Democratic Socialists '70

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Co-founder Hendrik Pors jr. at a DS'70 meeting in 1970, with the party logo. From 1952 to 1970 he was a member of the PvdA, until 1973 a member of DS'70 and 1971/1972 also a member of the chamber.

Democratisch Socialisten '70 (DS '70) was a Dutch party that existed from 1970 to 1983. The right-wing split of the social democratic Partij van de Arbeid was represented in the national parliament and in 1971/1972 in the national government. It combined social democratic and social liberal ideas, but also represented “right-wing” issues in parliament such as the fight against crime.

In the mid-1970s, its adherence began to shrink significantly, partly because the PvdA, in government responsibility, became more moderate again. After DS'70 no longer received a chamber seat in the election years 1981 and 1982, it dissolved in 1983.

Emergence

In 1946, shortly after the German occupation, a new party had emerged in the Netherlands, which was to break through the old social particularism (the Verzuiling ) and form a large left-wing people's party: the Partij van de Arbeid. The basis of the new party, however, was the social-democratic Sociaal-democratische Arbeiderspartij from the pre-war period and additionally the small social-liberal party Vrijzinnig Democratische Bond .

In the 1960s there were all sorts of economic, social and political developments in the Netherlands that led to radicalization in parties. Small radical groups tried to influence the course of the respective party as a whole. Most of the time this didn't work, so the groups formed a new, left-wing party. In the PvdA, however, the radical group, known as the Nieuw-Links, succeeded in replacing the former leadership. However, the radicalization of the PvdA remained rather limited in the following years, also because of the government responsibility from 1973 to 1977.

But around 1970 PvdA politicians, who were often among the founders and had worked in the resistance, experienced the new direction as threatening and unpleasant. They were close to the personalistic socialism of the old SDAP and the political mentality of the liberals. They felt attacked by the young radicals. It seemed to them that the radicals were not trying to avoid conflicts, but were happy to bring them about themselves: polarization as a means, even as an end.

The moderate PvdA politicians, on the other hand, tried, like the Liberals in the past , not to allow major contradictions to arise in society. The functioning of parliamentary democracy was important to them in order to bring about the necessary changes in society. This should be done consciously and in a sensible way.

It was mainly PvdA politicians at the local level (including in Eindhoven) who made the decision on February 14, 1970 to found a new party: Democratisch Socialisten '70. They gained support from some supporters of the old labor movement, who no longer felt represented by the PvdA, which had become more intellectual. Two PvdA parliamentarians left their party for foreign policy reasons.

The new party's top candidate was Willem Drees jr. , the son of the former PvdA Prime Minister of the same name. Father Drees , who was famous for the expansion of the Dutch welfare state, had also left the PvdA and sympathized with DS'70, but did not become a member.

The candidacy of Drees jr. was announced on January 8, 1971. He had become a party member in May 1970 and quickly achieved great influence. In an early interview, he described the PvdA as unstable, the right-wing liberal VVD as conservative and greedy, and the denominational as the main cause of Dutch backwardness.

Governing party 1971/1972

Cabinet Biesheuvel I, with Queen Juliana. Prime Minister Biesheuvel is standing to the right of the viewer, Drees on the far right.

With eight seats (out of 150), DS'70 made a remarkable entry into parliament in the elections to the Second Chamber on April 29, 1970. The denominational ( ARP , CHU and KVP ) and right-wing liberals (VVD) clearly accommodated the new party in the coalition negotiations, and she received two posts in the (first) cabinet of Barend Biesheuvel (ARP). Drees became Minister of Transport, Mauk de Brauw Minister without Portfolio with responsibility for science policy. The group leader was JJA Berger.

The political style of the DS'70 ministers was badly received by their colleagues and especially by the confessional Prime Minister Biesheuvel. DS'70 Minister De Brauw came into conflict with Minister of Social Affairs Boersma, because the latter strictly refused to interfere with collective bargaining autonomy. There was also a dispute, for example, between the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance on the one hand and Drees on the other. The prime minister and finance minister wanted any additional expenses for public transport to be covered with funds from Drees' transport department. The DS'70 ministers found this unbearable, including that such a fundamental change did not even appear as a separate item on the agenda.

