Independent Socialist Party (Netherlands)
Encyclopedia
Revolutionary socialism
The term revolutionary socialism refers to Socialist tendencies that advocate the need for fundamental social change through revolution by mass movements of the working class, as a strategy to achieve a socialist society...
political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
in the Netherlands
Politics of the Netherlands
The politics of the Netherlands take place within the framework of a parliamentary representative democracy, a constitutional monarchy and a decentralised unitary state. The Netherlands is described as a consociational state...
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History
The party was founded by a group around Jacques de KadtJacques de Kadt
Jacques de Kadt was a prominent and often controversial 20th Century Dutch political thinker, politician and man of letters. Born into a liberal Jewish family, he was the youngest son of a factory manager, Roelof de Kadt, and his wife Bertha Koppens...
and Piet J. Schmidt on March 28, 1932. The group had split from the SDAP
SDAP
# Sociaal Democratische Arbeiders Partij, a Dutch political party that later merged into the Partij van de Arbeid# Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany, a German political party that later merged into the Social Democratic Party of Germany...
after a conflict over the internal opposition publication, the De Fakkel. The moderate leadership of the SDAP banned the publication, in reaction to this the leftwing opposition left the party. It entered in the 1933 elections
Dutch general election, 1933
A general election of the House of Representatives of the Dutch Parliament was held in the Netherlands on April 26, 1933.-National summary:-Parties:* Anti Revolutionary Party...
where at won 27,000 votes and nearly one seat. In 1935 the party merged with the Revolutionary Socialist Party
Revolutionary Socialist Party (Netherlands)
The Revolutionary Socialist Party was a Dutch socialist political party.-Predecessors:The oldest predecessor of the Revolutionary Socialist Party is the Revolutionary Socialist Union , a group of dissidents from the Communist Party Holland led by Henk Sneevliet...
, and formed the Revolutionary Socialist Workers Party
Revolutionary Socialist Party (Netherlands)
The Revolutionary Socialist Party was a Dutch socialist political party.-Predecessors:The oldest predecessor of the Revolutionary Socialist Party is the Revolutionary Socialist Union , a group of dissidents from the Communist Party Holland led by Henk Sneevliet...
.
Ideology & Issues
The OSP was an orthodox Marxist, revolutionary socialistRevolutionary socialism
The term revolutionary socialism refers to Socialist tendencies that advocate the need for fundamental social change through revolution by mass movements of the working class, as a strategy to achieve a socialist society...
party, which opposed both the authoritarian stalinism
Stalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
of the Communist Party of the Netherlands and the moderate reformism of the Social-Democratic Workers' Party. The party's main goal was the proletarian world revolution
Communist revolution
A communist revolution is a proletarian revolution inspired by the ideas of Marxism that aims to replace capitalism with communism, typically with socialism as an intermediate stage...
, which would replace the capitalist
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
system by a system of workers' council
Workers' council
A workers' council, or revolutionary councils, is the phenomenon where a single place of work or enterprise, such as a factory, school, or farm, is controlled collectively by the workers of that workplace, through the core principle of temporary and instantly revocable delegates.In a system with...
s. In the end this would result in a Communist society where inequality
Economic inequality
Economic inequality comprises all disparities in the distribution of economic assets and income. The term typically refers to inequality among individuals and groups within a society, but can also refer to inequality among countries. The issue of economic inequality is related to the ideas of...
, exploitation
Exploitation
This article discusses the term exploitation in the meaning of using something in an unjust or cruel manner.- As unjust benefit :In political economy, economics, and sociology, exploitation involves a persistent social relationship in which certain persons are being mistreated or unfairly used for...
and class
Social class
Social classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...
would be eliminated.
Electorate
The RSP was mainly supported by leftwing intellectuals and educated workers, who were highly concentrated in the large cities.Linked organisations
The party had a strong basis of young militants, united in Socialist Youth Union. (Dutch: Socialistische Jeugd Vereniging; SJV). The party magazine was the De Fakkel (The Torch), which had actually ignited the break between OSP and SDAP. The Youth Union was affiliated to the International Bureau of Revolutionary Youth OrganizationsInternational Bureau of Revolutionary Youth Organizations
International Bureau of Revolutionary Youth Organizations was an international organization of socialist youth, formed in 1934...
.
Relationships to other parties
The OSP was shunned by other leftwing parties, because of its strong opposition to the social-democratic SDAP and the Communist CPH. Cooperation with the small Left-Communist RSP led to their merger with the RSAP in 1935.International Comparison
The OSP is very comparable to other parties formed as orthodox Marxist opposition within social-democratic parties, like Independent Social Democratic Party of GermanyIndependent Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany was a short-lived political party in Germany during the Second Reich and the Weimar Republic. The organization was established in 1917 as the result of a split of left wing members of the Social Democratic Party of Germany...
.