The German-Dutch Communist Left - Libcom

the end of 1903. 57 By contrast, a sign of the ebb, or even demoralisation at the end of the strike could be seen in
the rapid growth of the unions based on religion. Politically, the most combative union movement, the NAS,
which could have become the SDAP’s economic organisation, drew closer to the anarchist positions of Domela
Nieuwenhuis. The fall in membership continued until the appearance of the Tribunist movement, which
increasingly influenced it. 58 By contrast, in 1905 the socialist unions linked to the SDAP created their own
central union federation: the NVV (Confederation of Trade Unions of The Netherlands). Strongly influenced by
Henri Polak’s 59 reformist diamond workers’ union, it quickly became the major union federation in the country.
Right from the start, the NVV refused to help spread the struggle in the building industry; in the years that
followed, it adopted the same attitude of holding back and avoiding solidarity with striking workers. 60
Faced with the development of reformism in the party, and its weakening as a workers’ party, the Marxists at
first adopted a moderate attitude. Not only did they hesitate to form a determined fraction to conquer the
leadership of the party, but their attacks on Troelstra remained extremely cautious. Although Troelstra had
actively betrayed the strike, they still hesitated to talk of treason. When the balance sheet of the transport strike
was discussed at the SDAP’s 9 th Congress at the end of 1903, Gorter spoke in measured terms. While insisting
that he was “an opponent of the Troelstra leadership, not only in this strike, but also in other important matters”,
he hesitated to speak of the betrayal of the leadership: “Naturally, there is no question of betrayal, but of the
weakness of Troelstra’s political conceptions, and of his constant wavering”. 61
The 1903 Enschedé Congress did not have the salutary effect that the Marxists of De Nieuwe Tijd had hoped for.
Although Troelstra had to give up the editorship of Het Volk (‘The People’), to be replaced by Tak 62 , Gorter was
forced to shake his hand in the name of “solidarity” and “unity” in the Party against the “common external
enemy”. 63 Troelstra managed to put about that Gorter and his partisans were attacking him personally, not
politically. Complaining that there were those who wanted to deprive him of his leadership responsibilities, he
raised the question of confidence. Instead of appearing as one of the elements most responsible for the
opportunist orientation of the Party, he posed as a victim, and thus obtained the ‘confidence’ of the party as a
whole. In this way the revisionist leadership avoided a discussion of vital questions of principle and tactics in the
class struggle. Although it was completely isolated, the Marxist minority didn’t capitulate and resolutely carried
on fighting. From 1905 to 1907, the Marxist current found itself confronted with a vigorous counter-offensive by
the revisionists.
a) From the Hague (1905) to the Utrecht (1906) Congress
57 Figures given by Rüter, op. cit., p. 550.
58 After the Party’s 1909 split, the NAS was strongly influenced by Sneevliet, who in 1910 was president of the Dutch
confederation of rail and tramway personnel (Nederlandsche Vereeniging van Spoor- en Tramwegpersoneel (NVSTP),
which he left in 1912 after the defeat of the sailors’ strike (1911).
59 Henri Polak, after toying with ‘Marxist’ ideas and Tribunist sympathies, turned revisionist. He was a SDAP Member of
Parliament from 1913 to 1937.
60 Under pretext of not following the instructions of direct action of the NAS, the NVV was in withdrawal of the strikes,
refusing in fact any solidarity: with the Amsterdam building strike in 1909-1910; with the sailors strike in 1911. For this last
strike see the Sneevliet’s pamphlet (with a vorword by H. Roland-Holst): Internationale klassenstrijd (de stakingen in het
transportbedrijf), Amsterdam, 1911.
61 Proceedings of the 9 th Congress, p. 8.
62 This appointment of the writer and journalist Pieter Lodewijk Tak (1848-1907) was the only concession made to the left.
See biography by G.W.B. Borrie in: Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland, Part 1 (The Hague, 1979), and W. Thys, De
Kroniek van P.L. Tak. Brandpunt van Nederlandse cultuur in de jaren negentig van de vorige eeuw (Amsterdam/Antwerpen,
1956).
63 Unlike Wijnkoop and Van Ravesteyn, Gorter always had a real concern for the organisation’s unity, while remaining
intransigent in political debate.
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