The German-Dutch Communist Left - Libcom

disappeared in 1948. Canne-Meijer wrote on the class struggle in the Netherlands in the thirties 1253 , but became
highly pessimistic as to the revolutionary nature of the proletariat and came to doubt the theoretical value of
Marxism. B.A. Sijes devoted himself to his historical work, particularly this one on The strike of February 1941,
and in the 60s joined an ‘International research committee on nazi war criminals’, that led him to testify at the
Eichmann trial in Jerusalem in 1962. 1254 Bruun van Albada, who had not followed the ex-members of the GIC in
their split, ended his militant activity in 1948, when he was appointed director of the astronomical observatory at
Bandung in Indonesia. 1255
Outside any organised militant activity, the majority of the militants of the GIC thus ended up rejecting all
revolutionary Marxist commitment. Only Theo Maassen, who stayed in the Bond, maintained this commitment.
Return to the positions of the GIC
That the split was unjustified – as Theo Maassen said – was to be demonstrated by the evolution of the Bond at
the end of 1947, during its Christmas conference. This conference marked a decisive step in the history of the
Communistenbond Spartacus. The organisational conception of the GIC was completely victorious and marked
an abandonment of its 1945 positions on the Party. This was the beginning of an evolution towards complete
councilism, that would eventually lead to the virtual disappearance of the Spartacusbond in the Netherlands.
The declaration that the Bond would take part in all economic struggles of the proletariat led to dissolution of the
organisation in the struggle. The Bond no longer was a critical party of the proletariat, but an organism at the
service of the workers’ struggles: “The Bond and the members of the Bond want to serve the class in
struggle”. 1256 Workerist theory was triumphant, and the communists of the Bond were merged with the masses of
workers in struggle. The distinction made by Marx between communists and proletarians, and taken up by the
‘Theses on the Party’, disappeared: “The Bond has to be an organisation of workers who think by themselves,
make propaganda by themselves, go on strike by themselves, organise by themselves and administer by
themselves”.
However, this evolution towards workerism was not complete, and the Bond was still ready to declare itself an
organisation with an indispensable function in the class: “The Bond provides an indispensable contribution to the
struggle. It is an organisation of communists conscious that the history of all society until now is the history of
class struggle, based on the development of the productive forces”. But without using the term ‘party’, the Bond
declared itself for an international regroupment of revolutionary forces: “The Bond considers it [...] desirable
that the vanguard having the same orientation throughout the world regroups in an international organisation”.
The organisational measures taken at the conference were in opposition to this principle of regroupment, which
could only be realised if the political and organisational centralization of the Bond was maintained. In fact, the
Bond ceased to be a centralised organisation with statutes and executive organs. It became a federation of
1253 With Ben Sijes, Henk Canne Meijer wrote in the fifties a study on the class struggle in the textile industry in Twente.
1254 B.A. Sijes (1908-1981), contributed in the 70s to recall the extermination of the jews and the gipsies by the Nazis,
particularly in Holland [See: Simon Wiesenthal & Benjamin Aäron Sijes (eds.), Essays über Naziverbrechen, verlegt unter
Auspizien des Wiesenthalfonds in Amsterdam und des Bundes Jüdischer Verfolgter des Naziregimes in Wien (Amsterdam:
Wiesenthal Fonds, cop. 1973); B.A. Sijes, Th. M. de Graaf, A. Kloosterman et alii, Vervolging van zigeuners in Nederland
1940-1945 (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1979).] He contributed also to the council communist movement in the 60s and
1970s by writing prefaces to reprints of Pannekoek’s work. His last important work was to publish Pannekoek’s Memoirs,
Amsterdam 1982.
[See: Ger Harmsen, ‘Benjamin Aäron Sijes’, Jaarboek van de Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde te Leiden, 1986-
1987, pp. 148-163.]
1255 Bruun van Albada (1912-1972) ended his militant activity, but with his wife translated Pannekoek’s Lenin as
Philosopher into Dutch.
1256 This and the following quotes are taken from UEK, special issue, Dec. 1947: ‘Spartacus. Eigen werk, organisatie en
propaganda’.
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