Harm Kolthek Jr. was a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

printer Printer may refer to: Technology * Printer (publishing), a person or a company * Printer (computing), a hardware device * Optical printer for motion picture films People * Nariman Printer (fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist * James ...

, journalist,

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

ist and

libertarian socialist Libertarian socialism, also known by various other names, is a left-wing,Diemer, Ulli (1997)"What Is Libertarian Socialism?" The Anarchist Library. Retrieved 4 August 2019. anti-authoritarian, anti-statist and libertarianLong, Roderick T. (201 ...

politician. Kolthek led the

syndicalist Syndicalism is a revolutionary current within the left-wing of the labor movement that seeks to unionize workers according to industry and advance their demands through strikes with the eventual goal of gaining control over the means of pr ...

federation of trade unions, the

National Labor Secretariat The National Labor Secretariat ( nl, Nationaal Arbeids-Secretariaat, NAS) was a trade union federation in the Netherlands from 1893 to 1940. Early years In the late 1880s and early 1890s the idea that trade unions should no longer be branches of ...

(NAS), from 1907 to 1913. He later founded and led the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

, sometimes called the "Kolthek party" after its founder, and served in the Netherlands House of Representatives for this party from 1918 to 1922. Kolthek was born in 1872 in the village of Westerbroek, the son of Harm Kolthek Sr., factory worker, and Talligje van Eerden. At the age of twenty, he became involved in

socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

after his later wife's brother was arrested and abused by

hussars A hussar ( , ; hu, huszár, pl, husarz, sh, husar / ) was a member of a class of light cavalry, originating in Central Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries. The title and distinctive dress of these horsemen were subsequently widely ...

at a worker's revolt in

Sappemeer Sappemeer () is a town in the Dutch province of Groningen. It is located in the municipality of Midden-Groningen to the east of Hoogezand. Sappemeer was a separate municipality until 1949, when it merged with Hoogezand. The village is the Europea ...

; the brother-in-law succumbed to his injuries. In 1907, he became secretary of the NAS, which at the time was coping with financial troubles. Under Kolthek's leadership, the problems were overcome and membership of the NAS tripled. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Kolthek worked in France as war correspondent for ''

De Telegraaf ''De Telegraaf'' (; en, The Telegraph) is the largest Dutch daily morning newspaper. Haro Kraak,Gaat Paul Jansen de crisis bij De Telegraaf oplossen?, '' de Volkskrant'', 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2015. Paul Jansen has been the editor-in-chief s ...

''. In 1918, Kolthek was elected party leader of the NAS's political arm, the Socialist Party (SP). He was elected to Parliament the same year on the SP's bill. He joined forces with

Willy Kruyt Willy Kruyt ( John William Kruyt; 8 September 1877 – July 1943) was a Dutch Protestant minister and Christian socialist, later Communist, politician. Background The son of a Dutch publisher and his Scottish wife, Kruyt studied theology at Ut ...

of the

League of Christian Socialists The League of Christian Socialists ( nl, Bond Christen-Socialisten, or BCS) was a Dutch Christian socialist political party. Party History The BCS was founded in 1907. In the 1918 elections, the first election with a system of proportional repr ...

, but the cooperation did not last. In 1925, Kolthek moved to Groningen, a city near his native village, for medical reasons: he had a disease of the eye and required treatment, which he found at the city's academic hospital. He returned to (local) politics in 1931, getting elected to the Groningen municipal council on behalf of the Rights and Freedom party ( nl, Recht en Vrijheid), which he had founded. Both in 1935 and 1939, the party obtained five council seats. Kolthek's 1946 death spelled the end of this party.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kolthek, Harm 1872 births 1946 deaths Dutch socialists Dutch trade unionists Libertarian socialists Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Municipal councillors of Groningen (city) People from Hoogezand-Sappemeer Syndicalists