Henriette Goverdine Anna "Jet" Roland Holst-van der Schalk (24 December 1869 – 21 November 1952) was a Dutch

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and

Council communist Council communism or councilism is a current of communist thought that emerged in the 1920s. Inspired by the November Revolution, council communism was opposed to state socialism and advocated workers' councils and council democracy. Co ...

. She was nominated for the

Nobel Prize in Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...

. She had many noted relatives. Her husband was the artist

Richard Roland Holst Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst (4 December 1868, Amsterdam – 31 December 1938, Bloemendaal) was a Dutch painter, draftsman, lithographer, book cover designer, etcher and writer. Many of his works were in a modified Symbolist style. Life and wor ...

. The poet

Adriaan Roland Holst Adriaan Roland Holst (Amsterdam, 23 May 1888 – Bergen, North Holland, 5 August 1976) was a Dutch writer, nicknamed the "Prince of Dutch Poets". He was the second winner, in 1948, of the Constantijn Huygens Prize. He was nominated for t ...

(1888–1976), nicknamed "the Dutch Prince of Poets", was the nephew of her husband.

Early life

Born in

Noordwijk Noordwijk () is a town and municipality in the west of the Netherlands, in the provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of of which is water and had a population of in . On 1 January 2019, the f ...

on 24 December 1869, Roland Holst was brought up in the affluent,

liberal Christian Liberal Christianity, also known as liberal theology and historically as Christian modernism (see Catholic modernism and fundamentalist–modernist controversy), is a movement that interprets Christian teaching by prioritizing modern knowledg ...

family of the notary Theodore Willem van der Schalk and Anna Ida van der Schalk-van der Hoeven. Roland Holst attended four years of boarding school in Velp and studied French in Liege. Roland Holst soon came to develop a talent as a poet. She married the artist

in 1896 and befriended the poet

Herman Gorter Herman Gorter (; 26 November 1864 – 15 September 1927) was a Dutch poet and council communist theoretician. He was a leading member of the Tachtigers, a highly influential group of Dutch writers who worked together in Amsterdam in the 1880 ...

, who prompted her to read ''

Das Kapital ''Capital: A Critique of Political Economy'' (), also known as ''Capital'' or (), is the most significant work by Karl Marx and the cornerstone of Marxian economics, published in three volumes in 1867, 1885, and 1894. The culmination of his ...

'' by

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

. Around this time she became

politically Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of status or resources. The branch of social science that studies poli ...

active and began her career as a writer on political, historical and

philosophical Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

fields.

Poetry

Around 1890, Henriette met Albert Verwey, who with

Willem Kloos Willem Johannes Theodorus Kloos (; 6 May 1859 – 31 March 1938) was a nineteenth-century Dutch poet and literary critic. He was one of the prominent figures of the Movement of Eighty and became editor in chief of '' De Nieuwe Gids'' after the e ...

was among the leaders of the

Tachtigers The Tachtigers ("Eightiers"), otherwise known as the Movement of Eighty (), were a radical and influential group of Dutch writers who developed a new approach in 19th-century Dutch literature. They interacted and worked together in Amsterdam fro ...

and the founders of

De Nieuwe Gids (from Dutch: ''The New Guide'') 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 range of topics, extend ...

. In 1892 she met the painter

Jan Toorop Johannes Theodorus "Jan" TooropJan Toorop
Netherlands Institute for Art History, 2014. Retrieved on 18 February 201 ...

. She wrote about Toorop and Verwey in her first sonnets. In these poems she showcased her intense needs as an artist, more precisely: as a poet.

Socialism

At the age of 27 Roland Holst joined the SDAP. She was then working night after night in smoky halls calling for workers' struggle to improve their miserable fate. She became part of the party leadership and, in 1900, was delegated to the

Second International The Second International, also called the Socialist International, was a political international of Labour movement, socialist and labour parties and Trade union, trade unions which existed from 1889 to 1916. It included representatives from mo ...

. At the conferences of the International, she came into contact with prominent Marxists such as

Karl Liebknecht Karl Paul August Friedrich Liebknecht (; ; 13 August 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a German politician and revolutionary socialist. A leader of the far-left wing of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), Liebknecht was a co-founder of both ...

