservatives and social-liberals make up the current coalition. Mark Rutte is supported by the
People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) – Main neoliberal party
Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) – Main conservative party, although only Christian in name
Democrats 66 (D66) – Social liberals on paper, in reality a neoliberal party like the VVD
Christian Union (CU) -More Christian ”social-conservative” then the CDA
The opposition in parliament is a mixture of right-wing nationalists, Christian fundamentalists, social democrats, moderate socialists and greens.
Party of Labour (PvdA) – Pseudo social democratic party that has worked with Rutte between 2012 and 2017
Socialist Party (SP) – A moderate socialist party that lacks a socialist program
GreenLeft (GL) – Green party that believes in tolerance and green capitalism
Party for Freedom (PVV) – Right-wing nationalist party, deeply anti-Muslim and racist
THINK (DENK)– A party that is progressive on migrant issues but conservative on many social issues
Forum for Democracy (FvD) – A right-wing nationalist racist party build on the Donald Trump model
Reformed Political Party (SGP) – Christian fundamentalists
Party for the Animals (PvdD) – A party that promotes animal welfare
In total over 37 political parties plan on participating the elections held on 17 March 2021. For working class people, the election outcome will not be good. The VVD is likely to remain the largest party. Due to Covid-19, the turnout might be lower. Around 70% of all Dutch voters come and vote, this year the percentage might be less. In any case the right-wing will win, because the established left-wing offers no socialist alternative. PvdA and GL have demonstrated that they are capitalist parties and do not oppose the market dictatorship.
The Socialist Party or SP is in decline since 2010. They won big in 2006, but have failed to provide a clear socialist alternative for 16 years. The party is social-democratic in its program and even nationalist, since they lack a internationalist vision. On issues such a racism, the SP remains silent. It does not support the Black Lives Matter protests and has not spoken out against blackfacing in the Netherlands. The SP started out as a Maoist party in the 1970’s, but grew into a populist left-wing party in the 90’s.
Today the SP has become a mainstream party, this is why its electorate is shrinking with each election. Many have left the Socialist Party since 2007. Over 20.000 decided to quite due to the inability of leaders to promote the SP as something better then the established Party of Labour (PvdA). Revolutionary socialists have now said for years that the decline of the Socialist Party is mainly because the party leaders are reformist and do not put socialism forward as a alternative.
In the USA, the Democratic Socialists of America grew from 6.000 members in 2016, to over 80.000 in 2020. Meanwhile the Dutch: Socialist Party went from 50.000 members in 2007 to around 30.000 members in 2021. There is need for a alternative to the rotten capitalist politics. But the established left-wing fails again and again to provide on. This is why the far-right is winning ground. Geert Wilders and his Party for Freedom (PVV) are active in parliament since 2006. His PVV does not have members, Wilders is the only member and supreme leader.
Another far-right party is the Forum for Democracy (FvD). While Wilders is mainly against Muslims and their religion, the FvD is building a genuine far-right movement. 40.000 Dutch have joined Thierry Baudet’s party since 2016. However the far-right Forum was exposed in late 2020 as deeply racist. Baudet himself said in a WhatsApp chat that Europeans had the highest IQ and Africans the lowest. This racist pseudo-science is popular with the far-right. It was used by western countries to justify their colonialist conquest of Africa. Thierry Baudet is a supporter of that period, when the Dutch had a colonial empire.
Socialist Alternative – ISA in the Netherlands, believes that the next Dutch government will not change from the current. Although Mark Rutte is now using some leftist slogans to win supporters, we do not trust anything he says. Social democrats of the PvdA are also using left-wing language, although they were key supporters of Rutte between 2012 and 2017. Social democracy in the Netherlands is as traitorous as they are elsewhere. Socialist Alternative is therefore calling on Dutch workers to vote on one of three parties we say are the best choice for the Dutch working class.
