The Social Democratic Workers' Party (, SDAP) was a socialist political party in the Netherlands existing from 1894 to 1946. Originating from a split in the prior Social Democratic League, the party was a predecessor of the social democratic Labour Party.
History 1893–1904 The SDAP was founded by members of the Social Democratic League (SDB) after a conflict between anarchist and reformist factions. During the SDB party conference of 1893 in Groningen, a majority voted to stop participating in the elections. They were afraid that the parliamentary work would drift the socialists away from what socialism was really about. A minority of members led by Pieter Jelles Troelstra tried to prevent this, and later left the party in order to found a new party. The foundation of a new party was controversial within the socialist movement, because Troelstra was seen as a bourgeois force who had destroyed the unity of the SDB and the socialist movement. When the anarchist elements began to take full control of the SDB, important regional social democratic figures joined the group around Troelstra. Together they formed a group called "the twelve apostles". The twelve apostles nearly all came from the provinces of Friesland and Groningen or from large cities like Amsterdam and Rotterdam, and most were intellectual-type men like teachers, vicars or lawyers. That is why SDB members and other socialists mockingly called the SDAP not a workers' party but a teachers' (Dutch: Schoolmeesters), vicars (Dutch: Dominees) and lawyers (Dutch: Advocaten) party still forming the acronym SDAP.
The party was founded in Zwolle in 1894. The party programme was a literal translation of the Erfurt Program of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Both parties believed in an imminent revolution which would make an end to suffering and inequality between classes and between men and women. The parliamentary work was only seen as a means to help the workers before the revolution would set off.
In its first years, the SDAP was a small party, searching for the best way to organise itself. It received a lot of financial and organisational support from the German SPD. In 1894, the International recognised the SDAP as the labour party. The SDAP was open for other socialist organisations, such as trade unions to associate themselves with the party.
In 1896, Cornélie Huygens became the first female member of the SDAP, and the first woman in the Netherlands to be a member of a political party. She was known as the "Red Lady".
In the 1897 general election, the party won its first two seats in the House of Representatives. Pieter Jelles Troelstra, a controversial person in the party, won the seat of Tietsjerksteradeel in Friesland and became chairman of the parliamentary party. In parliament the SDAP supported the social legislation of the Liberal majority cabinet, led by Nicolaas Pierson. The core of the cabinet was formed by the Liberal Union. During this period the party became the major socialist party of the Netherlands, attracting famous writers and poets like Herman Gorter, Henriette Roland Holst and Herman Heijermans, and the journalist Pieter Lodewijk Tak.
In 1900, party leader Troelstra visited Berlin and received a considerable sum of money, with which the party founded its own daily newspaper, called Het Volk, Dagblad voor de Arbeiderspartij ("The People, Paper for the Workers' Party"). In the same year the remainder of the SDB, which had been renamed Socialist League, joined the SDAP.
In the 1901 general election, the SDAP performed particularly well; it tripled its seats to six, the Liberal cabinet which the socialists supported lost its majority. The Coalition cabinet, composed of the Protestant Anti-Revolutionary Party and the Catholic General League, ignored the Socialists. After the election victory the party's power in the socialist pillar began to rise. In a massive reorganisation, the associated socialist organisations had to integrate with the party's branches.
1903–1919 In January 1903, a large strike broke out in the docking sector, out of solidarity, other sectors like the railway sector went on strike as well. The employers responded by firing the strikers. Years of suppression of the socialist movement and trade unions led to a huge revolt. The strikers demanded the re-employment of fired strikers, payment of wages for the striking days and the recognition of trade unions. The surprised directors of the railway companies accepted the demands. Meanwhile, the confessional cabinet led by Kuyper wanted to end the strike by posing harsh penalties against the strikers, because the strike struck vital industries.
Initially, the SDAP supported the strike, hoping it would spark a socialist revolution. But in reaction to the government legislation, moderate party members, including Troelstra, turned against the strikes. This led to a controversy between orthodox Marxists and moderate revisionists.
The strike ended the cooperation of socialist unions with confessional unions and the social democratic SDAP and anarchists of other organisations. The strike however did not only lead to breaches. The trade unions were prepared to unite and work together with the SDAP. The Dutch Confederation of Trade Unions (NVV) was founded in 1905 by Henri Polak.
After the railway strike, the conflict between revisionists and orthodox Marxists intensified both within the SDAP and internationally. In 1903 Troelstra lost control of Het Volk to the orthodox faction. In 1904, the orthodox faction had another victory, when revisionism was forbidden by the conference of the International in Amsterdam.
On the eve of the 1905 general election, the revisionists won a crucial victory. The party decided to support liberal candidates who were in favour of universal suffrage. The party gained one seat, meaning it held seven seats, and supported the liberal minority De Meester cabinet.