Rosa Luxemburg Rosa Luxemburg ( ; ; ; born Rozalia Luksenburg; 5 March 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a Polish and naturalised-German revolutionary and Marxist theorist. She was a key figure of the socialist movements in Poland and Germany in the early 20t ...

, and

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...

. In 1911, Roland Holst had joined as an orthodox Marxist in the SDAP. Unlike most other orthodox Marxists, she did not immediately move over to the Social-Democratic Party (SDP, later known as the

Communist Party of the Netherlands The Communist Party of the Netherlands (, , CPN) was a communist party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1909 as the Social Democratic Party (Netherlands), Social Democratic Party (SDP) and merged with the Pacifist Socialist Party, the ...

PN. Against the advice of Rosa Luxemburg in some years she remained non-partisan. She founded in 1915, along with a number of SDAP and SDP members, the Revolutionair Socialistische Vereeniging. While in the CPN, she sided with

Anton Pannekoek Antonie "Anton" Pannekoek (; 2 January 1873 – 28 April 1960) was a Dutch astronomer, historian, philosopher, Marxist theorist, and socialist revolutionary. He was one of the main theorists of council communism (). Early life Anton was born ...

, and the

left communist Left communism, or the communist left, is a position held by the left wing of communism, which criticises the political ideas and practices held by Marxist–Leninists and social democrats. Left communists assert positions which they regard ...

fraction of the party. "Rode Jet" (meaning "Red Jet", a nickname of Roland Holst) also played a role during the revolutionary turmoil of November 1918. On 13 November she went with

David Wijnkoop David Joseph Wijnkoop (; 11 March 1876 – 7 May 1941) was a Dutch people, Dutch Communism, communist leader in the first half of the twentieth century. Life He was the eldest son of Rabbi Joseph Wijnkoop and Dientje Milia Nijburg. At the Bar ...

at the head of a procession on the Orange-Nassau barracks in Amsterdam, to celebrate the brotherhood with the hussars. Intervention by the security forces resulted in two dead, the only victims of the "revolution that did not happen".

1928–1952: Christian socialist

Henriette had deep slumps. She suffered from depression, bouts of

anorexia Anorexia nervosa (AN), often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by Calorie restriction, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin. Individuals wit ...

anemia Anemia (also spelt anaemia in British English) is a blood disorder in which the blood has a reduced ability to carry oxygen. This can be due to a lower than normal number of red blood cells, a reduction in the amount of hemoglobin availabl ...

and heart disease but when she was well she struggled with an unrelenting zeal to improve the position of workers, youth, and women. Her first poems were passionately for

socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

. She wrote among other things, the Dutch text for the anthem "

The Internationale "The Internationale" is an international anthem that has been adopted as the anthem of various anarchist, communist, socialist, democratic socialist, and social democratic movements. It has been a standard of the socialist movement since ...

". Later, her work took a more religious character. Among her writings were plays, biographies (of Rousseau, Gandhi and Tolstoy), journalism, and radio plays. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

she was active in the

Dutch resistance The Dutch resistance () to the History of the Netherlands (1939–1945), German occupation of the Netherlands during World War II can be mainly characterized as non-violent. The primary organizers were the Communist Party of the Netherlands, C ...

, as editor of the resistance magazine ''De Vonk'', then ''De Vlam''. Though of a well to do background, she was certainly not a "salon socialist". At the end of her life she wrote the autobiography ''Het vuur brandde voort''. She died in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

on 21 November 1952 at the age of 82. A bust was placed in her memory in her birthplace of Noordwijk in 1969.

Works

Poetry collections

* het ''Jeugdwerk (1884–1892)'' (was published in 1969 by ). * ''Sonnetten en Verzen in Terzinen geschreven''; original edition (graphical treatment by Richard Roland Holst) and Scheltema Holkema's Bookshop, Amsterdam, 1896. Reprinted in simpler form of being. WL and J. Brusse, Rotterdam in 1913 and 1922 and out. BZZTôH, The Hague 1983.

