Christiaan Cornelissen

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Christiaan Cornelissen

Christiaan Cornelissen (actually Christianus Gerardus Cornelissen ; born August 30, 1864 in Den Bosch , † January 21, 1942 in Domme ) was a Dutch activist , author , representative of libertarian communism and syndicalism .

Life

Christiaan Cornelissen was born as the second youngest son of five siblings, the carpenter Johannes Cornelissen and Mechelina van Wijk in Den Bosch. In his birthplace, Cornelissen attended the “ Rijksweekschool ” (literally: “Reichswochenschule”) for teachers. He later worked as a teacher in Geertruidenberg in the Netherlands and in Middelburg . As an autodidact, he learned Latin and English; He turned his back on his Catholic upbringing.

Act

Cornelissen (2nd from right) with the editorial group of Recht voor Allen

Cristiaan Cornelissen was a member of the propaganda group for universal suffrage and edited the publication “ De Volksstem ” (“The People's Voice”) for this group . This magazine was renamed on May 18, 1889 in " Licht und Waarheid ", of which he was the founder. By reading Karl Marx , Cornelissen was confronted with the theoretical ideas of the economy of socialism and became aware of other theorists on this subject; this influenced him until the end of his life.

In 1891 he wrote a polemical article under the title “ Kritiek van een radicaal op Karl Marx ” (meaning: “Critique of a radical of Karl Marx”). In Heerenveen , the Netherlands , he appeared in 1890 as a speaker under his pseudonym Clemens at the “ Sociaal-Demokratie-Bond ” congress and worked for the magazine Recht voor Allen (“Law for All”). Together with Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis , Cornelissen was co-editor of this magazine on January 1, 1882. Ideologically he was connected to Nieuwenhuis, but in contrast to Nieuwenhuis took a syndicalist point of view, while Domela Nieuwenhuis was more "individualistic". Cornelius described this in his work " Le Communisme Revolutionaire " (Brussels 1896). In it he pleaded for a collaboration between " revolutionary socialists and syndicalists ". In his book " Op Weg naar de nieuwe Maatschappij " ("On the way to the new society"), which was published in France in 1900 and in the Netherlands in 1902 , which is said to have achieved great fame, Cornelissen had elaborated his syndicalist social theories. " Cornelissen was originally strongly influenced by German social democracy and Marxism " (Arthur Lehning).

In the Netherlands, Cornelissen was from 1905 to 1907 editor of the magazine " De Vrije Communist " ("The Free Communist"), in which Clara Gertrud Wichmann also published. Année Rinzes de Jong was temporarily chairman and editor and until 1923 Lodewijk van Mierop was editor of De Vrije Communist . The editor Jacob van Rees wanted to work with De Vrije Communist with his magazine Ontwaakt (meaning: "Wake up") . However, the merger did not materialize because De Vrije Communist took a non-religious position. In the magazine " Grond en Vrijheid " Cornelissen wrote 1906/1907 articles about the declaration of principles of the " Federatie van vrijheidslievende Communisten " ("Federation of freedom-loving communists"; meaning libertarian communists ). After 1908, Cornelissen is said to have no longer played a role in the Netherlands “ in the labor movement ” (Arthur Lehning).

activities

Christiaan Cornelissen attended various international congresses: Brussels 1891; Zurich 1893 and London 1896. In Brussels he represented the railway association (“ Spoorwegvereniging ”), Immer Vorwärts (“ Steeds voorwaarts ”) and as a correspondent for the magazine Recht voor Allen . In May 1898 he left the Netherlands and traveled to France where he stayed for the rest of his life. He studied journalism and scientific economics in Paris. Here too, Cornelissen worked as a permanent employee of the magazine “ Voix de Peuple ”, a publication of the syndicalist organization Confédération générale du travail (CGT) and from 1911 as editor of the magazine “ La Bataille Syndicaliste ”. In the same year he traveled to Berlin with a delegation from the CGT. As early as 1907 (on August 27 and 30) he took part in the International Anarchist Congress in Amsterdam; around forty “ Revolutionary Syndicalists ” met here in a special conference and decided to publish a weekly bulletin in Spanish, German, English and Dutch. This publication, " Bulletin International du Mouvement Syndicaliste " was edited and published by Cornelissen from September 8, 1907 to July 26, 1914. A total of 336 issues were published. At the time of the First World War he was on the side of France with Peter Kropotkin and Jean Grave .

On March 14, 1916, Cornelissen and 14 others signed the Manifesto of Sixteen ; contrary to what the title suggests, there were 15 signatories. After the First World War he worked on the monthly newspaper " Les Temps Nouveaux ". Cornelissen published several books on economics, a. a. about wage theory; included in his five-part work “ Traite generale de science economique ”, which he had worked on until the end of his life.