Many members of the SDAP were irritated by the behaviour of the orthodox Marxists who were continuously denouncing moderates. Troelstra openly attacked the orthodox Marxists and the party congress in a formal resolution declared to oppose all labelling opportunists and revisionists. The orthodox Marxist chairman Pieter Lodewijk Tak resigned and was succeeded by Willem Vliegen. Tak also lost control of Het Volk to Vliegen.
In 1907, a group of orthodox Marxists around David Wijnkoop founded the magazine De Tribune, which attacked the revisionist leadership of the SDAP. Troelstra and other leaders removed him and his associates from the party ranks in 1909. Wijnkoop founded the orthodox Marxist Social Democratic Party (SDP) the same year. The SDP later became the Communist Party of Holland. This was one of the first splits within the European labour movement.
In the 1909 general election, the SDAP held on to its seven seats, but their liberal allies lost many seats to the Coalition parties, who won a majority of sixty seats. In the knowledge that they could not accomplish anything in parliament, the SDAP focused on the extra-parliamentary movement for universal suffrage, for both men and women, regardless of class.
The party's original strategy was to organise mass strikes for universal suffrage. But the socialist union NVV feared reprisals from employers, so the SDAP decided to start a petition. In a mass demonstration in The Hague on Prinsjesdag the petition was presented to parliament. The SDAP called it Roode Dinsdag ("Red Tuesday"). The demonstration led to considerable controversy, when Queen Wilhelmina decided not to attend the Prinsjesdag ceremonies. For the 1912 Prinsjesdag the Red Tuesday was forbidden.
During this time, the women's movement began to influence the party. Women were deprived of political influence in the party, and the party leadership was split over the issue. Socialist women organisations began to flourish because of the struggle for universal suffrage. The SDAP founded a women's section, called Samen Sterk (Together Strong). Samen Sterk tried to found trade unions for female employees, starting with house maids. This caused considerable controversy in bourgeoisie circles.
In the 1913 general election, the SDAP more than doubled its seats to 15. As a serious force in parliament, the SDAP was asked to participate in government by the liberal formateur, and was offered three ministerial posts. The SDAP, even the reformist Troelstra, refused government participation, because the party acknowledged one of its major ideals, national disarmament, could not be realised. Instead of an unstable minority government, an extra-parliamentary cabinet was formed, comprising liberal and non-partisan ministers. The cabinet intended to realise socialist demands, like universal suffrage, the state pension and the eight-hour working day.
After the 1913 municipal elections, however, the SDAP did accept government responsibility in Zaandam and Amsterdam, forming municipal executives with the liberals.
After World War I had broken out, the SDAP supported the Dutch policy of armed neutrality. This support was welcomed by the leaders of the other parties but not by many SDAP members. In 1915, a special conference declared that the SDAP only supported the government temporarily and the support could be withdrawn, thus preventing another party-wide conflict.
During the war, the Allies blockaded the Dutch ports, which in turn led to an enormous lack of food; riots broke out in the major cities. The SDAP supported the government actions against these riots. Many of the protesters were furious about the SDAP and changed allegiance to the Social Democratic Party.
Meanwhile, the political system was in revision. A constitutional reform enabling universal suffrage was prepared by the liberal cabinet. In order to realise this change a two-thirds majority was necessary. This practically meant that all major parties, including the Coalition parties needed to agree with the change. The Coalition parties would consent to the change, but only if confessional schools would be granted finances equal to the public schools and if universal suffrage was not extended to women.
The SDAP was especially critical of the second demand. On 17 September 1916, it organised a mass rally with 40,000 demonstrators, demanding female suffrage. In the end, however, the party consented with the changes the confessional parties demanded. With some changes, women were granted the right to be elected and women's suffrage was deconstitutionalised, meaning that only a normal majority was necessary to implement the change. In 1919, the left-liberal Henri Marchant initiated a bill to implement female suffrage, and in 1922 the first election with real universal suffrage was held.
In 1918, the first general election with universal suffrage and proportional representation was held. The SDAP won 22 of the 100 seats. One of these seats was taken by Suze Groeneweg, the first woman elected to parliament. Four seats were won by other left-wing parties, including the communists. The confessional parties however won a majority.
In November 1918, revolution broke out in Germany. SDAP leader Troelstra thought that the Netherlands was ready for revolution as well. In a speech in parliament he demanded the resignation of the government, because he expected the army and the police to support the revolution. The government did not resign. Instead, it prevented revolution from spreading. In doing so they were supported by most of the Dutch population. This incident is called "Troelstra's mistake" (). Many SDAP members were displeased with Troelstra. He politically survived the 1919 party congress, though only narrowly.
Troelstra's mistake, the SDAP's reluctance to form a socialist/liberal government in 1913 and the electoral strength of the confessional parties prevented the SDAP's participation in government until 1939.