The Social Democratic League ( nl, Sociaal-Democratische Bond, SDB) was a

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 ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

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 ...

. Founded in 1881, the SDB was the first socialist party to enter the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

Party history

Before 1881

In the 1860s a socialist movement began to develop in the Netherlands. The development was aided by the foundation of the

First International The International Workingmen's Association (IWA), often called the First International (1864–1876), was an international organisation which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing socialist, communist and anarchist groups and trad ...

and the foundation of the first

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 ...

s. Most of those unions however were united in the moderate (General Dutch Workingmans' Association; ANWV) in 1871, which was founded by Protestants and liberals to combat the influence of the Dutch section of the First International. Some prominent Dutch representatives of the First International joined the ANWV in order to radicalise the organisation. In 1878 they, led by Willem Ansigh, left the ANWV to found the Sociaal-Democratische Vereeniging (Social-Democratic Association; SDV). It had branches in major cities like

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 ...

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

and

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte (river), Rotte'') is the second largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the Prov ...

1881–1893: Social Democratic League

The SDB was founded in 1881 by members of the SDV and similar local socialist parties. The strongest of these local socialist parties were located in the poor rural province

Friesland Friesland (, ; official fry, Fryslân ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia, is a province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen, northwest of Drenthe and Overijssel, north of ...

. The party was based on

Marxist Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialecti ...

principles and therefore expected a

proletarian revolution A proletarian revolution or proletariat revolution is a social revolution in which the working class attempts to overthrow the bourgeoisie and change the previous political system. Proletarian revolutions are generally advocated by socialists, ...

. In 1882 Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis, a lapsed Lutheran minister, was elected as general secretary of the party. He would hold this position until 1887 and grow to become the party's strongman, he retained the position when he was in prison in 1886–1887 for insulting the monarchy. The party published the paper "Justice for All" (''Recht voor Allen'') of which Domela was editor. The SDB was also affiliated to the League for General Suffrage, which was a dominantly liberal organisation which campaigned for universal suffrage. In 1888, despite the party's revolutionary orientation it decided to participate in the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operat ...

. Domela Nieuwenhuis was elected to the

for the district of Schoterland. The party was supported by the liberal Frisian People's Party (''Friesche Volkspartij''). Domela Nieuwenhuis won the seat in the second round with the support from the Protestant

Anti-Revolutionary Party The Anti-Revolutionary Party ( nl, Anti-Revolutionaire Partij, ARP) was a Protestant conservative and Christian democratic political party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1879 by Abraham Kuyper, a neo-Calvinist theologian and mi ...

, which preferred a socialist over a liberal MP. In parliament Domela Nieuwenhuis tried to gain attention for the interests of the Dutch workers, but he was ignored by other MPs. In the 1891 general election Domela decided not stand for reelection. His seat was taken by

Willem Treub Marie Willem Frederik Treub (30 November 1858, Voorschoten – 24 July 1931, The Hague) was a Dutch politician. Biography Marie Willem Frederik Treub was born to Jacobus Petrus Treub, mayor of Voorschoten, and his wife Marie Louise Cornaz. To ...

, a member of the left-liberal

Radical League The Radical League ( nl, Radicale Bond) was a progressive liberal political party in the Netherlands from its founding in 1892 until it merged with the left wing of the Liberal Union to form the Free-thinking Democratic League in 1901. Histor ...

. This electoral defeat led to debate within the party. A group of 'moderates' wanted to continue the parliamentary work and the

reformist Reformism is a political doctrine advocating the reform of an existing system or institution instead of its abolition and replacement. Within the socialist movement, reformism is the view that gradual changes through existing institutions can ...

course, another group, led by Domela Nieuwenhuis, wanted to pursue an anti-parliamentary course with a strong

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessar ...

orientation. This led to a split; during the SDB party conference of 1893 in Groningen, a majority voted to stop participating in the elections. A minority of members led by

Pieter Jelles Troelstra Pieter Jelles Troelstra (20 April 1860 – 12 May 1930) was a Dutch lawyer, journalist and politician active in the socialist workers' movement. He is most remembered for his fight for universal suffrage and his failed call for revolution at the ...

tried to prevent this, and later left the party in order to create a new party. The split mirrored a larger conflict in the First International between reformists and revolutionaries, and Marxists and anarchists.

1893–1900: Socialists' League

In 1893 the SDB was forbidden by the court because the party had promoted illegal means to attain its goal. In response the party renamed itself Socialists' League (''Socialistenbond'', SB). When the anarchist elements began to take full control of the SDB, important regional social democratic figures joined the group around Troelstra. Together they formed a group called "the twelve apostles". They founded the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) in 1894. In 1896 the radical wing of the party, led by Domela Nieuwenhuis, left the SB and continued without a party organisation. They chose for an anarchist course and

direct action Direct action originated as a political activist term for economic and political acts in which the actors use their power (e.g. economic or physical) to directly reach certain goals of interest, in contrast to those actions that appeal to oth ...

. They founded the paper ''De Vrije Socialist'' ("The Free Socialist") and became strongly linked to the Nationaal Arbeidssecretariaat (

National Workers' 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) an anarcho-syndicalist union founded in 1893. In 1901 the district of Schoterland elected the independent Socialist candidate, Geert van der Zwaag as its MP. His views were similar to those of Domela Nieuwenhuis in the 1880s. In 1900 the SB joined the SDAP which had become electorally successful. When Domela Nieuwenhuis died in 1919 the anarchist movement in the Netherlands lost significance.

Name

Before the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of 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 adopt a socialist form of government ...

the term

social democrat Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soc ...

and

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...

were used interchangeably to denote a

ideology. Social democrat was not more or less radical than socialist. The organisations called itself League (''Bond'') because it did not see itself as a party in the traditional sense. It was entrenched in the extra-parliamentary opposition and only entered elections once.

Ideology and issues

The SDB was a Marxist party and it saw a socialist revolution, which would replace the capitalist system with a socialist one, as inevitable. Important issues for the party were the prohibition of alcohol, the abolition of the army and the replacement of the monarchy with a republic and the independence of the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, whic ...

. Practical social-economic reforms the party wanted to implement were the free education, better pay for teachers, a ban on child labour, a limited working day for women, the implementation of a system of

social security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...

and a better housing for workers.

Representation

This table shows the SDB's results in elections to the

and

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

, as well as the party's political leadership: the ''fractievoorzitter'' is the chair of the parliamentary party and the, in this case sole, candidate in the general election, these posts are normally taken by the party's leader.

Electorate

The electorate of the SDB was mainly located in the poor rural province of

. In the 1888 the party profited from the extension of suffrage to small farmers and other members of the middle class. In the second round the support of the Protestant ARP was crucial. They supported the SDB because they preferred a socialist over a liberal. In the 1890s the party began to win support in the poor rural province of

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of t ...

and larger cities like

and

Zaandam Zaandam () is a city in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is the main city of the municipality of Zaanstad, and received city rights in 1811. It is located on the river Zaan, just north of Amsterdam. The statistical district Zaand ...

. The SDAP would however soon overtake the party in these regions. {{Socialist parties in the Netherlands Defunct socialist parties in the Netherlands Second International Political parties established in 1881 1881 establishments in the Netherlands Political parties disestablished in 1900 1900 disestablishments in the Netherlands