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dissolved itself. There only remained the ‘Gorterist’ opposition in Amsterdam, around Barend Luteraan. This group maintained continuity with the old opposition, by publishing its own organ from the summer of 1919: De Roode Vaan (‘The Red Flag’). Gorter was not one of the founders of the Dutch Communist Party. He was absent from the Congress. In Switzerland, where he was in contact with the bolshevik Berzin, he had become increasingly separated from the Dutch movement, to devote himself entirely to the international communist movement. Once the government had expelled the Russian Bolsheviks from Switzerland, Gorter left the country, in November 1918. The revolution was beginning in Germany. Until 4 th December he remained in Berlin, where he made contact with the Spartakist leaders, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht. 395 Then he returned to Holland, to join the struggle against the Wijnkoop leadership. But despite Luteraan’s urging, he refused to take the lead of the opposition in the CPH. To lead the opposition would be “as good as impossible” for him, due to his declining health. This was not a refusal of any political activity. Although a few months later, he gave up all activity in the CPH, he devoted himself entirely to work in and for the German communist movement. He became in practice one of the leaders and main theoreticians of the opposition which was to form the KAPD in April 1920. His activity was wholly deployed within the Komintern, in opposition. Unlike Gorter, Pannekoek took a much greater part in political work within the CPH. In De Nieuwe Tijd, bimonthly since 1919, he tirelessly publicised and defended the positions of the KAPD. He remained in the opposition in the CPH, but without playing a large part at the organisational level, until December 1921, and resigned from the party. Pannekoek’s influence was not felt in the CPH, largely because he was never present at its congresses. ‘Tribunism’s’ theoretical leaders thus detached themselves from the CPH. They formed the Dutch School of Marxism, whose destiny was henceforth tied theoretically and organisationally to that of the German KAPD, until the beginning of the 1930s. Closely tied to the Dutch School of Marxism, the KAPD was to become the centre of international left communism, on the practical terrain of revolution and organisation. As for the CPH, its history was more and more that of an ‘orthodox’ section of the Komintern. 395 Gorter could not have taken part in the fighting in Berlin during January 1919, as H. M. Bock writes in his study ‘Zur Geschichte und Theorie der Holländischen Marxistischen Schule’, in: A. Pannekoek, H. Gorter, Organisation und Taktik der proletarischen Revolution (Frankfurt am Main: Neue Kritik, 1969), pp. 26-27. Gorter remained for a month with his mother in Berlin, and returned to Holland on 4 th December. See: Herman de Liagre Böhl, op. cit., p. 210. The discussions with Luxemburg and Liebknecht – and perhaps with Karl Schröder, a future leader of the KAPD – are attested by Pannekoek in: Herinneringen, p. 191, and by Gorter’s friend Jenne Clinge Doorenbos, in: Wisselend getij. Dichterlijke en politieke aktivieiten in Herman Gorter leven (‘Changing Tide. Poetry and politics in the Gorter’s life’) (Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Polak & Van Gennep, 1964), p. 41. Gorter returned to Holland to prepare the publication of his pamphlet De Wereldrevolutie (Amsterdam: J.J. Bos, 1918) [published in English: The World Revolution, Glasgow, 1920]. Jenne Clinge Doorenbos (1886-1973) was since 1907 a Gorter’s friend and his poetic muse. 114
Part 2 THE DUTCH COMMUNIST LEFT AND THE WORLD REVOLUTION (1919-1927) 115
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PHILIPPE BOURRINET The Dutch and Ge
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The Dutch and German Communist Left
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General studies ...................
