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Council communist theory had a revolutionary impact in the Netherlands, by developing within the organised framework of the Spartacus Communist Union. The positions of the GIC and of Pannekoek found an echo through this organisation, that followed its paradoxical evolution. From the RSAP to the ‘MarxLenin–Luxembourg Front’. – The ‘third front’ against the war The current which gave rise to the council communist organisation ‘Spartacus’ emerged from Sneevliet’s RSAP. This political transformation during the war is one of the most astonishing ever. The RSAP (Workers’ Socialist Revolutionary Party) 1132 represents the sole case of an electoralist party to the right of the trotskyist movement, evolving during a world war towards revolutionary positions. Coming out of the Dutch Communist Party in 1927, the Sneevliet fraction was at the head of a small union, the NAS (Nationaal Arbeids Secretariaat) which refused to dissolve itself into the social democratic NVV union. Constituted in part in 1929 (RSP, Revolutionary Socialist Party), this tendency was closer to the Brandlerian right-wing tendencies in the Komintern than the lefts (Korsch, Schwartz, Bordiga), which quit in 1926. The policy of Maring-Sneevliet on China in the 1920s had been vigorously criticised by Trotsky for having contributed to the defect of the revolution in 1926-27. The fusion in 1935 with a left socialist organisation, the OSP (Independent Socialist Party) – led by Jacques de Kadt, P.J. Schmidt, Edo Fimmen 1133 , Sal Tas and the old Franc van der Goes –, itself coming out of Dutch social democracy in 1932, gave birth to the RSAP, the constant target of the council communists. 1134 This small party of 3,600 members at the beginning, which still had 2,500 adherents in 1939 was based on the NAS union led by Sneevliet. 1135 The NAS was the union base of the RSAP, with 22,500 members in 1933; by 1939, after state employees had been forbidden to join the NAS, the figure had fallen to 10,500. Born in 1893, the NAS maintained a revolutionary-syndicalist orientation; it joined the Red Union International in 1925, had left in 1927 when the Komintern gave the order to dissolve itself into the official social democratic union, NVV, in 1927. All those members of the Dutch CP who had joined the NAS followed Sneevliet in the split. Politically, the RSAP oscillated between left socialism and trotskyism. Before 1935, the two organisations RSP and OSP pronounced themselves – with Willy Brandt’s SAP and the International Left Opposition (Bolshevik- Leninist) – for the formation of new parties and the creation of a new International 1136 . In 1935 the RSAP, together with other organisations, declared itself for the rapid construction of the fourth International. 1137 This 1132 For the history of the RSAP, besides the book by Perthus, already quoted, see: G. H. Pieterson, Het revolutionaire socialisme in de jaren dertig (‘Revolutionary Socialism in the 1930s’, doctoral thesis presented to the Economischhistorisch Seminarium, Universiteit van Amsterdam, 1977). 1133 Edo Fimmen was secretary of the Transport Workers’ International (TWI) until his death in 1942. See: Willy Buschak, Edo Fimmen. Der schöne Traum von Europa und die Globalisierung, Eine Biografie (Essen: Klartext Verlag, 2002). 1134 See the pamphlet by the GIC: Klassenstrijd in oorlogstijd (‘Class struggle in time of war’), Amsterdam, 1935. The Unification Congress took place in Rotterdam, and not Amsterdam, as F. Tichelman says incorrectly in Henk Sneevliet, een politieke biografie (Amsterdam, 1974). This is shown by Stan Poppe‘s interesting testimony in Spartacus No. 2, 1975. 1135 Cf. Perthus, op. cit., p. 370-71. Perthus gives the figure of 3,000 militants for the left socialists of the OSP in 1935, and 1,000 for Sneevliet‘s RSP. The RSP was thus a minority in the RSAP; it is true that a pro-SAP split in November 35 led to the departure of 1,000 militants, mostly ex-OSP. Sneevliet was secretary of the RSAP and P. J. Schmidt (1896-1952) – exleader of the OSP – president. The latter abandoned his position and left the party in August 1936, during the Moscow Trials. A year later, he returned to the SDAP. Henceforth, the weight of the OSP was left less. 1136 ‘Declaration of the Four’, 26 th August 1933. (The Militant, 23 Sept. 1933.) 1137 Cf. (P. Broué, ed.) Léon Trotsky, Œuvres, Vol. 5 (Paris: EDI, 1979). The ‘Open letter to organisations and groups of the revolutionary proletariat’ (June 1935) appealed to “all the parties, organisations, fractions in the old parties and the unions, all the associations and revolutionary workers’ groups in agreement with the principle of preparation and of the construction of a 4 th International to put their signature to this letter”. Apart from the RSAP, it was signed by the Workers’ Party of the USA, the International Secretariat of Trotsky’s LCI, the Bolshevik-Leninist group of the SFIO and the Workers’ Party of Canada. 276
position, with others such as the union question, led some militants to leave the RSAP and form the BRS (Socialist Revolutionary League) linked to the SAP. The break with the SAP was complete, but not the break with left socialism. In fact, in 1936, Sneevliet gave his support to the POUM in Spain which had last entered the Catalan government. The same year, he took position against Trotsky’s policy of ‘entryism’ into the socialist parties. In 1937, progressively, the split between the RSAP and Trotsky was completed. As much as for his attitude towards the POUM, Trotsky reproached’ Sneevliet for keeping the NAS alive. Trotsky insisted that the NAS be dissolved’ into the socialist union, the NVV. Accusing the NAS of receiving financial support from the Dutch government 1138 and Sneevliet of being irresponsible 1139 , Trotsky concluded: “... If you continue to adopt the same totally ambiguous position – with the 4 th International in words, against it in fact – then an open and honest split would be better. In this case you will remain with the NAS and we with the 4 th International. We are creating a section in Holland and will try to build through open struggle what we have been unable to create through patient collaboration and discussion between comrades.” 