We say vote:
Socialist Party, because despite the failings of the party leadership, there are many active members fighting for workers rights
Together1 (Bij1), a left-wing multicultural party that is fighting racism, colonialism and claims to be anti-capitalist
Party for the Animals, although liberal on economic issues, the PvdD is clear on the need for climate change and the environment
The party council of the ”Socialist” Party had decided that the SP leaders were right to cut off financial support to RED, their youth section. RED elected a Marxist leader in November, who was expelled from the SP. The party council has stated that they will set up an investigation commission to find out why the SP and RED drove apart. Revolutionary socialists can answer that easily. The ”Socialist” Party is a party that does not tolerate organized opposition to their reformist pro-capitalist agenda. Leaders like Lilian Marijnissen and the party bureaucracy around main secretary Arnout Hoekstra, are deeply anti-Marxist and reject any revolutionary socialist ideas. They use the Communist Platform/Marxist Forum inside the SP to launch a witch hunt against the party’s left-wing. With the elections coming in March 2021, its is clear the SP will degenerate ever more into a bourgeois social-democratic force with nationalist characteristics.
RED was the main youth section of the SP from 2003 until 2020. The youth section was linked to the mother party, which is not typical for Dutch political youth organisations. ”Young Socialists inside the Party of Labour” (social democrats) and ”Youth Organisation Freedom and for Democracy” (neoliberals) are independent of their mother parties. RED however was never an independent youth organization, its members were automatic also SP members. The youth section of the ”Socialist” Party was never big. Out of 1100 members only around 100 are politically active in cities like Amsterdam and Rotterdam. However RED has become a center of opposition to the pro-capitalist direction of the SP. The Communist Platform and Marxist Forum were instrumental in turning many RED members towards revolutionary socialism.
This is not what leaders like Lilian Marijnissen wanted. She is the daughter of icon Jan Marijnissen. Her father oversaw the transformation of the SP from a Marxist-Leninist party in the 1980’s, into a social democratic nationalist party. Jan Marijnissen joined the SP in 1971, back then the party was sectarian Maoist called: Communist Party of the Netherlands/Marxist-Leninist. A year later the name of the party was changed to Socialist Party. Revolutionary Marxism was never officially denounced, it was simply replaced with social democratic thinking. In 1999, the party program dropped all references to typical socialist demands like the nationalization of the means of production. This can be seen as the start of the social democratization process. Because the Party of Labour betrayed the Dutch workers over and over, the SP was able to profit from it.
In November 2006 the SP won 25 seats out of 150 in the Dutch parliamentary elections. The capitalist media was skeptic and claimed the SP would never dare to take ”governing responsibility”. Jan Marijnissen tried to prove his party could be a loyal coalition partner to bourgeois parties like the conservative Christian Democratic Appeal. But the social democratic PvdA and conservative CDA did not wanted to govern with Marijnissen. Instead a typical capitalist government was formed under Jan Peter Balkenende of the CDA. His cabinet was made up of the fully capitalist: Party of Labour (PvdA) and the smaller: Christian Union. Balkenende was a typical right-wing leader, who promoted capitalism and American imperialism. In 2011, the neoliberals of the VVD took power under Mark Rutte. The SP was by then reduced in parliament, losing 10 of their 25 seats.
Emile Roemer led the SP from 2010 until 2017. He failed to present the ”Socialist” Party as a alternative. Instead Roemer desperately tried to turn the SP into a second PvdA, a moderate social democratic party. This strategy failed as more and more SP members left the party. 18.000 left between 2007 and 2020, because the party leaders failed to win elections. The youth section of the SP became more critical. In 2020 they openly criticized party leader Lilian Marijnissen, who said on national television that she would join a capitalist government, even with the neoliberals of Mark Rutte (prime minister). This criticism was not tolerated by the party bureaucracy of Arnout Hoekstra. A deeply anticommunist, Hoekstra started a witch hunt and used the Communist Platform and Marxist Forum as scapegoats.
Six SP members were expelled early November 2020. The SP leaders argued that they were members of the Communist Platform (CP). This has not been proven as the CP has no official members. The platform is only used to spread Marxist ideas. Because the SP has a history of not tolerating organized opposition, those who wrote for the CP do not use their real names. At the RED leadership election last month, Olaf Kemerink was elected as RED leader. Kemerink is a Marxist and expelled from the SP because the party leaders claim he is a member of the CP. In their report to the party council, the SP leaders showed that they used methods that are not only undemocratic but also remember us of criminal spy groups like the CIA. SP leaders spied on their members.