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INTRODUCTION Despite the theoretica
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In fact, it was not the GIC, but th
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history of the Dutch communist curr
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Chapter 1: Origins and Formation of
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1862-1866, 1871-1872); these conser
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Dutch and German workers’ movemen
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However, this ‘radicalism’ of D
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emained an internationalist. It is
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a formidable weapon against the lef
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form the Tribunist movement: Mendel
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of the organisation. 31 He only dev
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The support given to the various re
Page 32 and 33:
Using the pretext of the struggle a
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the end of 1903. 57 By contrast, a
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Bolsheviks had deputies in the Duma
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imposed to form an organised fracti
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was obliged to include in the pream
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‘right’ 100 - which was based i
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This was the beginning of an increa
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carried out by the SDP - in the for
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The growth of Dutch imperialism cou
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Wijnkoop’s suggestion, the SDP’
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evolution. 125 Right up until the w
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helped to write the pamphlet addres
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section, supported a counter-resolu
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Chapter 2 Pannekoek and ‘Dutch’
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The philosophical bases of radical
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Wrongly presented by its opponents
Page 64 and 65: is most necessary. Only knowledge g
Page 66 and 67: ended in defeat - but whatever help
Page 68 and 69: The Dutch Left never considered the
Page 70 and 71: ourgeois revolutions, thinks of not
Page 72 and 73: eligious faith in the success of th
Page 74 and 75: organisations they had so patiently
Page 76 and 77: forces... The most backward country
Page 78 and 79: mass strikes; the proletariat’s s
Page 80 and 81: ‘Great Night’: “[passive radi
Page 82 and 83: economic, and whose political domin
Page 84 and 85: letter to Paul Lafargue (20 th June
Page 86 and 87: Luxemburg in urging a clear rejecti
Page 88 and 89: explicit criticism of their leaders
Page 90 and 91: As in most of the belligerent count
Page 92 and 93: the main goal was the return to pea
Page 94 and 95: Gorter’s analyses were remarkable
Page 96 and 97: political factors which led to this
Page 98 and 99: During 1915, opposition to the war
Page 100 and 101: inform its readers about the Confer
Page 102 and 103: It is noteworthy that Roland Holst
Page 104 and 105: powerful opposition to this policy
Page 106 and 107: The workers’ reaction was immedia
Page 108 and 109: concealed the Wijnkoop leadership
Page 110 and 111: Lenin was quite right to emphasise
Page 112 and 113: “Don’t you feel, little by litt
Page 116 and 117: Chapter 4 THE DUTCH LEFT IN THE KOM
Page 118 and 119: Spartakusbund not rejected particip
Page 120 and 121: However, the circular of the Komint
Page 122 and 123: Kommunist, publication of the Breme
Page 124 and 125: Russians - like Trotsky 433 - no lo
Page 126 and 127: The resolution adopted by the confe
Page 128 and 129: Led by Wolffheim and Laufenberg, th
Page 130 and 131: Pannekoek’s great clear-sightedne
Page 132 and 133: Rühle’s anti-party current. But
Page 134 and 135: All these accusations fail to stand
Page 136 and 137: not that of a general staff, in whi
Page 138 and 139: democrats and bourgeois in the war
Page 140 and 141: The unions also resemble the state
Page 142 and 143: eal decision-making centre. In this
Page 144 and 145: communism extends from the Rhine to
Page 146 and 147: The NEP (New Economic Policy) in th
Page 148 and 149: and the workers, who had all been a
Page 150 and 151: However, all the left communists, G
Page 152 and 153: was more disastrous for the VKPD th
Page 154 and 155: At its 3 rd Congress, the Komintern
Page 156 and 157: when he was in fact in Spain at the
Page 158 and 159: workers, and that every three month
Page 160 and 161: committee is also of the opinion th
Page 162 and 163: large towns passed from capitalism
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KAI would be “infinitely difficul
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private property”. They constitut
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side, of two KAPDs, with two papers
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intention of working for the reunif
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‘old enemy’ Paul Levi. 650 Deth
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district in Amsterdam, condemning a
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THE GROUP OF INTERNATIONAL COMMUNIS
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the Dutch theoretical review Radenc
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the CPO decided to dissolve in orde
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political sleep by the crisis of th
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economic, rather than the political
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the nationalist, even anti-Semitic
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parliamentary stipend financed the
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shreds”. 706 But significantly, t
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KAPD. The GIC, followed by Pannekoe
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It was a party which dared not spea
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a big impact in the unemployed move
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anarchist group like the BAS was ch
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The other factor in the defeat of t
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would ‘awaken’ the German prole
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Spartacus, organ of the LAO, while
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Chapter 7 TOWARDS A NEW WORKERS’
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The evolution of the Dutch GIC towa
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the world, especially since 1968. 7
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Secondly, by trying at all costs to
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In a contradictory way, the GIC rep
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The ‘new workers’ movement’ a
Page 218 and 219:
The function and functioning of the
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een eclipsed and replaced by a “d
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and developed since the birth of th
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GIC recognised the fundamental role
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This view has a certain resemblance
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“At the beginning of the period o
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Bogdanov, the social process was re
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to construct a coherent and ordered
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“As soon as the proletarian class
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the danger of state capitalism. The
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inseparable from the anti-organisat
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growing uncertainty of existence is
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indivisible unity operating like th
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“freedoms” and the introduction
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Steuermann 972 , Rühle showed that
Page 248 and 249:
Russian capitalism. It was only con
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The unemployed workers of Amsterdam
Page 252 and 253:
Unlike the Paul Mattick group in th
Page 254 and 255:
The contribution by this group, whi
Page 256 and 257:
Chapter 9 THE DUTCH INTERNATIONALIS
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workers’ councils”, the KAPN’
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impoverished peasants and, on the o
Page 262 and 263:
The first ‘minority’ was formed
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iting, since the Dutch RSAP and the
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seems to have come from an ex-membe
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esult which appeared positive to th
Page 270 and 271:
Chapter 10 FROM THE “MARX - LENIN
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to the previous history of Germany
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posterity a political, as much as a
Page 276 and 277:
Council communist theory had a revo
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organisations together, including t
Page 280 and 281:
This ‘broad’ policy towards oth
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The MLL Front played a considerable
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workers had been liquidated. A tota
Page 286 and 287:
Chapter 11 The Communistenbond Spar
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political past, marked less by synd
Page 290 and 291:
process, and “the [capitalist] sy
Page 292 and 293:
organisation, once theoretical and
Page 294 and 295:
organisation: “The Bond is a temp
Page 296 and 297:
The implicit rejection of the Russi
Page 298 and 299:
the ‘right’ to speak in the Ber
Page 300 and 301:
slavenmaatschappij tot arbeidersmac
Page 302 and 303:
In 1945-46, the Bond examined sever
Page 304 and 305:
Luxemburg’s conception, it was fo
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draws in ever greater masses. [...]
