The Republican Society (Dutch: ''Republikeins Genootschap'') is a Dutch republican movement, founded on 11 September 1996 in the

Prinsenhof The Prinsenhof ("The Court of the Prince") in the city of Delft in the Netherlands is an urban palace built in the Middle Ages as a monastery. Later it served as a residence for William the Silent. William was assassinated in the Prinsenhof by ...

Delft Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...

, at the initiative of Pierre Vinken. Its aim is to abolish the monarchy of the Netherlands.

Founders and goal

According to the Republican Society's website, there are fourteen founders: The idea was to start with fifteen members, and two absent people –

Harry Mulisch Harry Kurt Victor Mulisch ( ; 29 July 1927 – 30 October 2010) was a Dutch writer. He wrote more than 80 novels, plays, essays, poems, and philosophical reflections. Mulisch's works have been translated into over thirty languages. Along with Wi ...

and Schuitemaker– would be marked as co-founders ''in absentia''. However, Mulisch withdrew and thus brought the number to fourteen. These were all prominent members of Dutch society with influential positions in politics, science, business, education and journalism. The society does not have any bylaws. Unlike the

New Republican Society Republiek is a Dutch republican pressure group advocating the replacement of the Dutch Monarchy with a ''de facto'' parliamentary republic, founded in January 1998 in Amsterdam by Ewout Irrgang and Elisabeth van der Steenhoven, under the previou ...

, the Republican Society does not undertake actions to bring the

republic A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...

closer. It proceeds from the notion that the mere existence of the Republican Society will be enough to enable the restoration of the Dutch Republic in the long term. One can only become a member by

co-optation Co-option (also co-optation, sometimes spelt coöption or coöptation) has two common meanings. It may refer to the process of adding members to an elite group at the discretion of members of the body, usually to manage opposition and so maintai ...

History

Origins, leak and controversy

The group originated from Vinken's circle of friends "to discuss the last taboo in the Netherlands". The Republican Society's existence was kept a secret at first; a period of two hidden years was planned, and then to await a blunder on part of the monarchy. This decision was taken, because some members could get in trouble with their professional connections, and because opinion polls showed that 95% of the population favoured the monarchy. Initially, there was some confusion about how serious the fellowship actually was (amongst other things, the proposal "to proclaim the blue-gray napkin of the Prinsenkelder the official Flag of the Republic" suggested the gathering was at least partially in jest). After the first gathering was over, the founders sent letters to others, to confidentially inform them about the Society, with the question if they were interested in joining. In October 1996, Piet Grijs (Hugo Brandt Corstius) already betrayed the cause by writing in '' Vrij Nederland'' that, despite his fervent republicanism, he would not partake in the secrecy; however, his (limited) exposé did not cause any uproar yet. Early 1997, one of the people involved leaked the

minutes Minutes, also known as minutes of meeting (abbreviation MoM), protocols or, informally, notes, are the instant written record of a meeting or hearing. They typically describe the events of the meeting and may include a list of attendees, a state ...

of the founding meeting to ''

de Volkskrant ''de Volkskrant'' (; ''The People's Paper'') is a Dutch daily morning newspaper. Founded in 1919, it has a nationwide circulation of about 250,000. Formerly a leading centre-left Catholic broadsheet, ''de Volkskrant'' today is a medium-sized c ...

'', who revealed it to the public on 26 February 1997. The also leaked post-foundation correspondence, showed that several members had distanced themselves from the Society in the meantime; for example, Mulisch (absent during the foundation) criticised the exclusion of women and foreigners ("Decision 4: Members will also be selected based on physical characteristics: only native men are eligible."). Members approached by the media for comments, reacted annoyed on the leaking of, and/or their membership of, the Republican Society, refused to respond or desired to remain anonymous. In the media, especially ''

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 ...

'' that ran the headline "Leave our royal house alone!", and also from politics, including prime minister Wim Kok, the reaction was generally overwhelmingly negative. However, de Young Democrats and Young Socialists enthusiastically sought to join the Society, and hold nationwide discussions on monarchy and republic; the

Youth Organisation Freedom and Democracy The Youth Organisation Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Jongerenorganisatie Vrijheid en Democratie, JOVD) is a Dutch political youth organisation. The JOVD cooperates with the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), but is politically independen ...

stated they were in favour of a purely ceremonial kingship "according to the Swedish model".