The Communist Platform wrote on their site:
To make clear that the disbarred people are indeed involved in the Communist Platform and / or the Marxist Forum, the party administration presents a list of screenshots. These screenshots show how author pages exist on the Marxist Forum website and a number of other websites under the first names of five of the disbarred.
Communist Platform was already aware that the party administration had this information. In the logs on our own systems we were able to find out how these pages were found. An attempt was made to find out whether they had an account for nearly a hundred names. This does not only concern the people who have now been expelled, but many active members of the Socialist Party, including members of the Lower House, Provincial Council members, party employees, department chairmen, all RED contact persons and many executives of the party.
The party board pretends that this is public information. This is certainly not the case. This information cannot be found by clicking around the website. It can only be found by trying out names and seeing if an author page existed for it. So for weeks people have scanned various websites based on a black list of almost a hundred critical members. Several times per member were tried to find an author page, by writing the name in different ways, abbreviating it, trying different combinations of first name and last name, or even combining it with other names in the case of couples.
Until now, among others, party secretary Arnout Hoekstra has claimed to the party council that all the research methods used are completely legal. This is a lie: Communist Platform has sought independent legal advice confirming that these practices are not only reprehensible, but illegal. The executive committee is in fact guilty of lying to the highest organ of the party, presumably to protect its own position.
The party council however has fully agreed with the undemocratic actions of the SP leaders. This is not a surprise, it confirms that a majority of the ”Socialist” Party supports the line of the leaders. A commission set up by the SP leaders will only confirm what they claim, that RED is corrupted by the Communist Platform and Marxist Forum. That ”dangerous communist” ideas have infiltrated the SP and that the leadership needed to intervene. RED as the youth section of the SP is now death. Those 100 RED activists who are the most active have no future with the SP. The other 1000 inactive RED members can remain SP members. A youth coordinator and money has been provided by the party council, to integrate their youth into the SP, abandoning RED in the process.
RED as a independent socialist group can survive, if its members choose to defy the pro-capitalist SP leaders. A defeat of the SP in the upcoming elections will show that the actions of Arnout Hoekstra have damaged the party. Revolutionary socialists have always asked workers to vote SP, but we had no illusions. The SP is not a socialist party, not a party that fights for a socialist Netherlands. It is a pure parliamentary party, poisoned with social democratic believes and nationalism. Socialist internationalism and solidarity with discriminated minorities (mainly Muslims) is not to be found among the SP leadership. It may have been naive of RED members to think that the party council of the SP would side with them. Let us not forget that there is a social stigma on revolutionary socialist believes. Communism has been branded as something negative and many Dutch think of it as something oppressive, dictatorial and violent.
If all 1100 RED members choose to walk away, then that would be a huge defeat for the SP leaders. Losing all of your young supporters is a big blow. RED as a independent socialist group has potential and a future. Socialist Alternative – ISA in the Netherlands is willing to work with them in building a new workers party on a genuine socialist program, if RED chooses to fight on despite getting kicked out of the ”Socialist” Party.
RED, the youth section of the Dutch “Socialist” Party has elected a Marxist leader, who was expelled from the mother-party for supporting the Communist Platform/Marxist Forum. Now the youth section could be dissolved as the anti-Marxist SP leadership, does not like the idea of revolutionary socialists in leading positions. RED has around 1100 members, who are very critical of the social democratic direction of the party. Now the fight is on between the SP youth and the SP leaders. History has proven that social democratic leaders have a deep intolerance towards those who stand for revolutionary socialism.
Olaf Kemerink is 21 years old and now the new chairman of RED (ROOD) the youth section of the Dutch: ”Socialist” Party. (SP). Kemerink is a Marxist and deeply critical of the reformist direction of the party. Since 2007 over 18.000 SP members walked away and the party has not won any election since 2010. The reasons for this are clear, the SP is not presenting a socialist alternative and remains silent on critical issues like racism and discrimination towards Muslims and other minorities. The reformist party leaders wave these issues away under the claim that they do not fight for identity politics. Reality is that the SP is populist and fears losing working class voters, who have reactionary views on migrants, Muslims and colonialism.
