The German-Dutch Communist Left - Libcom

Chapter 3
THE DUTCH TRIBUNIST CURRENT AND WORLD WAR I (1914-1918)
Social democracy and Tribunism facing the war
Although The Netherlands maintained its neutrality during World War I, and so was spared the terrible
destruction and the bloodletting in men, the war nonetheless haunted the population constantly. The German
army’s invasion of Belgium brought the war to the very border. As the conflict dragged on, it seemed inevitable
that the Dutch bourgeoisie would enter the war, either on Germany’s side or on that of the Entente. The socialist
movement thus had to determine clearly its attitude for or against the war, whether to support its own
government or struggle against it.
In reality, the ‘neutrality’ of the non-belligerents was a façade. Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and The
Netherlands were discreetly pro-German. But this support was all the more discreet in that they gained
considerable commercial advantages from both camps. For the Dutch bourgeoisie, the war provided an undreamt
of opportunity to get rich quickly, and to develop its industrial apparatus. According to Henriëtte Roland Holst,
Holland made more war profits than any other industrial and colonial power. 276 They became a lynchpin for the
trade in raw materials, foodstuffs, and military equipment. Foreign capital, mostly German, invested massively
in Dutch industry. Internationally active banks developed extremely fast. Nowhere in war-torn Europe did
financial capital develop so fast and so strongly, in so little time. Similarly, the traditionally backward Dutch
industry was considerably developed: Limburg coal production doubled; the machine tool and shipbuilding
sectors expanded. An efficient state capitalism was built up, controlling imports and exports under the aegis of
the N.O.T. (Nederlandsche Overzee Trustmaatschappij). The result was a decline of small companies and a
growth in large ones, due to industrial concentration. The numbers of industrial workers increased, creating more
favourable conditions for Tribunist, then communist propaganda. Finally, the war provided the opportunity for
an increased exploitation of the Dutch colonies, especially in Indonesia: the production of oil, rubber, tea, sugar
and tobacco all increased rapidly, with as a result the impoverishment of the Indonesian peasants. The colonial
question was thus posed starkly within the Tribunist and communist movement.
The Dutch bourgeoisie had another reason, apart from its substantial war profits, for remaining ‘neutral’. It was
in fact profoundly divided between two, almost equal, fractions: one pro-Entente, the other pro-German (the
central powers, minus Italy which abandoned the Triple Alliance for the Entente in 1915).
Despite this, and in expectation of an extension of the war, the Dutch bourgeoisie very quickly put the country
on a war footing. On 30 th July 1914, the liberal government of Cort van der Linden (1846-1935) decreed a partial
mobilisation, followed the next day by a general mobilisation. It was the first in Europe after that of Serbia and
Austria-Hungary. The population panicked; banks and food shops were taken by storm.
For the bourgeoisie, this mobilisation was above all a way of testing how far the workers would support an
eventual war, and how far the official social democracy was integrated into the bourgeois national state.
276 Cf. H. Roland Holst-van der Schalk, Kapitaal en arbeid in Nederland, op. cit., pp. 117-168.
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