United Communist Party ( nl, Verenigde Communistische Partij or VCP) is a small

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 ...

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 ...

, formed in 1999, and mainly based in Oldambt and

Pekela Pekela () is a municipality in the province of Groningen in the Netherlands. It was created in 1990 when Oude Pekela and Nieuwe Pekela were merged. History The municipality of Pekela was created when the municipalities of Oude Pekela and Nieuw ...

. It is a break-away party from the

New Communist Party of the Netherlands The New Communist Party of the Netherlands ( nl, Nieuwe Communistische Partij Nederland, NCPN) is a communist party in the Netherlands. The NCPN was founded in 1992 by the former members of the Communist Party of the Netherlands to oppose CPN's me ...

(NCPN).

History

The VCP was created as a local split of the NCPN in north-east Groningen. The NCPN was created in 1992 by members of 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) who opposed the merger of the CPN with other leftwing parties to form

GroenLinks GroenLinks (, ) is a green political party in the Netherlands. It was formed on 1 March 1989 from the merger of four left-wing parties: the Communist Party of the Netherlands, the Pacifist Socialist Party, the Political Party of Radicals and t ...

in the late eighties. North-east Groningen is historically a bulwark of support for the CPN, and later the NCPN. The main reason of the split lied in a disagreement surrounding a large construction project, consisting of mainly expensive villas, called

Blauwestad Blauwestad () is a village in the municipality of Oldambt in the Netherlands. It is situated on the east bank of the Oldambtmeer in the east of the province of Groningen. History After the Oldambtmeer was created in 2005, the village of Blauw ...

. The Scheemda chapter of the NCPN was opposed to the plan, while the Reiderland chapter was in favor. In Reiderland the NCPN was part of the governing coalition, whereas in Scheemda the party was part of the opposition. In 1999 this disagreement led to a definite split, with the

Scheemda Scheemda () is a village with a population of 2,445 in the municipality of Oldambt in the province of Groningen in the Netherlands. Scheemda was a separate municipality until 2010, when it merged with Reiderland and Winschoten to form the muni ...

chapter forming the VCP. In 2009 the municipalities of

and

Reiderland Reiderland () is a former municipality in the province Groningen in the northeastern Netherlands, which was founded in 1990 during a large municipal reorganisation. The former municipalities Finsterwolde and Bad Nieuweschans were abolished and add ...

merged to form the new municipality of Oldambt. Both the NCPN and the VCP contested the elections in the new municipality, however only the VCP won representation.

Election results

Ideology

The VCP describes itself as a party based upon

scientific socialism Scientific socialism is a term coined in 1840 by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon in his book ''What is Property?'' to mean a society ruled by a scientific government, i.e., one whose sovereignty rests upon reason, rather than sheer will: Thus, in a given ...

as developed by

Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 p ...

Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
''

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...

. The party strives to eliminate, through democratic means, all elements of

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for Profit (economics), profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, pric ...

and its outgrowths, such as

fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...

national socialism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...

and all other forms of suppression and exploitation. In its day to day political work in Oldambt the party focuses on transparancy and the support of grassroots actions.

References

External links

* {{in lang, nl Communist parties in the Netherlands Regionalist parties in the Netherlands Politics of Groningen (province) Political parties established in 1999 1999 establishments in the Netherlands