Bart de Ligt

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bart de Ligt

Bart de Ligt , real name: Bartholomeus de Ligt (born July 17, 1883 in Schalkwijk , Haarlem parish , † September 3, 1938 in Nantes , France) was a Dutch anti-militarist , Reformed theologian , author and anarchist . He is considered to be "one of the most outstanding and productive personalities in the peace movement at all".

Live and act

From 1903 to 1910 De Ligt completed a theology degree at the University of Utrecht and became a preacher at the Nederlandse Hervormde Kerk in Nuenen ( Brabant ). Influenced by Tolstoy , Hegel , Kant and others, he committed himself to Christian socialism in 1910 . At that time he was, together with Année Rinzes de Jong , editor of the monthly newspaper “Wereldvrede” ( World Peace ) and became a member of the “Bund der Christen-Socialisten” ( Bond van Christen-Socialisten , BCS) and editor of the BCS magazine “Opwaarts “( Up ).

During the First World War , De Ligt wrote against the war, which, in his opinion, served only the interests of the capitalists . At the same time, he criticized the official churches , which, according to De Ligt, made war possible by supporting the “ruling class”. He also criticized the working population who allowed themselves to be abused by the war industry and at the front. He called for conscientious objection, labor strikes and general disarmament. In 1914 he took part in the manifesto “De schuld der kerken” ( The Guilt of the Churches ) and in 1915 in the “ Denial of Service Manifesto” (“Manifesto for conscientious objection”), which was also signed by Hendrik Ebo Kaspers and Jan Sterringa . For this he was imprisoned for 15 days in 1916. The following year he resigned from the Reformed Church.

Through his critical statements towards church and state, De Ligt came into contact with socialist writings, especially by syndicalists and anarchists, and others. a. by Peter Kropotkin , Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and the philosopher Jean-Marie Guyau . In 1921 he co-founded the “International Anti-Militarist Bureau ” ( Internationaal Anti-Militarist Bureau , IAMB) and appeared - like Johan de Haas - as a speaker for the “ International Anti-Militarist Association” ( IAMV). In 1921 De Ligt was elected Chairman of the IAMB. In the same year he gave a high-profile speech at a demonstration for the conscientious objector Herman Groenendaal, who was on hunger strike. De Ligt called for a solidarity strike in his speech; he was then sentenced to 26 days in prison.

“In the name of Jesus Christ, in the name of Marx, in the name of Bakunin, in the name of Kropotkin, in the name of Tolstoy and in the name of Groenendaal I call on you to refuse to build barracks and prisons; refuse to produce war material; to refuse to enter the military; and I call on you to go on a general strike to protest against the imprisonment of Groenendaal. "

- Bart de Ligt

In 1919 he was a co-founder of the “Bund Revolutionär-Sozialistischer Intellektueller ” ( Bond van Revolutionair-Socialistische Intellectuelen ) and editor of the IAMC magazine “De wapens neder” (meaning: Down with your arms ). The Anarchist Congress in Berlin from December 25th to 31st, 1921 confirmed his opinion that a free society can be achieved through anarchism rather than through Marxism. In 1922 he published "Anarchisme en Revolutie" ( Anarchism and Revolution ), in which he admitted that anarchism could still learn from the social and state theories of Marxism. During these years De Ligt corresponded with Albert Einstein , Mahatma Gandhi and Aldous Huxley, among others . In 1928 he became editor of the magazine "Bevrijding" ( Liberation ) of the "Association of Religious Anarcho-Communists" ( Bond van religieuze Anarcho-Communists ). His two-volume work "Vrede als Daad" ( Peace as Action ) was published in 1931/1933 and in 1936 a biography about Erasmus von Rotterdam .

Through the non-violent resistance he propagated, he came into contact with Clara Meijer-Wichmann and Lambertus Johannes Bot, among others . In the 1926 publication “De habengeboorte van Maria” ( The rebirth of Maria ) he expressed that a “waarachtig menselijk leven” ( truly human life ) for women and men is only possible if both can freely develop their personalities - without the tutelage of the state, church or other institutions. Around 1933 he met Simone Weil , some of whose writings he translated into Dutch . In 1934, De Ligt's "Combat Plan against War and Preparations for War" was presented at a meeting of War Resisters' International (WIR). In 1938 he founded a "Peace Academy" (Academie de la Paix) in Paris. The Dutch artist and anarchist Chris Lebeau designed an ex-libris for De Ligt.

The motivation for De Ligt's Christian , socialist, anti-militarist and anarchist ideas was based on Christian charity and his striving for a world culture in the spirit of socialism and anarchism. Bart de Ligt was an inspirer for Dutch anarchism , for which he was mainly important as a stimulating theorist and connoisseur of Christian and socialist traditions, less as an organizer.