Political work

* ', Amsterdam 1902. * ''De groote spoorwegstaking, de vakbeweging en de SDAP'', Den Haag 1903. : the Dutch railroad strikes of 1903, and the role of unions and of the SDAP therein. * ''Algemeene werkstaking en sociaaldemocratie'', Rotterdam 1906. : this work appeared in German in 1905, with a preface by

Karl Kautsky Karl Johann Kautsky (; ; 16 October 1854 – 17 October 1938) was a Czech-Austrian Marxism, Marxist theorist. A leading theorist of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Second International, Kautsky advocated orthodox Marxism, a ...

. * ''Geschiedenis van den Proletarischen Klassenstrijd'', H. A. Wakker, Rotterdam, 1909 (Sociale Bibliotheek). * ''De opstandelingen, Een lyrisch treurspel in drie bedrijven'', Amsterdam 1910. : a lyrical work on the

1905 Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution of 1905, also known as the First Russian Revolution, was a revolution in the Russian Empire which began on 22 January 1905 and led to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy under the Russian Constitution of 1906, th ...

. * ''De philosophie van Dietzgen en hare beteekenis voor het proletariaat'', Rotterdam 1910. : First published in German, translated by Sam de Wolff. * ''Revisionistische en Marxistische tactiek in de kiesrecht-beweging'', Rotterdam 1910. :

polemic Polemic ( , ) is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called polemics, which are seen in arguments on controversial to ...

against revisionist socialism of Troelstra with regard to voting rights. * ''De strijdmiddelen der sociale revolutie'', Amsterdam 1918. * ''De revolutionaire massa-aktie. Een studie'', Rotterdam 1918. * ''De daden der Bolschewiki'', Amsterdam 1919. : written in defense of the

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

s. * ''Verslag van het Derde Internationale Communistische Congres'', 1921. : the third congress of the

Comintern The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...

. *
Uit Sowjet-Rusland
', 1921. : description of her trip to the Third International * ''Communisme en moraal'', Arnhem 1925. * ''Herman Gorter'', Amsterdam 1933. : biography of Tachtiger Herman Gorter. * ''Rosa Luxemburg. Haar leven en werk'', Rotterdam 1935. : biography of

Notes

References

External links

*
Henriette Roland Holst Archive
at marxists.org
The Communist Left and the resolutions of the second congress of the Communist International
a left communist text by Roland Holst
Schalk, Henriette Goverdine Anna van der (1869–1952)

Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland The ''Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland 1880–2000'' (BWN) is a Dutch biographical dictionary, in which short biographies of well-known and less well-known but still notable Dutch people are listed. The BWN supplements the '' Nieuw Nederl ...

Biographies, works and texts
in the Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren
Schalk, Henriette Goverdine Anna van der
''Biografisch Woordenboek van het Socialisme en de Arbeidersbeweging in Nederland''
Archief Henriëtte Roland Holst-van der Schalk
at the

International Institute of Social History International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

''Tussen droom en werkelijkheid. De betekenis van het 'Russische communisme' voor het 'Utopia' van Henriette Roland Holst''

doctoral A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

thesis of 1996 of Emma Binnendijk

Poems by Henriette Roland Holst Online

''De zachte krachten zullen zeker winnen'' (met een uitvoerige bespreking door Pim Heuvel)
, Klassiekegedichten.net
''Ook ik ben omstreeks ’t midden mijner dagen'' (besproken door Elly Woltjes)
, Klassiekegedichten.net

, Spiritualiteit.net
''Gedenk mij in uw gebeden!'' (ook te beluisteren in een gezongen versie) en ''Over het ontwaken mijner ziel''
Poëtisch Liedgenootschap {{DEFAULTSORT:Roland Holst, Henriette 1869 births 1952 deaths 19th-century Dutch poets 19th-century Dutch women writers 20th-century Dutch poets 20th-century Dutch women writers Christian communists Communist Party of the Netherlands politicians Communist poets Communist women writers Council communists Dutch Christian pacifists Dutch Christian socialists Dutch communists 19th-century Dutch dramatists and playwrights Dutch journalists Dutch resistance members Dutch women poets Female Christian socialists People from Noordwijk People with mood disorders Social Democratic Workers' Party (Netherlands) politicians Dutch women dramatists and playwrights Female resistance members of World War II 20th-century Dutch dramatists and playwrights