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1 They Were Always Quarreling on Dilettantes and Political Newcomers

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1 They Were Always Quarreling on Dilettantes and Political Newcomers 1 They were always quarreling On dilettantes and political newcomers in Dutch politics of the twentieth and the twenty-first century Dr. Willem Huberts October 10, 2018 [email protected] 2 Abstract During the years 1925-1940 many newly formed Dutch fascist political parties have spent most of their time and energy fighting other fascist parties and other fascists. Often this led to discord within the party, followed by the party splitting up. This article investigates the possible causes of this behavior and in particular the role of the party leaders, who were mostly political dilettantes. Their inexperience may have contributed to the fate of their parties. Two cases will be demonstrated: the National Socialist Movement (Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging, 1931) and the National Socialist Dutch Workers Party (Nationaal-Socialistische Nederlandsche Arbeiders Partij, 1931), followed by an investigation into the role of political newcomers after the Second World War. It will be argued that they have learned from their pre-war predecessors. In particular the similarity in the legal structure between the two political newcomers from 1931 (National Socialist Movement) and from 2005 (Party for Freedom) is striking. Contents I Introduction 3 II Before the Second World War 5 III After the Second World War 13 IV Conclusion 18 3 I. Introduction1 In The Netherlands, during the years between the two World Wars, many newly-formed fascist political parties fell prey to internal squabbles, quarrels, separation of spirits and finally party splitting. In this essays the reasons for this behavior shall be investigated, with a particular view on the role of the party leaders, mostly dilettantes.2 Their political inexperience may have played an important role. Two cases in particular will be investigated: the National-Socialist Movement (Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging, NSB) and the National-Socialist Dutch Workers Party (Nationaal-Socialistische Nederlandsche Arbeiders Partij, NSNAP). The former will be dealt with in summary terms, because in the past that party has been the subject of frequent research, and the latter will be given more attention because of its relative unfamiliarity. Subsequently the role of political newcomers after the Second World War will be investigated. It will be demonstrated that these political newcomers have learned from the adventures of their predecessors. In particular the similarity between the legal construction of Mussert’s National-Socialist Movement and the Party for Freedom of Geert Wilders, is striking. In 1917, the Dutch parliamentary democracy was enriched by the introduction of proportional representation, followed shortly after by universal suffrage. Before 1917 day-to-day politics had been the domain of ‘gentlemen of class’, after 1917 newcomers entered the political arena. These newcomers (consciously or unconsciously) had little respect for the norms, values, customs and traditions that had developed in Dutch politics since the mid-nineteenth century.3 Many new and small political parties tried to be elected into parliament. The fact that in order to be successful, one had to gain support for one’s own ideas and the fact that one had to obtain consensus within one’s own circle, was something not clear to every newcomer and that had to be learned the hard way. Especially in the case of the newcomers, the strategy of confrontation seemed to be the guiding principle. This caused that new parties regularly had to contend with quarrels in their own bosom that sometimes led to schism, separation of spirits and finally splitting of the party. In doing so, the high idealistic motives that initially had led to the founding of the party became beyond reach. Thus, the fascist Union of Actualists (Verbond van Actualisten), which was founded in 1923, split into two parts just after the July 1925 elections. Amongst many other points its election program included: rejection of the French Revolution, of socialism and communism (and the ensuing class struggle) and of parliamentary democracy. In addition the Union wanted strengthening of government authority, but strangely enough, it also wanted a restriction on the power of parliament, provincial states and municipal councils. The division within the Union (the more extreme Mussolini supporters became increasingly uncompromising towards the moderate wing) hampered the conduct of an election campaign. The election results were accordingly: 2,253 1. I wish to thank Gerben Wynia, whose critical comments have improved the original text. 2. Within the framework of thus article I define political dilettantes as those persons who behave like amateurs in political matters, and having no previous political experience whatsoever. 3. Koen Vossen, Vrij vissen in het Vondelpark. Kleine politieke partijen in Nederland 1918-1940 (Amsterdam 2003) 34- 39. 