Henk Sneevliet
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Hendricus Josephus Franciscus Marie Sneevliet, known as Henk Sneevliet or the nom de guerre Maring (May 13, 1883 - April 13, 1942), was a Dutch Communist, who was active in both the Netherlands and the Dutch East-Indies. He took part in the Communist resistance against the German occupation of the Netherlands during World War II and was executed by the Germans in 1942.
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Early life
Sneevliet was born in Rotterdam and grew up in 's-Hertogenbosch. After finishing his education, he started working for the Dutch railroads in 1900 and became a member of the Sociaal Democratische Arbeiders Partij (SDAP) as well as the railway union. From 1906, Sneevliet was active for the SDAP in Zwolle, where he became the first social democrat city council member in the elections of 1907.
Sneevliet was also active in the Dutch railway union, the NV and in 1911 he became its chairman. In the union, Sneevliet was one of the more radical voices. When an international sailor strike was called in 1911, several of the more radical Dutch unions took part, but the majority of the union movement, as well as the majority within the SDAP were against it. For Sneevliet, this led to his alienation from both and strenghtened him in his decision to leave the Netherlands for the Dutch East Indies (now called Indonesia).
Dutch East Indies
Sneevliet lived in the Dutch East Indies from 1913 until 1918 and he soon became active in the struggle against Dutch rule. In 1914, he was a co-founder of the Indies Social Democratic Movement (ISDM), in which both Dutch and Indonesian people were active.
He also returned to union work, becoming a member of the Vereeniging van Spoor- en Tramwegpersoneel, a railway union which was unique in having both Dutch and Indonesian members. Thanks to his experience as a union leader, he soon managed to turn this still fairly moderate union into a more modern and aggressive union, with a majority of Indonesian members. This union would later form the base for the Indonesian communist movement.
In the meantime, the ISDM had become the second largest communist party in the Dutch East Indies. The party was strictly anti-capitalist and agitated against both the Dutch colonial regime and the privileged Indonesian elites. This led to much resistance against the ISDM and Sneevliet himself, both from conservative circles as well as from the more moderate SDAP. In 1916 therefore he left the SDAP and joined the SDP, the predecessor of the Dutch Communist Party [KPN].
After the Russian revolution of 1917, Sneevliet's radicalism gained enough support amongst both the Indonesian population as well as Dutch soldiers and especially sailors that the Dutch authorities got nervous. Sneevliet was therefore forced to leave the Dutch East Indies in 1918. Even after his return Sneevliet stayed interested in Indonesian developments and in 1933 he was condemned to five months imprisonment for his solidarity actions for the Dutch and Indonesian participants mutineers from De Zeven Provinciën.
Working for the Comintern
Back in the Netherlands, Sneevliet was somewhat marginalised by the leadership of the KPN, who criticised his tactics in the Indies. He therefore spent more time in the union movement, where he helped organise the 1920 transport strike. The same year he was also present at the second congress of the Komintern in Moscow, as a representative of the Partai Komunis Indonesia (PKI), which was the successor to Sneevliet's ISDM. Lenin was impressed enough by him to send him as a Komintern representative to China, to assist the still small Communist Party of China.
Sneevliet was not impressed by the party and argued for cooperation with the Kuomintang and Chiang Kai-shek. Things came to a head in 1924, largely due to the worsening political climate in the USSR.
Back in the Netherlands
In 1927, after years of worsening relations between Sneevliet and his followers and the KPN leaderhsip, Sneevliet broke all ties with the KPN and the Komintern and formed his own party, the Revolutionair Socialistische Partij (RSP), this later became the Revolutionair Socialistische Arbeiders Partij (RSAP) after fusing with the Independent Socialist Party (OSP). The RSP signed the Declaration of the Four in 1934 along with the International Communist League, led by Leon Trotsky, the OSP and the Socialist Workers Party of Germany. This declaration was intended as a step towards a new International of revolutionary socialist parties. In the end the RSAP broke from the Trotskyists after a period and became a part of the International Bureau of Revolutionary Socialist Unity along with the Independent Labour Party (Britain) and the Workers Party Of Marxist Unification (POUM) Spain.
In the 1930s, therefore, Sneevliet and his party concentrated more on national issues, booking some success in organising the unemployed movement, strike actions, and the struggle against the rise of fascism. In 1933 Sneevliet, while still imprisoned, was elected a member of the Tweede Kamer, or Lower House, which position he mainly used to propagandise. Central to the activity of the small party was its relationship with a small trade union federation, the NAS, and it was due to a dispute concerning this body that the RSAP split from Trotsky's ICL.
However, the worsening political climate both abroad and nationally and the constant struggle against both the Stalinist and social democrat parties, as well as government interference, took a heavy toll of Sneevliet and his group. When war broke out on 10 May 1940, Sneevliet immediately abolished the RSAP.
Some months later he founded a resistance group against the German occupation, together with Willem Dolleman and Ab Menist, the Marx-Lenin-Luxemburg-Front (MLL-Front). This was largely engaged in producing propaganda for socialism and opposing the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands and as such was heavily involved with the Februarystrike of 1941.
As a known communist, Sneevliet had to go into hiding even before he started his resistance activities. For two years he managed to keep out of the hands of the Nazis, but in April 1942 they finally arrested both him and the rest of the MLL-Front leadership. Their execution took place on April 12 1942. It was reported that they went to their deaths singing The Internationale.
External link
- Dutch language biography of Henk Sneevliet (http://www.iisg.nl/bwsa/bios/sneevliet.html)