The German-Dutch Communist Left - Libcom

organisation, once theoretical and political agreement had been reached. Theo Maassen and Bruun van Albada
were members of the Bond’s Political Commission.
A fruit of the Bond’s political evolution was the publication, in August 1944, of the pamphlet De Strijd om de
macht (The struggle for power). The pamphlet declared its opposition to any kind of parliamentary or trade
union activity and called for the formation of new, anti-union, proletarian organs, born from the spontaneous
struggle: factory councils, which were to form the basis for the workers’ councils. The pamphlet observed that
changes in the capitalist mode of production were bringing about structural modifications within the working
class, and so put on the agenda new forms of workers’ organisations corresponding to the emergence of a “new
workers’ movement”. 1193
In this pamphlet, the Bond – unlike the old GIC – called for the formation of a revolutionary party and an
International. However, unlike the trotskyists, it insisted that such a party could only emerge at the end of the
war, and once the proletariat’s organs of struggle were formed.
The Bond from 1945 to 1947
a) Composition, organisation, and activities of the Spartacus group
When, in May 1945, the Communistenbond Spartacus published – legally – its monthly journal Spartacus, it
could no longer be considered as a continuation of the MLL Front. Thanks to the militant contribution of the
members of the GIC, it had become a council communist organisation. As Canne-Meijer noted in 1946:
“The present Spartacusbond cannot be considered as a direct continuation of the RSAP. Its composition is
different, and on many questions its positions are different also [...] Many who once belonged to the RSAP have
not joined Spartacus, although some have been attracted to the trotskyists. But there are not many of them, since
the trotskyists themselves are not very numerous anyway.” 1194
Spartacus was the biggest internationalist organisation in The Netherlands, and bore a heavy political
responsibility at the international level, for the regroupment of revolutionaries in Europe, in search of
international links after the enforced division of the Occupation. This possibility of becoming a pole of
regroupment depended as much on the organisation’s solidity, its political and theoretical homogeneity, as on a
clear will to break out of the linguistic frontiers of ‘little Holland’. Numerically, the Bond was quite strong for a
revolutionary organisation, especially in a small country. In 1945, it had some hundred militants; it possessed
both a monthly theoretical review, and a daily paper with a print run of 6,000. 1195 It had a presence in most of the
main towns, in particular in the working class districts of Amsterdam and Rotterdam, which had a real council
communist tradition.
However, the organisation was far from being united. It brought together onetime members of the MLL Front
and the GIC, but also syndicalists from the pre-war NAS. The Bond had also been joined by anarchists from the
old ‘Libertarian Socialist Movement’. Many young militants had joined Spartacus, but they had no political
experience or theoretical training. There was thus a union of elements from different origins, but the
1193 In 1945 and 1946 Bond members took part with the CRM, in the formation of the Eenheidsvakbeweging (EVB), at the
beginnings a movement of “rank and file” workers. The Eenheidsvakcentrale (Unitary trades union Centrale), an official
trade union, was in the hands of the CPN. For a history of this last union, see: P. Coomans, T. de Jonge, and E. Nijhof, De
Eenheidsvakcentrale (EVC) 1943-1948 (Groningen: Tjeenk Willink, 1976).
1194 From the letter already quoted of 30 th June 1946. Canne-Meijer considered that the Bond was part of a new workers’
movement, which is not an opposition to the old – whether on the left or the ultra-left – but movement within other
foundations.
1195 Letter written by Canne-Meijer (27 th June 1946) to the French ‘ultra-left’ paper Le Prolétaire. In 1946, Spartacus’ print
run had been reduced to 4,000 copies.
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