The Socialist Alternative Politics (Dutch: ''Socialistische Alternatieve Politiek,'' or SAP) is a

Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a ...

political group A political group is a group consisting of political parties or legislators of aligned ideologies. A technical group is similar to a political group, but with members of differing ideologies. International terms Equivalent terms are used differ ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

without parliamentary representation.

History

Early roots of the SAP

The SAP traces back its roots to the beginning of the

movement in the Netherlands. In 1945 the Revolutionary Communist Party was founded as the Dutch member of the

Fourth International The Fourth International (FI) is a revolutionary socialist international organization consisting of followers of Leon Trotsky, also known as Trotskyists, whose declared goal is the overthrowing of global capitalism and the establishment of ...

. However the party was unsuccessful as an independent party and was disbanded in 1952. The former RCP members opted for an entryist tactic in the PvdA. They formed the Social Democratic Centre (SDC) as an internal pressure group to move the PvdA leftwards. However the SDC membership was expelled from the PvdA in 1959. This severely weakened the Dutch section of the

. Their entryist strategy was expanded to include other leftwing parties and organizations, mainly the Socialist Workers Party (Dutch: ''Socialistische Werkerspartij)'', the Workers' Youth Central (youth movement of the NVV ) and later the

Pacifist Socialist Party The Pacifist Socialist Party ( nl, Pacifistisch Socialistische Partij, PSP) was a democratic socialist Dutch socialist political party. The PSP played a small role in Dutch politics. It is one of the predecessors of the GreenLeft. Party histor ...

(PSP). Within the PSP it formed the Proletarian Left (PL) group. The PL and the PSP leadership clashed on the formation of a broad progressive coalition together with the PvdA and the progressive

Political Party of Radicals The Political Party of Radicals ( nl, Politieke Partij Radikalen, PPR) was a progressive Christian and green political party in the Netherlands. The PPR played a relatively small role in Dutch politics and merged with other left-wing parties to ...

(PPR). The PL was opposed of the participation of the PSP in this coalition, which eventually led to a split between PL and the PSP in 1972.

From Proletarian Left to Socialist Workers Party

The PL decided to form a new openly Trotskyist "revolutionary workers'

vanguard party Vanguardism in the context of Leninist revolutionary struggle, relates to a strategy whereby the most class-conscious and politically "advanced" sections of the proletariat or working class, described as the revolutionary vanguard, form organ ...

". At this point the PL had about 300 members. The party was originally called Communist League-Proletarian Left (Dutch: ''Kommunistenbond- Proletarisch Links, KB-PL).'' In 1974 the party changed its name to International Communist League (Dutch: ''Internationale Kommunistenbond, IKB)'' and formally re-affiliated with the

. In response to the change in course of the

, which with the 'turn to industry' wanted to focus more on the organizing of industrial workers the IKB again changed its name to the Socialist Workers Party (Dutch: ''Socialistische Arbeiderspartij'') in 1983. In the late 1980s the entire Dutch non- social democratic left was in decline. This caused a major push for left unity, which eventually led to the

Communist Party of the Netherlands The Communist Party of the Netherlands ( nl, Communistische Partij Nederland, , CPN) was a Dutch communist party. The party was founded in 1909 as the Social-Democratic Party (SDP) and merged with the Pacifist Socialist Party, the Political Part ...

(CPN), the PSP, the PPR and the non-parliamentary Evangelical People's Party (EVP) to at first form a common election list and later merged to form a new political party:

GreenLeft GroenLinks (, ) is a Green politics, green List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands. It was formed on 1 March 1989 from the merger of four Left-wing politics, left-wing parties: the Communist Party of th ...

. The SAP was excluded from these unity talks.

Crisis and regroupment

In the early 2000s the SAP discussed multiple strategies to regain relevance. Attempts to merge with the International Socialists (IS) did not succeed and many member left the organization to join other leftwing parties. Membership numbers dwindled to about 40. It was decided that the group could no longer consider itself a 'party' and therefore was renamed Socialist Alternative Politics (Dutch: ''Socialistische Alternatieve Politiek).'' The paper version of their magazine ''Grenzeloos'' (Borderless) was canceled in 2013. The SAP published a newspaper ''Klassenstrijd'' which in 1992 was renamed to ''Grenzeloos''. The SAP also for a time had an affiliated youth wing called ''Rebel.'' Rebel fizzled out in the late 1990s.

Activities

Members of the SAP are active in the trade union

Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging The Federation of Dutch Trade Unions ( nl, Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging, FNV) is a national trade union centre in the Netherlands. In addition to member unions, workers in many sectors can join the FNV directly. History The FNV was founded ...

(FNV) and contribute to the

International Institute for Research and Education The International Institute for Research and Education (IIRE) is a research and educational centre based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It conducts training and publishes research for and by progressive activists around the world. The institute was ...

(IIRE) which is based in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

. Many of its members are also active within 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 t ...

(SP), although not in an entryist fashion. For instance Leo de Kleijn was a SAP member who was a city council member for the SP in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...

Elections

The IKB/SAP occasionally participated in elections, although it never managed to win seats on its own. At the local level it often sought coalitions with other leftwing groups, for instance PSP, SP and

The Greens The Greens or Greens may refer to: Current political parties *Australian Greens, also known as ''The Greens'' *Greens of Andorra * Greens of Bosnia and Herzegovina *Greens of Burkina * Greens (Greece) * Greens of Montenegro *Greens of Serbia *Gree ...

, through which SAP members were elected to city council in among others Deventer and

. The SAP as an organization no longer participates in elections, although individual member still run as candidates for other parties.

References

External links

Official web site
{{Authority control 1972 establishments in the Netherlands Fourth International (post-reunification) Political parties established in 1972 Socialist Party (Netherlands) Trotskyist organisations in the Netherlands