The Socialist Workers' Party (, abbreviated SWP) was a communist party in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. SWP was founded in 1959, after a split within the leadership of 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 ...

. The founders of CPN opposed the CPN party secretary Paul de Groot. They had formed the ''Brug''-group, and launched the new party in July 1959. The party held its first congress 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 ...

, January 23–24, 1960.
Archief H.H. Drenth
' Ideologically SWP adhered to Marxism-Leninism, and the party was organized along the lines of

democratic centralism Democratic centralism is the organisational principle of most communist parties, in which decisions are made by a process of vigorous and open debate amongst party membership, and are subsequently binding upon all members of the party. The co ...

. The party had a membership of around 500.Backes, Uwe.
Communist and Post-Communist Parties in Europe
'. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2008. p. 17 The party proclaimed its solidarity with the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, but the Soviets paid little interest in the Dutch splinter group. In 1965 the majority of SWP members joined the

Pacifist Socialist Party The Pacifist Socialist Party (, PSP) was a Democratic socialism, democratic socialist political party in the Netherlands. It is one of the predecessors of GroenLinks. Party history Before 1957 In 1955, a group of "politically homeless" activists ...

References

{{Authority control 1959 establishments in the Netherlands 1965 disestablishments in the Netherlands Defunct communist parties in the Netherlands Political parties disestablished in 1965 Political parties established in 1959