1140 This ultimatum led to a total break in 1938. Soon a Dutch trotskyist group was created – the GBL or bolshevikleninist group composed in part of ex-members of the RSAP. Until the war, the RSAP barely differentiated itself from the left socialist parties. The party took part in parliamentary elections. In 1935, Sneevliet and P. J. Schmidt – the latter being one leader of the old OSP and the vice-president of the RSAP – were elected deputies at the same time as two other leaders of their organisation. In the same year, the RSAP won 23 seats in the municipal elections. Although it lost its parliamentary seats in the general election of 1937, the RSAP had more success in 1939; in the municipal and general elections, where Sneevliet was elected council member for Amsterdam and for the provincial states in the north of Holland. 1141 This electoral activity attracted the sarcasm of Trotsky – even though trotskyist organisations adopted an identical policy. It was combined with a political united front with left socialism. In September 1938, the RSAP took the initiative of forming with the PSOP (Socialist Workers’ and Peasants’ Party) of Marceau Pivert an International Workers’ Front against the war – Internationaal Arbeiders Front or IAF – that soon brought 15 1138 Trotsky claimed that “the NAS only exists because it is tolerated and financially supported by the bourgeois government”. In this letter addressed to Sneevliet, he added: “This financial support depends on your political attitude” [Letter of Trotsky, 2.12.37, in Œuvres, Vol. 15 (Grenoble: ILT, 1983), p. 342. Sneevliet was one of the rare militants with whom Trotsky was friendly. Vereeken thought that the accusations against Sneevliet were the work of Rudolf Klement and the Belgian trotskyists. For his point of view, see his book: The GPU in the Trotskyist Movement (London: New Park Publications, 1976). [The German trotskyist R. Klement was theTrotsky’s secretary in Turkey and France; kidnapped by GPU, his headless body was fished out of the Seine in July 1938.] Netherveless, he NAS was given money by the Dutch government to be paid to the unemployed who were members of the NAS. In Twente the local administrator of the NAS, who was a high ranking member of the RSAP used part of this money to cover deficits NAS was suffering from. There has been a trial on this in Twente. Partly because of this, the gorvernment stopped paying the unemployed through the unions. This is one of the major reasons why the membership of the NAS declined dramatically towards the end of the 30-ies. 1139 Trotsky accused Sneevliet of sabotaging the ‘Amsterdam Bureau’ of the 4 th International, and of contributing through lack of caution, to the death of Ignace Reiss, an official high up in the GPU who had gone over the trotskyist positions, and was in consequence assassinated in September 1937 by the stalinists. Suspicious of the people around Trotsky’s son Sedov, Victor Serge and Sneevliet had sought a meeting with Reiss. Unknown to him, Sedov’s entourage did indeed include a GPU agent who caused his death and who were only unmasked after the war. 1140 Letter of 2.12.1937; Trotsky to Sneevliet, op.cit., p. 343. 1141 Note that Sneevliet’s candidature was supported by a Revolutionair Anti-Oorlogs Comité (anti-war revolutionary committee). Among them was Abraham Korper, who had been one of the founders of the KAPN and a leader of the group ‘De Arbeidersraad’ in the 30s. 277
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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
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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
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is most necessary. Only knowledge g
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ended in defeat - but whatever help
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The Dutch Left never considered the
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ourgeois revolutions, thinks of not
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eligious faith in the success of th
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organisations they had so patiently
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forces... The most backward country
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mass strikes; the proletariat’s s
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‘Great Night’: “[passive radi
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economic, and whose political domin
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letter to Paul Lafargue (20 th June
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Luxemburg in urging a clear rejecti
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explicit criticism of their leaders
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As in most of the belligerent count
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the main goal was the return to pea
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Gorter’s analyses were remarkable
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political factors which led to this
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During 1915, opposition to the war
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inform its readers about the Confer
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It is noteworthy that Roland Holst
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powerful opposition to this policy
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The workers’ reaction was immedia
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concealed the Wijnkoop leadership
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Lenin was quite right to emphasise
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“Don’t you feel, little by litt
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dissolved itself. There only remain
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Chapter 4 THE DUTCH LEFT IN THE KOM
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Spartakusbund not rejected particip
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However, the circular of the Komint
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Kommunist, publication of the Breme
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Russians - like Trotsky 433 - no lo
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The resolution adopted by the confe
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Led by Wolffheim and Laufenberg, th
