Henk Sneevliet | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of theDutch House of Representatives[1] | |
| In office 1933–1937 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Hendricus Josephus Franciscus Marie Sneevliet (1883-05-13)13 May 1883 Rotterdam, Netherlands |
| Died | 13 April 1942(1942-04-13) (aged 58) Amersfoort concentration camp, Netherlands |
| Cause of death | Execution |
| Party | Revolutionary Socialist (Workers') Party |
| Other political affiliations | |
Hendricus Josephus Franciscus Marie Sneevliet, known asHenk Sneevliet or by thepseudonym "Maring" (13 May 1883 – 13 April 1942), was a Dutchcommunist politician who was active in both theNetherlands and theDutch East Indies. As a functionary of theCommunist International, Sneevliet guided the formation of both theCommunist Party of Indonesia in 1914, and theChinese Communist Party in 1921. In his native country, he was the founder, chairman, and onlyRepresentative for theRevolutionary Socialist (Workers') Party (RSP/RSAP). He took part in the communist resistance against theoccupation of the Netherlands duringWorld War II byNazi Germany, for which he was executed by the Germans in April 1942.
Hendricus "Henk" Sneevliet was born on 13 May 1883 inRotterdam,Netherlands, and grew up inDen Bosch in a poorCatholic family. He was the son of Anthonie Sneevliet, acigar maker, and the former Henrica J. W. van Macklenbergh.[2]
After finishing his education in 1900, Sneevliet moved toZutphen and working for the Dutch railways.[2] He became a member of theSocial Democratic Workers Party (SDAP) as well as theDutch Association of Railway and Tramway Employees (NV) in 1902.[2] From 1906, Sneevliet was active for the SDAP inZwolle, where he became the firstsocial democrat city council member in the elections of 1907.
Sneevliet was very active in the NV and was elected to the union's executive committee in 1906.[2] In 1909 he was tapped as vice-chairman of the union and named as editor-in-chief of the union's official journal.[2] He became chairman of the union in 1911.[2]
Sneevliet, as a committed socialist and militant trade unionist, was strongly supportive of an international seamen's strike which was called in 1911 and was disgruntled by the failure of his union and political party to support the campaign.[2] As a result, he resigned from both organizations, joining instead the more radicalSocial Democratic Party of the Netherlands (forerunner of the Dutch Communist Party) and writing for the Marxist magazineDe Nieuwe Tijd (The New Time).[2] Sneevliet's alienation strengthened him in his decision to leave the Netherlands for theDutch East Indies.
Sneevliet lived in the Dutch East Indies (present dayIndonesia) from 1913 until 1918, where he quickly became active in the struggle against Dutch colonial rule. In 1914, he was a co-founder of theIndies Social Democratic Association (ISDV), in which both Dutch and Indonesian people were active.
He also returned to union work, becoming a member of theVereeniging 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 later formed the base for the Indonesian communist movement.
The ISDV was strictlyanti-capitalist and agitated against the Dutch colonial regime and the privileged Indonesian elites. This led to much resistance against the ISDV and Sneevliet himself, from conservative circles and from the more moderate SDAP. In 1916 therefore he left the SDAP and joined the SDP, the predecessor of the Communist Party of the Netherlands (CPN).
After theRussian 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. ISDV was repressed by the Dutch colonial authorities.
Back in the Netherlands, Sneevliet became active in the fledglingcommunist movement, becoming a salaried official of the party's National Labor Secretariat (NAS) and helping to organize a major transportation strike in 1920.[2]
The same year he was also present at the2nd World Congress of the Communist International inMoscow as a representative of thePartai Komunis Indonesia (PKI), which was the successor to Sneevliet's ISDV.[2] There Sneevliet — using the pseudonym Maring — was elected a member of theExecutive Committee of the Communist International.[3]
Vladimir Lenin was impressed enough by him to send him as aCommunist International (Comintern) representative to theRepublic of China.[4] FollowingGrigori Voitinsky's preparatory work in Shanghai to form a communist party in 1920, Sneevliet arrived in China withVladimir Neumann in June 1921 and urgedLi Da to convene a formal congress.[5]: 233 Sneevliet was present at thefounding congress of the Chinese Communist Party in July 1921.[4][3] In addition to the pseudonym Maring, Sneevliet used the names Martin, Philips, and Sentot during this period.[3]
Sneevliet was an advocate ofcooperation with the non-communist nationalistKuomintang, headed bySun Yat-sen, with whom he had personally established contact on behalf of the Comintern.[3] In 1923, Sun Yat-sen offered Sneevliet a full-time role in the Kuomintang as an adviser, but Sneevliet turned down the offer. He also rejected a separate offer from the Soviets to run the Guangzhou outpost of the Soviet state news agencyROSTA.[6]
Early in 1924, Sneevliet returned to Moscow, his tenure as a Comintern representative to China at an end.[3]
Sneevliet returned to the Netherlands from Moscow in 1924 to assume the position of secretary of theNational Labor Secretariat (NAS).[2] He joined the executive committee of the Communist Party of Holland in 1925 but the two years were marked by worsening factional relations between Sneevliet and his co-thinkers and the bulk of the CPN leadership. The denouement came in 1927, when Sneevliet broke all ties with the CPH and the Comintern.[3]
In 1929, Sneevliet formed a new political party, theRevolutionary Socialist Party (RSP).[7] This organization concentrated on national issues, gaining some successes in organizing the unemployed movement, strike actions, and the struggle against the rise offascism.
