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OLD and NEW ANTI-FASCISM Evolutions of Anti-Fascist Action in the Netherlands, 1945-1989

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OLD and NEW ANTI-FASCISM Evolutions of Anti-Fascist Action in the Netherlands, 1945-1989 OLD AND NEW ANTI-FASCISM Evolutions of anti-fascist action in the Netherlands, 1945-1989 Master Thesis RMA History Daan Olthoff 4159004 December 2018 Utrecht University First reader: prof. dr. Ido de Haan Second reader: dr. Frans-Willem Lantink Word count: 32.632 Abstract This master thesis deals with three different periods of anti-fascism activism in the Netherlands between 1945 and 1989. Using Dan Stone’s theory of the downfall of the anti-fascist consensus and Nigel Copsey’s concept of the anti-fascist minimum, it asks the question what role anti-fascism has played as a structuring force in Dutch politics in the post-war era. Three different waves of anti-fascism are identified, during which ideological components significantly varied, leading to different views of what constituted the fascist threat. The main argument is that anti-fascism provided the left with a discourse to express anxieties about the survival of democracy, was driven by shifting narratives and interpretations of World War II and formed a potential instrument for intra-left cooperation. Image used on cover: IISG BG D7/472, De Rooie Prent, ‘Geef fascisme geen kans!’, Amsterdam 1984. 1 Table of contents Preface ..................................................................................................................................................... 3 Glossary ................................................................................................................................................... 5 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 6 Historiography ................................................................................................................................. 7 Contents ........................................................................................................................................ 17 Methodology ................................................................................................................................. 18 Chapter 1 Fighting ‘a smoldering danger’ Anti-fascism in the Netherlands during reconstruction, 1945-1955 ... 21 1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 21 1.2 The CPN and PvdA ‘against the reaction’ ................................................................................ 26 1.3 Communist and anti-totalitarian organizations in civil society ............................................... 35 1.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 37 Chapter 2 Real or fashionable? Anti-fascism during the late Golden Years, 1958-1973 ................................... 40 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 40 2.2 Anti-fascism for an isolated CPN ............................................................................................. 43 2.3 Towards a popularized anti-fascism ........................................................................................ 48 2.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 58 Chapter 3 ‘A daily practice of liberation.’ The decline and rise of anti-fascism, 1973-1989 ................ 60 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 60 3.2 Anti-fascism and the integration of the Small Left .................................................................. 63 3.3 A heterogeneous movement ................................................................................................... 70 3.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 81 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 84 Sources .................................................................................................................................................. 88 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................... 88 Publications ................................................................................................................................... 90 Web sources .................................................................................................................................. 91 Images ........................................................................................................................................... 91 Archives ......................................................................................................................................... 91 2 Preface Researching the history of anti-fascism in the Netherlands was never only an academic effort. Writing this master thesis also amounted to me trying to make sense of years of disconcerting political developments. Shocked by the sight of authoritarian leaders putting the screws on their fledgling democracies, populist forces gaining traction in long-established ones and the worst-case scenario in the 2016 US elections becoming a reality, I thought back to a question everyone around me seemed to dismiss out of hand back when I was in secondary school: could fascism ever return? Would the West ever again convert to tyrannical governance? Are we already seeing the beginning of this? Or is this idea merely an overblown exaggeration based on fear? In any case, I was not the only one who was struggling with these questions. Especially in the wake of Trump’s election, the F-word seemed to be everywhere, as even eminent scholars did not shun comparisons between our modern times and the 1930s. As it happened, by this time I had been working on a research tutorial with dr. Frans-Willem Lantink in which we strove towards a definition of anti-fascism. This is when I learned about the countless ways opposition against “fascism” – however it was defined – continued to shape European politics even after World War II. Even though this research brought up the heinous features of post-war anti-fascism as well, the notion of fearing the prospect of a return to fascism and wanting to do something about it still resonated with me. It might not be far off to say that I wanted to study anti-fascist thought in order to decide whether comparisons to fascism were valid or useful, and if so, what this prospect meant for Western democracies. However, it has also been a thrill to have taken part in the burgeoning anti-fascist scholarship, which has been revitalized by a surge of public interest in a topic many could not care less about only a few years ago. I had the privilege of experiencing this firsthand at the international conference Fascism and Antifascism in Our Time: Critical Investigations in Hamburg and Lüneburg in November 2017. I would like to thank the Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, the Hamburger Institut für Sozialforschung and Rutgers University for making this event possible. Most of all, I want to extend my gratitude to the many scholars who spent time with a junior researcher, exchanging ideas, providing extraordinary insight into the academical world and generally making the experience a very memorable one. 3 Nevertheless, this thesis most of all represents the end of the road after years of excellent education at Utrecht University. In 2016, I became part of a small group of prospective scholars that had enrolled in the Research Master History. Immediately bonded by what we jokingly referred to as the “hazing” of the first weeks, we came to enjoy the opportunities, knowledge and contacts that were available. I personally gained much from the close cooperation with many scholars that I admire. I am especially grateful to prof. dr. Ido de Haan for overseeing this thesis. His critical reflections, sense of humor and everlasting patience were paramount in maintaining the pleasure in this research and bringing it to a satisfactory conclusion. The comments, advice and reassurances of Iva Vukušić were also dearly appreciated in this regard. Furthermore, I am deeply indebted to dr. Lantink, whose courses on political ideologies were essential to my professional development and extended into the tutorial that laid the foundation for this thesis. Many thanks also go out to prof. dr. Oscar Gelderblom and dr. Willemijn Ruberg, who coordinated the master’s program and its often- stressed students not with ease, but to much success. Lastly, I have much to thank to my fellow students. Besides jokes about Karl Marx or Hercules’ big stick, they have taught me that research should never be conducted by one’s lonesome. All deserve to be mentioned here: Amir Taha, Annelotte Janse, Eva Zeilstra, Lenna Lammertink, Luuc Ritmeester, Marlon Donck, Marta Montebovi, Sebastiaan van der Bij and Wouter van Leeuwen. Although the research master sometimes hardly allowed for it, I have enjoyed a life outside of academia as well. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to many dear friends, who kept me sane throughout the past months with their careful listening, thoughtful advice
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