Page 308 and 309:
The onset of the Cold War left the
Page 310 and 311:
- General rejection of all groups t
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disappeared in 1948. Canne-Meijer w
Page 314 and 315:
Bond arrived at the idea that the R
Page 316 and 317:
After World War II council communis
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joined the left wing of the SPD or
Page 320 and 321:
Like SB, it paraded a strong anti-b
Page 322 and 323:
If ‘councilism’ as an organised
Page 324 and 325:
The history of the Dutch and German
Page 326 and 327:
organisational discipline, both exp
Page 328 and 329:
looked to changes in the sociologic
Page 330 and 331:
The criticisms put forward by Geyer
Page 332 and 333:
BIBLIOGRAPHY A bibliography on the
Page 334 and 335:
Stan POPPE (1899-1991) archives: mi
Page 336 and 337:
Rote Armee (constituted in April 19
Page 338 and 339:
Korrespondenz-Blatt der KAPD, ‚an
Page 340 and 341:
‘Monatsblätter aus der Jugendbew
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Nasha Duma, Sofia, Oct. - Dec. 1919
Page 344 and 345:
THE NETHERLANDS The Dutch communist
Page 346 and 347:
Uit eigen kring; intern orgaan (the
Page 348 and 349:
(These latter two texts have been t
Page 350 and 351:
There is a good choice of texts, tr
Page 352 and 353:
Zur Psychologie des proletarisches
Page 354 and 355:
Marxism: last refuge of the bourgeo
Page 356 and 357:
(These texts are in Authier-Barrot,
Page 358 and 359:
Der Kampf um die Macht in der Gegen
Page 360 and 361:
Pamphlets by the Bulgarian left com
Page 362 and 363:
REICHENBACH (Bernard), ‘Moscow 19
Page 364 and 365:
‚Über Karl Korsch’, in Jahrbuc
Page 366 and 367:
ROEGHOLT (Richter), Ben Sijes. Een
Page 368 and 369:
JANEV (Nikola), Balgarskata komunis
Page 370 and 371:
The ‘intellectual current’: lit
Page 372 and 373:
MALANDRINO (Corrado), ‘Anton Pann
Page 374 and 375:
BERENDSEN (Hans), & WEEDA (Rik), Ui
Page 376 and 377:
HARMSEN (Ger), Historisch overzicht
Page 378 and 379:
NGO VAN, Vietnam 1920-1945, révolu
Page 380 and 381:
WINCKLER (Heinrich August), Arbeite
Page 382 and 383:
Protokolle der Vereinigungs-Konfere
Page 384 and 385:
Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli,
Page 386 and 387:
CWI: Communist Workers’ Internati
Page 388 and 389:
NSV: Nederlandsch Syndikalistisch V
Page 390 and 391:
VOC: Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compa
Page 392 and 393:
Blackwell (Russell) [alias: Negrete
Page 394 and 395:
Fischer (Ruth) [Eisler (Elfriede),
Page 396 and 397:
KAPN, 17, 138, 172, 187, 199, 204-2
Page 398 and 399:
Most (Johann), 29 Mühsam (Erich),
Page 400 and 401:
Rühle (Otto), 13, 17, 21, 62, 120,
Page 402 and 403:
Vonk (group De), 324, 329, 337, 351
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