Frederik "Fré" Meis (17 November 1921 – 15 December 1992) was a Dutch communist politician and trade unionist. He served in the House of Representatives for the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

from 1971 until 1977, the Municipal Council of the

city of Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

from 1949 until 1958 and 1960 until 1978, and in the Provincial Council of Groningen from 1962 until 1978. Meis received national attention as the leader of the 1969

strikes Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...

in Oude Pekela, and the 1970 strike in the Port of Rotterdam.

Biography

Meis was born on 17 November 1921 in Oude Pekela, Netherlands in a communist family. After finishing elementary school, he worked on a farm and later for a

brickworks A brickworks, also known as a brick factory, is a factory for the manufacturing of bricks, from clay or shale. Usually a brickworks is located on a clay bedrock (the most common material from which bricks are made), often with a quarry for cl ...

. In 1943, during World War II, he became a

forced labourer Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern history, modern or Early Modern period, early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of poverty, destitution, detention (imp ...

in Delfzijl, and later was ordered to built bunkers on the German island of

Borkum Borkum ( nds, Borkum, Börkum) is an island and a municipality in the Leer District in Lower Saxony, northwestern Germany. It is situated east of Rottumeroog and west of Juist. Geography Borkum is bordered to the west by the Westerems strait ...

. After the liberation of the Netherlands, Meis joined the Communist Party of the Netherlands (CPN) and helped distribute ''

De Waarheid ''De Waarheid'' (literally 'The Truth') was the newspaper of the Communist Party of the Netherlands. It originated in 1940 under the German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or part ...

'', the party newspaper. In July 1946, he was a candidate for the Provincial Council of Groningen, but did not get elected. In the same month, he was a candidate in the

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counci ...

Winschoten Winschoten (; gos, Winschoot) is a city with a population of 18,518 in the municipality of Oldambt in the northeast of the Netherlands. It is the largest city in the region of Oldambt in the province of Groningen which has 38,213 inhabitants. ...

, and was elected. In 1948, Meis was fired, and had difficulty finding employment as a known communist. He moved to the

. On 22 June 1949, he was elected to the municipal council of the Groningen and served until 28 May 1958. He was re-elected on 31 October 1960 and served until 1 November 1978. On 6 June 1962, he was elected to the Provincial Council of Groningen.

Strike leader

On 22 September 1969, the employees of the cardboard factory Union in Oude Pekela called a Monday

wildcat strike The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while the ...

and demanded the same wages as their colleagues in the west of the country. Meis went to Oude Pekela to organise the strike. The strike spread to more factories in the region, and from 27 October onwards, 23,000 employees were on strike each Monday. The press referred to the strikes as "Red Mondays". On 15 December 1969, 30 women at cigar factory Champ Clark in

Nieuwe Pekela Nieuwe Pekela ( Gronings: ''Nij Pekel'') is a village in the Dutch province of Groningen. It is located in the municipality of Pekela, about 7 km southeast of Veendam. The village started as a peat colony, and was named after the river Pekel ...

called the first women's strike of the Netherlands for the same wages as their male colleagues. Champ Clark threatened to fire the women, however the women went to Meis who brought in the union. The strikes were successful. Regional differences in pay were no longer considered acceptable, and women and men were to receive equal pay. At the in Groningen the Communist Party scored an electoral victory with 14% of the votes. The newspapers called it the "Meis-effect". Meis was promoted to the executive committee of the CPN. In August 1970, a strike was called in the Port of Rotterdam. The CPN dispatched Meis to Rotterdam, who quickly became the leader of the strike, and ensured that all demands were met.

Later life

On 11 May 1971, Meis was elected to the House of Representatives, and served until 8 June 1977. On 1 November 1978, Meis retired from the municipal and provincial councils due to health problems. In 1987, he published his autobiography "40 jaar actie" (40 years action). Meis remained a communist after the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

. In 1990, the CPN abandoned its

Marxist–Leninist Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialect ...

roots and merged with GroenLinks. Meis reluctantly joined the new party. In 1992, he resigned from GroenLinks after fellow party member had made a remark about the old-

Stalinist Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory o ...

s. Meis had also been conducting weddings for the civil registry of Groningen since 1969. On the advice of his doctor, he retired, and conducted his last marriage on 14 December 1992. Meis died on 15 December 1992 in Groningen, at the age of 71. In 2002, a statue of Fré Meis by was revealed in Oude Pekela.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meis, Fre 1921 births 1992 deaths People from Pekela Dutch communists Communist Party of the Netherlands politicians Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Members of the Provincial Council of Groningen Municipal councillors of Groningen (city) Dutch World War II forced labourers Dutch trade unionists