He remained interested in Indonesian affairs and in 1933 was sentenced to five months imprisonment for his solidarity actions for the Dutch and Indonesian sailors who took part in themutiny on "De Zeven Provinciën", which was put down by an air bombardment in which twenty-three sailors were killed and which at the time aroused considerable passions in the Dutch public opinion. That same year, while still imprisoned, Sneevliet was elected a member of theLower House of parliament, a position in which he remained until 1937.[2]
In August 1933, the RSP signed the "Declaration of the Four"[8] along with theInternational Communist League, led byLeon Trotsky, the OSP and theSocialist Workers' Party of Germany. This declaration was intended as a step towards a newFourth International of revolutionary socialist parties. In 1938, Sneevliet and the RSP ultimately refused to join this new international organization, however, thereby breaking with the Trotskyist movement.[3] Instead the RSP became a part of theInternational Bureau of Revolutionary Socialist Unity along with theIndependent Labour Party (Britain) and the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM) of Spain.
In Amsterdam, Sneevliet (as "Henricus" or "Henryk Sneevliet") was amongIgnace Reiss's circle, which included:Henriette Roland-Holst,Hildo Krop, PrincessJuliana of the Netherlands, "Professor Carvalho" (Ricardo Carvalho Calero), and "H. C. Pieck" (Henri Pieck). Sneevliet had informedVictor Serge that Reiss, a leading GPU official in the Netherlands was "heartbroken" by theZinoviev Trial and had crossed over to the anti-Stalinist Opposition. Sneevliet and Serge waited in Rheims to meet him on 5 September 1937, but he never arrived. In his autobiography Serge described Sneevliet that day as thus: "his face wore a persistent frown amid its close lines, but he never lost heart."[9] The train ticket to visit Sneevliet was found in his pocket when he (Reiss) was assassinated in Lausanne, Switzerland.[10]
WithJames Maxton of the ILP, Sneevliet headed deputations to civil war Spain on behalf of the international campaign for socialists there persecuted after theMay Days of Barcelona. "They harassed Republican Ministers with their questions and protests and proceeded to knock on the doors of the Communist Party's secret prisons." Despite expecting to hear that the POUM Executive had been summarily executed, the campaign, according to Victor Serge in the 1940s, saved their lives and was "a real moral triumph".[9]
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The worsening political climate both abroad and nationally and the constant struggle against both the communist and social democratic parties, as well as government interference, took a heavy toll on Sneevliet and his small organization, however. When war broke out on 10 May 1940, Sneevliet immediately dissolved the RSAP.
Some months later with Willem Dolleman and Abraham Menist, he founded a resistance group against the German occupation, theMarx-Lenin-Luxemburg-Front (MLL-Front).[11] This was largely engaged in producing propaganda for socialism and opposing theNazi occupation of the Netherlands and as such was heavily involved with theFebruary strike of 1941.
As a known communist, Sneevliet had to go into hiding even before he started his resistance activities. In the underground he edited a clandestine newspaper calledSpartakus and took part in other activities.[3] For two years he managed to keep out of the hands of the Nazis, but in April 1942 they finally arrested him and the rest of the MLL-Front leadership. Their execution took place in theAmersfoort KZ on 12 April 1942.[12] It was reported that they went to their deaths singing "The Internationale".[11]
| Trade union offices | ||
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| Preceded by | President of theDutch Association of Railway and Tramway Employees 1911–1912 | Succeeded by Petrus Moltmaker |
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