Sebald Justinus Rutgers (25 January 1879 – 14 June 1961) was aDutchMarxist theoretician and journalist who played an important role in theLeft Wing Section of theSocialist Party of America. He was also aconstruction engineer who was active in building industry in theSoviet Union.
S. J. Rutgers was born inLeiden, Netherlands on January 25, 1879. He studied from 1896 to thePolytechnical School of Delft, where he came into contact with socialism. In 1900 he graduated as a civil engineer and took a job for the municipality of Rotterdam, where he worked on the expansion of the port. At the same time, he was active from 1899 in theSDAP. From 1911 to 1915 he was director of public works inMedan, and then buyer for Indonesian companies in the United States.
DuringWorld War I, Rutgers was a frequent contributor to the Left Wingsocialist press in America. His influential articles inThe International Socialist Review and other publications supported theantimilitaristZimmerwald Left movement and helped publicize the ideas ofrevolutionary socialism to anAmerican audience. Rutgers was the financial force behind the establishment of a group called theSocialist Propaganda League of America in 1915, arevolutionary socialist forerunner of theCommunist Party of America.[1]
Rutgers was subsequently regarded as one of the leading theoreticians of the Left Wing of theSocialist Party of America, a tendency which emerged as theCommunist Party of America after 1919.
After theBolshevik Revolution of 1917, Rutgers made his way to Soviet Russia viaVladivostok andJapan.[2] Having transversed the war zone of theRussian Civil War, he arrived inMoscow whereupon he was invited to meet withLenin in theKremlin. He attended theFirst Congress of theCommunist International.[2] When the Comintern established itsAmsterdam Bureau, Rutgers was appointed secretary and given the major portion of twenty million roubles – in the form ofprecious stones – with which to found this bureau.[2]
From 1922–1926, he led the construction of an international workers cooperative, theKuzbass Autonomous Industrial Colony in theKuzbas area of Siberia. From 1930 to 1938 he worked as a consultant on the examination of large construction projects in as member of the board for foreign specialists at theRabkrin. He was also a member of the editorial board of the Soviet English-language newspaperMoskovskiye Novosti. In 1938, Rutgers left the Soviet Union.[3]
Back in the Netherlands, Rutgers became an active member of theDutch resistance during theSecond World War. After the liberation, he lived out his life as a respected, but non-influential member of theCommunist Party of the Netherlands.[4]
Sebald Rutgers died inAmersfoort, Netherlands on June 14, 1961.
A small collection of Rutgers' papers resides at theInternational Institute of Social History in Amsterdam.[5]