In the Netherlands most Dutch are raised with a positive picture of the period 1600/1800, the period of the ”Golden Century”. Dutch history-books reduce the slave trade to a few chapters, there is no widespread education/understanding in the evil that was slave trade. The Dutch transported at least 600.000 slaves to America, many did not survived the journey. Although more attention is given to this fact in museums, many schools still see the slave period as just a history chapter. If the Holocaust and WW2 were given this kind of treatment there would be international criticism of the Dutch. There are many war stories, books and movies about the occupation and mass murder of Jews. But there are few if none about the slave trade period.
Since 2011, black Dutch are more vocal about racist stereotypes and the simplification of the ”Golden Century”. Black activists are fighting against the racist character of Black Pete (Zwarte Piet), who was added to the Saint Nicolas festival in 1850. Pete is played by a white person with black painted face, black curly hair, red lips and golden earrings. His historic behavior is that of a clumsy servant to Saint Nicolas, a white catholic bishop who brings gifts to children in early December, before Christmas. He is not to be confused with Santa Claus. Standing against Black Pete was a social stigma, in 2016 more then 70% of all Dutch stood dogmatically behind the icon. But with black resistance came understanding. Now the number of Black Pete supporters have been reduced to 55%.
The ”Socialist” Party (SP) has never taken a serious stand against racism. This is because the party is winning votes from working class Dutch who are white and often have a reactionary mindset about migrants, Muslims and black Dutch, who stand against colonial remnants. Since most whites are raised with a overly positive picture of the Netherlands during colonial times, many refuse to understand why so many colored Dutch are critical and reject icons like Black Pete or figures like Admiral Michiel de Ruyter. Capitalism has created more poverty among workers and racist politicians try to divide the working class in two camps. A camp of ”proud patriotic Dutch” and the camp of ”anti-Dutch radicals” as they claim.
Because the SP is not a genuine workers party with a socialist program, their mindset is purely electoral. They know that their electorate is white and because of right-wing populism among white workers, the SP fears of losing support. This mindset can only come from a typical bourgeois party, a party that fully embraces the parliamentary model. A socialist party should not make its politics based on populist believes. Workers are not a monolith, there are racist workers and there are anti-racist workers. There are nationalist workers and there anti-nationalist workers. A socialist party must fight for socialism and take a stand against racism and the glorification of colonialism and all its figures.
The SP however has lost support because of their social democratic ideology and refusal to stand against racism. Because racist Dutch do not vote SP. They vote for racist parties like the ”Party for Freedom” (PVV) or ”Forum for Democracy”. People who vote SP are not right-wing populist. Yet the SP leadership has tried to win over these white workers by ignoring the historical fight of anti-racist and colored Dutch. With their social democratic ideology mixed with nationalism (anti-EU), the SP fails to attract those voters who are internationalists and wish to see a different Europe. We have said often that the SP needs to embrace internationalism and fight for a socialist Europe.
Olaf Kemerink is now the chairman of RED, the youth section of the ”Socialist” Party. His election will not be welcomed by anticommunists like Arnout Hoekstra, the main secretary of the party. Hoekstra has the means to dissolve RED and force its 1100 members to choose between the SP or RED. This is a choice none should make. RED members are SP members, but the intolerance of the SP leadership has now come this confrontation. Kemerink is supportive of the Communist Platform, a tendency around Marxist ideas. The SP has never tolerated groups or platforms, branding them ”parties inside parties” and expelling their members. If RED remains loyal to Olaf Kemerink then it is possible that the organization is dissolved. We have seen this in the past with the Labour Party Young Socialists in Britain.
Update: In reaction to the election of Olaf Kemerink, the SP leaders have cut off financial support to their youth section. Also the website of RED is now offline. This shows that the SP leaders are trying to destroy RED by cutting off finances and their website. But the democratically elected leaders of RED are willing to fight back and have not capitulated (yet). This battle between the revolutionary youth and the pro-capitalist leaders is now escalating.
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