In the spirit of Peter Kropotkin's unfinished work “ Ethica ”, Cornelissen made a contribution in his work “ Generations Nouvelles ” on anti-authoritarian ethics. In 1892 he published the first Dutch translation of The Communist Manifesto . Cornelissen had " never called himself an anarchist "; he always called himself a libertarian communist and a syndicalist. He saw the anarchist movement as " politically negative, too little constructive and amorphous " (Arthur Lehning).

Cornelissen was married to Elisabeth Katharina Frederike Rubertus from 1899 to 1922.

See also

Works

  • Kritiek van een Radicaal op Karl Marx . La Haye, Liebers, 1891.
  • Les diverses tendances du parti ouvrier international. A propos de l'ordre du jour du Congrès international ouvrier socialiste de Zurich (1893) . Bruxelles, éd. de la Société nouvelle, 1893.
  • Le communisme révolutionnaire. Projet pour une entente et pour l'action commune des socialistes révolutionnaires et des communistes anarchistes . Bruxelles, éd. de la Société nouvelle, 1896.
  • En marche vers la société nouvelle. Principes, tendances, tactique de la lutte de classes . Paris, Stock, 1900, coll. Bibliothèque sociologique n ° 29 ”.
  • Directe actie-zelf doen . Amsterdam, Wink, 1904.
  • About the evolution of anarchism . Tubingen, Moww, 1908.
  • Les lingerie économiques de la guerre. Les appétits allemands et les devoirs de l'Europe occidentale . Foreword by Charles Andler , Paris-Nancy, Berger-Levrault, 1915.
  • Les conséquences économiques d'une paix allemande . Paris, Berger-Levrault, 1918.
  • About the theoretical and economic foundations of syndicalism . Leipzig, Verlag von CL Hirschfeld, 1926, In: Research on Völkerpsychologie und Sociologie, Volume II: Party and class in the life process of society, 1926.
  • Les générations nouvelles. Essai d'une éthique moderne . Paris, Mercure de France, 1935.
  • Théorie du salaire et du travail salarié . Paris, Giard et Brière, 1908.
  • Théorie de la valeur. Avec une réfutation des théories de Rodbertus, Karl Marx, Stanley Jevons et Boehm-Bawerk . Paris, Giard et Brière, 1913.
  • Traité général de science économique . Paris, Marcel Giard, 1926.
  • Les générations nouvelles. Essai d'éthique modern . Paris, Mercure de France, 1935.

literature

  • H. Wedman: Christiaan Cornelissen. Marxism and Revolutionary Syndicalism , in: M. von der Linden: The reception of Marx's theory in the Netherlands . Trier 1992.
  • Bert Altena, Homme Wedman, Christiaan Cornelissen: Tussen Anarchisme en Sociaaldemokratie . Publisher Anarchist Uitgaven, ISBN 90-71413-01-2
  • Hartmut Rübner, Freedom and Bread. The Free Workers' Union of Germany. A Study of the History of Anarcho-Syndicalism . Page 150 about C. Cornelissen. Libertad Verlag, Potsdam 1994. ISBN 3-922226-21-3 .

Web links

Commons : Christiaan Cornelissen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ About the life of Ch. Cornelissen ; Dutch. Retrieved January 20, 2009
  2. ↑ Dutch text of "kritiek van een op Radicaal Karl Marx." Retrieved January 20, 2009
  3. ↑ About Cornelissen's collaboration with the magazine “Recht voor Allen”. Retrieved January 20, 2009
  4. ↑ (pdf: 1102kB) Homme Wedman, “ De Collectie Cornelissen / Chichery ” Dutch, in the International Institute for Social History. Retrieved January 20, 2009
  5. ↑ About the anti-authoritarian moral doctrine of Chr. Cornelissen. Retrieved January 20, 2009
  6. ↑ Arthur Lehning, “ Portrait: Chr. Cornelissen Published in Biographical Woordenboek van het Socialisme en de Arbeidersbewegung in Nederland ” (BWSA 2, 1987). Dutch; at the International Institute for Social History. Retrieved January 20, 2009
personal data
SURNAME Cornelissen, Christiaan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cornelissen, Christianus Gerardus (maiden name); Cornelissen, Clemens (pseudonym); Cornelissen, Rubert (pseudonym); Cornelissen, Wanderer (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch syndicalist and author
DATE OF BIRTH August 30, 1864
PLACE OF BIRTH Den Bosch , Netherlands
DATE OF DEATH January 21, 1942
Place of death Domme , France