The German-Dutch Communist Left - Libcom

It is noteworthy that Roland Holst was associated with Gorter and Pannekoek on the periodicals editorial
committee, and it became an organ fighting for “socialism, and the liberation of humanity from capitalism”. 337
Thirdly, in the person of Pannekoek, the SDP was increasingly involved in gathering together those
revolutionary forces which were taking a clear position against the war and for the revolution. From 1915, and a
visit to Bremen, Pannekoek collaborated regularly with the German internationalist currents: Borchardt’s
Lichtsstrahlen group in Berlin; Arbeiterpolitik, the Bremen group led by Johann Knief, which published its own
paper after leaving the SDP in 1916. Constantly in contact with the German internationalists, it was natural that
Pannekoek was made an editor – with help from Roland Holst – of the periodical Vorbote (‘The Herald’), in
January 1916. This periodical, produced in Switzerland, was the organ of the Zimmerwald Left, hostile to
centrism and the pacifist current in the Zimmerwald conference. 338 In collaboration with Lenin, Radek, and
Zinoviev, it stood resolutely on the terrain of “the future 3 rd International”.
All this expressed a rapid evolution in both the SDP and Roland Holst’s group. After a period of hesitation, the
‘Tribunist’ party had taken up its international responsibilities. Henriëtte Roland Holst, having marched with the
Zimmerwaldian centre, was now, like Trotsky, moving clearly to the left.
There was no longer any reason for two separate revolutionary groups to exist in Holland. It was time for a
regroupment. On 19 th February 1916, the SDP leadership proposed a merger with the RSV. On 26 th March 1916,
the latter’s general assembly declared in favour of the merger. Only the sections in Rotterdam and The Hague
revealed a considerable confusion in wanting to accept the regroupment only if it could be joined by certain
syndicalists. These hesitations showed that, as for the SDP, the dividing line between the Marxist and the
revolutionary syndicalist current was far from being clear.
Nonetheless, the merger took place. The SDP gained 200 militants, to become a ‘party’ 700 strong. This growth,
after a long period of stagnation, at last allowed the party to publish a daily: De Tribune appeared henceforth
every day. The SDP’s growth was also qualitative. For the first time in its history, on 21 st June 1916 the SDP
was able successfully to lead a workers’ demonstration in Amsterdam against hunger and the war. The ‘sect’ was
becoming a workers’ ‘party’ – but very small – through its ability to exert a certain ideological influence on the
action of proletarian strata.
It is certain that the development of the Marxist current in The Netherlands, in this year 1916, was the fruit of an
awakening of the international proletariat after a year and a half of slaughter on the battlefield. The year 1916
was the watershed which heralded the revolutionary upheaval of 1917 in Russia. The recovery of the class
struggle, after months of torpor, broke up the Sacred Union. In Germany, there began the first big political
strikes against the war, following Karl Liebknecht’s arrest.
Although neutral, the Netherlands also experienced the same recovery in the workers’ struggle. The beginning of
the international wave of strikes and demonstrations against the effects of the war also found an expression in
‘little Holland’. During May and June 1916, working class women demonstrated spontaneously in Amsterdam
against rationing. Committees of proletarian women were formed in Amsterdam and other towns. There was a
constant agitation expressed in meetings and demonstrations. 339 These movements were prolonged by strikes in
the whole country in July. These signs of a major dissatisfaction were incontestably pre-revolutionist. The
situation in Holland had never been so favourable to a revolutionary Marxist current.
However, the SDP leadership progressively revealed an ambiguous attitude, and even outright opportunist
tendencies. Not on the terrain of social struggle, where the party was very active, but on the political terrain.
337 Quoted by Van Ravesteyn: De wording van het communisme in Nederland (1907-1925) (Amsterdam, 1948), p. 149.
338 There were only two issues. Radek in Switzerland was the de facto editor. Pannekoek wrote the editorial for the first
issue.
339 Burger, op. cit., pp. 62-75
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