Herman Gorter
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Herman Gorter (26 November 1864,
Wormerveer Wormerveer is a town in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Zaanstad, and lies about 13 km northwest of Amsterdam. Wormerveer developed in the 15th century on the west bank of the Zaan river. It starte ...
– 15 September 1927,
Saint-Josse-ten-Noode Saint-Josse-ten-Noode () or Sint-Joost-ten-Node (), often simply called Saint-Josse or Sint-Joost, is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the north-eastern part of the region, it is bordered by the Ci ...
,
Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
) was a Dutch poet and
socialist 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 ...
. He was a leading member of the
Tachtigers The Tachtigers ("Eightiers"), otherwise known as the Movement of Eighty ( nl, Beweging van Tachtig), were a radical and influential group of Dutch writers who developed a new approach in 19th-century Dutch literature. They interacted and worked ...
, a highly influential group of
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 ...
writers who worked together in
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
in the 1880s, centered on ''
De Nieuwe Gids ''De Nieuwe Gids'' (meaning ''The New Guide'' in English) was a Dutch illustrated literary periodical which was published from 1885 to 1943. It played an important role in promoting the literary movement of the 1880s. Its contents covered a wide ...
'' (''The New Guide'').


Poetry

Gorter's first book, a 4,000 verse epic poem called '' Mei'' (''May''), sealed his reputation as a great writer upon its publication in 1889, and is regarded as the pinnacle of Dutch
Impressionist literature Literary Impressionism is influenced by the European Impressionist art movement, many writers adopted a style that relied on associations. The Dutch Tachtigers explicitly tried to incorporate impressionism into their prose, poems, and other litera ...
. Gorter rapidly followed this up with a book of short lyric poetry simply called ''Verzen'' (''Verses'') in 1890, which, after initial bad reviews, was equally hailed as a masterpiece. Initially Gorter was oriented towards the philosophy of
Spinoza Baruch (de) Spinoza (born Bento de Espinosa; later as an author and a correspondent ''Benedictus de Spinoza'', anglicized to ''Benedict de Spinoza''; 24 November 1632 – 21 February 1677) was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, b ...
, whose major work '' Ethica'' he translated from Latin into Dutch (published in 1895). At the end of the century, he was drawn towards socialism, something he shared with most of the Tachtigers, and became the most politically involved of this group. Whilst continuing to write socialist poetry, he also became a major writer of socialist theory. He was known to have had a romantic relationship with the chemist, Ada Prins (1879–1977) from 1901. She was the first Dutch woman to hold a doctorate in chemistry. According to Zwart,
Whereas Ada Prins is mostly remembered as one of Gorter’s secret lovers, she was first and foremost his educated guide into the complex and enigmatic world of twentieth-century chemistry research. Liquid crystal chemistry became an important source of inspiration for Gorter’s work and the main objective of this paper is to demonstrate her influence on Gorter’s ''Pan'' as a scientific poem.
His long epic poem called ''Pan'', written in 1912, describes a great war, which was followed by a global socialist revolution. He revised it in 1915, with the new version being published in 1916. ''Mei'' has been translated into English as ''May, an epic poem about youth''; an extensive selection from his lyric verse has been translated as ''Herman Gorter: Selected Poems''.


Politics

He joined the Social Democratic Labour Party (Sociaal-Democratische Arbeiderspartij or SDAP) in 1897. In 1909 he participated in a schism from the SDAP to form the Social-Democratic Party (Sociaal-Democratische Partij) of the Netherlands.


Correspondence with Lenin

In 1917, he hailed the
Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...
as the beginning of that global revolution. In June that year on medical advice he moved to
Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...
,
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
. Here he was in contact with a group of Russian revolutionary exiles who shared news of the revolution with him. Following the Bolshevik seizure of power also enabled him to send a letter to
Vladimir 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 ...
wishing him luck and offering him help (23 December 1917). Lenin's two replies arrived in February 1918. One wished him well with his health, the second requested him to find a some socialist experts, whether in Holland or Switzerland who could help in the restructuring of the banking system and setting up a state trading company. Gorter replied that month in a letter explaining that he had such people, but also raised political concerns over the direction of the Russian Revolution: Lenin had sanctioned the granting of concessions to the peasantry as regards establishing small scale agricultural production through land reform, whereas Gorter saw
Communist Revolution A communist revolution is a proletarian revolution often, but not necessarily, inspired by the ideas of Marxism that aims to replace capitalism with communism. Depending on the type of government, socialism can be used as an intermediate stage ...
in
Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...
, particularly in German and England arising from the seizure of power by the
industrial working class Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...
, and saw extending property rights to small peasant businesses as undermining this. He also thought that the right to national self-determination should and could only be realised in Western Europe as part of a socialist revolution. In September 1918, he wrote to Lenin again concerning the failure of the Dutch Social-Democratic Party to oppose the imperialism of America, France and Britain with the same vigour they opposed German imperialism. He implored Lenin to write something in support of this view. Lenin responded sending a copy of '' State and Revolution'', which Gorter offered to translate. Gorter also complained that the 4 members of parliament elected by the had voted in favour of relief aid from the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, and thus were siding with an imperialist faction. In 1918, the Social-Democratic Party changed its name to the
Communist Party of Holland 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 Party ...
(Communistische Partij Holland), and in 1919 Gorter left the party. In 1921 he was a founding member of the Communist Workers Party of Germany, joining its
Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...
Faction and becoming a leading supporter of the Communist Workers International.


Death

Gorter died in
Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
in 1927.


References


External links

* * * *
Herman Gorter archive
on Marxists Internet Archive
Poems of 1890 A Selection translated by Paul Vincent
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gorter, Herman 1864 births 1927 deaths People from Zaanstad Communist writers Dutch communists Dutch male poets Social Democratic Workers' Party (Netherlands) politicians Communist Workers' Party of Germany politicians Marxist writers Communist Party of the Netherlands politicians Council communists Communist Workers' Party of the Netherlands politicians