Bart de Ligt lived in Switzerland from 1921. From there often traveled to his home country and to events in other European countries. He died while staying in France.

Bart de Ligt was married and had one son.

Fonts (in selection)

  • Anarchism en Revolution. Beschouwingen naar aanleiding van het Anarchisten-congres te Berlijn 25-31 Dec. 1921 . Hollandia-drukkerij, Baarn 1922.
  • Kerk, cultuur en samenleving. Tien jaar strijd . Arnhem 1925. Darin u. a. Statements about Clara Wichmann.
  • De niegeboorte van Maria . Van Loghum Slaterus, Arnhem 1926.
  • Vrede as daad. Beginselen, divorceis en strijdlösungen van de direct stock tegen oorlog . Van Loghum Slaterus, Arnhem 1931 and 1933 (two volumes).
  • Erasmus. Begrepen uit de geest of the renaissance . Van Loghum Slaterus, Arnhem 1936.
  • The Conquest of Violence . Dutton, New York 1938 (and numerous new editions).

further reading

  • Martin Arnold: Bart de Ligt's humanistic Geestelijke Weerbaarheid (= power of goodness , part 4). Verlag Bücken & Sulzer, Overath 2011. ISBN 978-3-936405-67-5 .
  • Christian Bartolf (Ed.): The breath of my life. The dialogue between Mahatma Gandhi and Bart de Ligt on war and peace . Gandhi Information Center, Berlin 2000. ISBN 3-930093-14-6 .
  • Nikola Bock: Pacifism between adaptation and free order. Peace discussion in the Weimar Republic and the non-violence theory of the Dutch pacifist Bart de Ligt (1883–1938). Verlag Bormann and von Bockel, Hamburg 1991. ISBN 3-927858-12-9 .
  • Gernot Jochheim: Bart de Ligt: de overwinning op het geweld. Speaking about the occasion, van de vijftigste sterfdag van Bart de Ligt (1883–1938) . (Lecture in Utrecht on September 3, 1988, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Bart de Ligt's death, edited by Herman Noordegraaf and Wim Robben). Uitgeverij Boxtel, Bart de Ligt Fund. Zwolle 1990.
  • Gernot Jochheim: The development of the concept of “pacifist people's defense” in Dutch pacifism . In: Soziale Defense , Vol. 3 (1971), Issue 9/10, pp. 36–45.
  • Gernot Jochheim: Antimilitarist theory of action, social revolution and social defense. On the development of the theory of nonviolence in the European anti-militarist and socialist movement 1890–1940, with particular reference to the Netherlands . Verlag Haag and Herchen, Frankfurt am Main, ISBN 3-88129-070-2 / Uitgeverij Van Gorcum, Assen and Amsterdam, ISBN 90-232-1523-0 , 1977.
  • Gernot Jochheim: Live longer than violence. Civilism as an idea and an action . Edition Weitbrecht, Stuttgart 1986. Mainly the chapters What Social Defense Means , Amazing Things from 1937 and The Conceptual Building Blocks for a Nonviolent Defense Concept, pp. 130-138.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gernot Jochheim: The development of the concept of the "pacifist people's defense" in Dutch pacifism . In: Soziale Defense , Vol. 3 (1971), Issue 9/10, pp. 36–45, quoted on p. 37.
  2. ↑ Herman Noordegraaf: Ligt, Bartholomeus de . In: Biografisch Woordenboek van het Socialisme en de Arbeidersbewegung in Nederland (BWSA), Vol. 3. pp. 123–126. Revised version: online (last change: November 17, 2010), accessed on August 13, 2015 (Dutch). Most of the information about Bart de Ligt's "life and work" comes from this article.
  3. ↑ a b N.P. van Egmond: Ligt, Bartholomeus de (1883–1938) . In: Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland , ed. from the Instituut voor Nederlandse Geschiedenis (ING), Vol. 2, The Hague 1985. Revised version: online (last change: November 12, 2013), accessed on August 13, 2015 (Dutch).
  4. ↑ Excerpt from the speech at the meeting on June 26, 1921 , source: Archives of the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), Utrecht.
  5. ↑ Bart de Ligt: dates of life . Based on a presentation by Antje Conrad, accessed on August 13, 2015.
  6. ↑ Johannes Fangmeyer: Brief portrait of Bart de Ligt , accessed on August 13, 2015.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Ligt, Bart de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ligt, Bartholomeus de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Author (Netherlands)
DATE OF BIRTH July 17, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Schalkwijk (Netherlands)
DATE OF DEATH September 3, 1938
Place of death Nantes (France)