Regrouping

Knapen, who had distanced himself from the Society soon after its foundation, accused ''De Telegraaf'' and ''de Volkskrant'' of taking the Society way too seriously, and called the media controversy a "farce". Van Amerongen, however, stood up defiantly in ''

De Groene Amsterdammer ''De Groene Amsterdammer'' is an independent Dutch weekly news magazine published in Amsterdam and distributed throughout the Netherlands. It is conventionally considered to be one of the four major weeklies, alongside ''HP/De Tijd'', ''Vrij Neder ...

'', in which he indeed explained "Decision 4" to be a mere joke, but the republican initiative as a whole "extremely serious" and "serious in every sense", and provided more legitimacy for the cause. He primarily rebuked ''De Telegraaf'', accusing it of hypocrisy by first calling the emergence of the Republican Society "barely noteworthy", before filling page after page about it for an entire week, and write down reviling remarks from several famous Dutch people addressed to the republicans (singer Gerard Joling called them "traitors"). Some like historian

Anton van Hooff Antonius Jacobus Leonardus (Anton) van Hooff (born 1943) is a Dutch historian of antiquity, author and a former docent. From 2009 until 2015, he chaired the freethinkers association De Vrije Gedachte. In 1971, Van Hooff graduated with the dis ...

joined the ranks of the Society, other republicans such as Socialist Party leader

Jan Marijnissen Johannes Guillaume Christianus Andreas "Jan" Marijnissen () (born 8 October 1952) is a retired Dutch politician of the Socialist Party (SP). Marijnissen, a welder by occupation, was selected as Leader of the Socialist Party after the death of ...

did not (no 'conspiratory clubs'), but did support having a public nationwide debate on the monarchy, which in their opinion unjustly appeared to be a taboo subject. Several politicians and commentators proceeded to sweeten the issue, which, despite the serious undertone, appeared to be a partially "derailed joke", because the prankish remarks in Vinken's minutes such as "Decision 4" were unintentionally taken seriously in print. Although the existence of the Republican Society was revealed prematurely and rather clumsily, it succeeded in having the form of government debated nationally. One year later, the media no longer wrote about the royal house without criticism, and the membership of the Republican Society grew rapidly.

Growth and competition

During its first anniversary in September 1997, the Republican Society itself sought publicity by showing a new, expanded list of members, which now included women and foreigners, such as

Jeroen Brouwers Jeroen Godfried Marie Brouwers (30 April 1940 – 11 May 2022) was a Dutch writer. From 1964 to 1976 Brouwers worked as an editor at Manteau publishers in Brussels. In 1964 he made his literary debut with ''Het mes op de keel'' (''The Knife ...

Remco Campert Remco Campert (28 July 1929 – 4 July 2022) was a Dutch author, poet and columnist. Early years Remco Wouter Campert was born in The Hague, son of writer and poet Jan Campert, author of the poem ''De achttien dooden'', and actress Joekie Bro ...

, Jaap van Heerden, André Haakmat, Jasperina de Jong, H.U. Jessurun d'Oliveira, Ite Rümke, André Spoor, Jan Timman, Adriaan Morrien, Theo Sontrop, Theo van Gogh and

Theodor Holman Theodor Holman (born 9 January 1953, in Amsterdam) is a Dutch journalist, presenter, and writer of Indo descent. He studied Dutch language and History at the University of Amsterdam. He was editor of the satirical student newspaper Propria Cures ...

. However, the Society's exclusivity by co-optation and the lack of public actions formed an obstacle to various politically active youths, who launched the

(NRG) on 21 January 1998 in De Balie. On 28 January, the NRG jokingly proclaimed the Third Republic of the Netherlands on Dam Square, preceding queen Beatrix's 60th birthday celebrations. The two republican societies did soon decide to approach each other and possibly cooperate. In 2005, the Republican Society and the New Republican Society co-founded the magazine '' De Republikein'' ("The Republican").

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.republikeinen.nl/ Clubs and societies in the Netherlands Political organisations based in the Netherlands Republicanism in the Netherlands