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Pannekoek’s great clear-sightedne
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Rühle’s anti-party current. But
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All these accusations fail to stand
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not that of a general staff, in whi
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democrats and bourgeois in the war
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The unions also resemble the state
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eal decision-making centre. In this
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communism extends from the Rhine to
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The NEP (New Economic Policy) in th
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and the workers, who had all been a
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However, all the left communists, G
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was more disastrous for the VKPD th
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At its 3 rd Congress, the Komintern
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when he was in fact in Spain at the
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workers, and that every three month
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committee is also of the opinion th
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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
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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
Page 226 and 227: This view has a certain resemblance
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Page 234 and 235: “As soon as the proletarian class
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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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Page 268 and 269: esult which appeared positive to th
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Page 272 and 273: to the previous history of Germany
Page 274 and 275: posterity a political, as much as a
Page 278 and 279: organisations together, including t
Page 280 and 281: This ‘broad’ policy towards oth
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Page 286 and 287: Chapter 11 The Communistenbond Spar
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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
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Page 302 and 303: In 1945-46, the Bond examined sever
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Page 306 and 307: 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
Page 312 and 313: disappeared in 1948. Canne-Meijer w
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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
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organisational discipline, both exp
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looked to changes in the sociologic
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The criticisms put forward by Geyer
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BIBLIOGRAPHY A bibliography on the
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Stan POPPE (1899-1991) archives: mi
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Rote Armee (constituted in April 19
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Korrespondenz-Blatt der KAPD, ‚an
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‘Monatsblätter aus der Jugendbew
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Nasha Duma, Sofia, Oct. - Dec. 1919
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THE NETHERLANDS The Dutch communist
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Uit eigen kring; intern orgaan (the
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(These latter two texts have been t
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There is a good choice of texts, tr
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Zur Psychologie des proletarisches
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Marxism: last refuge of the bourgeo
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(These texts are in Authier-Barrot,
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Der Kampf um die Macht in der Gegen
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Pamphlets by the Bulgarian left com
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REICHENBACH (Bernard), ‘Moscow 19
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‚Über Karl Korsch’, in Jahrbuc
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ROEGHOLT (Richter), Ben Sijes. Een
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JANEV (Nikola), Balgarskata komunis
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The ‘intellectual current’: lit
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MALANDRINO (Corrado), ‘Anton Pann
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BERENDSEN (Hans), & WEEDA (Rik), Ui
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HARMSEN (Ger), Historisch overzicht
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NGO VAN, Vietnam 1920-1945, révolu
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WINCKLER (Heinrich August), Arbeite
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Protokolle der Vereinigungs-Konfere
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Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli,
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CWI: Communist Workers’ Internati
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NSV: Nederlandsch Syndikalistisch V
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VOC: Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compa
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Blackwell (Russell) [alias: Negrete
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Fischer (Ruth) [Eisler (Elfriede),
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KAPN, 17, 138, 172, 187, 199, 204-2
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Most (Johann), 29 Mühsam (Erich),
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Rühle (Otto), 13, 17, 21, 62, 120,
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Vonk (group De), 324, 329, 337, 351
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