4 votes (0.07%) did not yield a seat in parliament. After the 1925 election, the Union broke up into two parts.4 The same applies to the Fatherland Union (Vaderlandsch Verbond). The poor results of the 1925 election led to a change of policy, which in its turn led to meetings with the Union of Actualists, with the goal of merging the two parties. This resulted in internal resistance within the Fatherland Union, which broke the party in two. Another example: in the spring of 1931 the Federation of Nationalists (Verbond van Nationalisten) tore. One of the prominent members of the party was professor H.P. Blok from Utrecht University. He thought that the party was led in an amateur way and during a party meeting on March 15, 1931 on his initiative the decision was taken to reorganize the party. After having agreed with Blok’s proposal at first, the current leadership of the party changed its mind. Blok and a number of his supporters were expelled. The outcasts then formed the New Federation of Nationalists. The events that took place in the Fascist Union ‘The Broom’ (Fascistenbond ‘De Bezem’) form a final example. This union was founded in the last months of 1928 and in the early Spring of 1932 there rose some disagreement about which course the party was to take. In April 1932 this discussion forced Tommy Hooykaas (a retired civil servant from the colony in the East) to leave the party, after which he immediately founded his own fascist party: the Dutch Fascist League (Nederlandsche Fascisten Bond). It didn’t take long however, before the next schism in ‘The Broom’ occurred. Due to growing political differences of opinion, the bombshell was dropped during a rally on June 29, 1932. During that meeting, a majority of those present decided to expel the prominent financier Alfred Haighton as a party member and to entrust the overall management to Jan Baars. The name of the movement was changed to General Dutch Fascist Union (Algemeene Nederlandsche Fascisten Bond). Only a small group remained loyal to Haighton: over 75% of the members made the switch to the new party. These examples show the squabbles, quarrels, schisms and splits that ravaged early Dutch fascism. At the time, people were annoyed by this counterproductive phenomenon. For example, there is the testimony of a young fascist from The Hague, member of ‘The Broom’, who remarks in retrospect: ‘They were always quarreling and as a young man who wanted enthusiastically to help build a movement, you did not understand that. You would say, we all have the same ideals.’5 The national-socialist writer-publisher George Kettmann noted: ‘In Jan Baars’s General Dutch Fascist Union I had ample experience how enthusiasm could light up the sky like a firework, but how she also extinguished again and again; for any proper management was lacking.’6 By letter of June 30, 1932, one day after the splitting of ‘The Broom’, Kettmann terminated his membership. In the following the organizational form of the two first Dutch national socialist parties will be presented: the National-Socialist Movement (Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging) and the 4. This example as well as the three following, from Willem Huberts, In de ban van een beter verleden. Het Nederlandse fascisme 1923-1945. PhD thesis University of Groningen, https://www.rug.nl/research/portal/nl/publications/in-de-ban-van-een-beter-verleden(4946e2ab-5212-4f55-a4 56-c715b949883d).html. Commercial edition: Nijmegen 2017. 5. Martin Schouten, Voor de oorlog. Herinneringen aan de jaren 30 (Leiden 1982) 64. 6. George Kettmann, Leven in tweespalt. Nagelaten geschriften van een nationaal-socialist (Hilversum 1999) 115. 5 National-Socialist Dutch Workers Party (Nationaal-Socialistische Nederlandsche Arbeiders Partij). In the adversities of the National-Socialist Dutch Workers Party we will see the culmination point of how a party goes down in discord, in those of the National-Socialist Movement we will be able to see the successful fight against it. II. Before the Second World War At the end of February 1920 the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (German Workers Party), which had seen the light a year earlier, was renamed into the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers Party). From that moment on Adolf Hitler began his long march to power, which ended with the Machtergreifung of January 30, 1933. The march did not go by itself, for a long time it looked as if Hitler’s Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei would remain one of those many mayflies, without any prospect of having ever any access to state power. It was not until the year 1929 that Hitler succeeded in getting his party some electoral success. Then things started to speed up. In September 1930 the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei became the second largest party in Germany and from that moment on the party joined the government in a few federal states. The steady rise of Hitler and his Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei did not go unnoticed in The Netherlands. In the Dutch press during the years 1926-1928 Hitler was mentioned more than 100 times a year.
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