While DS'70 called for wage moderation and the fight against inflation , Biesheuvel had positioned himself as a “progressive”. The Prime Minister's tactically insensitive action ultimately led to the DS'70 ministers' resignation on the night of July 16-17, 1972. Possible reasons were that Biesheuvel wanted to fight the new small party or was speculating on his own success in new elections; perhaps Biesheuvel thought he could limit the crisis, because on July 18 he asked the DS'70 faction leader to present new ministers. However, the right-wing liberals example, against the DS'70 of required intervention in the were free collective bargaining .

Small chamber party

Willem Drees in 1973 in the Second Chamber

In the new elections in 1972, the Democratic Socialists '70 retained six seats instead of eight. The former voters mainly went to the right-wing liberals, partly to the PvdA. Vingerling and Schouten judge in their dissertation that DS'70 was then a victim of the polarization (in society), which they fought so hard. Drees, who became chairman of the parliamentary group, chose a moderate and objective course.

Ruud Nijhof when he was sworn in as a member of the Chamber in 1977

As a result of defeats in the provincial and municipal council elections of 1974, two camps emerged in the party: a fundamentally socialist direction and a direction that a moderate reform party had in mind. In April 1975 four of the six members of the parliamentary group in the Second Chamber resigned (among them party chairman De Brauw), partly because of Drees. This does not profile the party enough as an opposition party and is not cautious enough on issues such as the environment, nuclear power and public transport. The right-wing De Brauw also wanted to see the party's name changed. The sudden break in 1975 can not least be explained by personal animosities.

In 1977 the party received only one chamber seat, and since Drees had generally advocated a three-seat hurdle, he did not accept the seat. A member of the chamber was Ruud Nijhof, who, like Drees, belonged to the left (socialist) wing, but wanted to score points with law-and-order issues such as the fight against crime.

DS'70 contested the election campaign for the chamber elections of May 1981 with Nijhof as the top candidate and the program Tomorrow is nu (Tomorrow is today). Despite favorable poll results, the party lost its last seat. While a committee set up by the party executive pleaded for the dissolution, the party chairman Zeger Hartog spoke out at the party conference in December in favor of continuing.

After a seat was not won in the chamber elections of September 1982, the board decided on January 15, 1983 to dissolve the Democratic Socialists '70. Of the 62 members at the last party meeting, 50 voted in favor of dissolution (eleven against, one abstention). The formal dissolution happened on March 31, 1983.

Political ideas

DS'70 was a right-wing split from the PvdA. Before that, many supporters of their direction belonged to the right wing of the party, Democratic Appèl . The DS'70 ministers also addressed right-wing issues such as savings and a pro-American course. While DS'70 was initially about correcting the PvdA, after 1972 people streamed into the party who had not belonged to any or any other party. After the election defeats, free-spirited democratic ideas gained ground. DS'70 was supposed to break the division between socialism and liberalism.

While the strongly program-oriented party initially positioned itself as a party to the left of the center, it developed as a socially conservative after Drees left. She wanted to keep the social democratic label, but her published views no longer matched it.

State reform and democratization

The Democratic Socialists '70 advocated the introduction of a (consultative) referendum , a longer legislative period (from four to six years), a smaller parliament and a mixed electoral system with an electoral hurdle. With this she stood in the liberal tradition. In the social democratic tradition she was in favor of employee participation.

However, DS'70 also emphasized that security is important for citizens. Politicians should therefore ensure prevention and the fight against crime and take better care of the victims of violent crime. DS'70 also advocated the fight against alcohol and drug abuse.

Finance, economy and social

Willem Drees Jr. 1977 on the way to the queen

DS'70 wanted to combat inflation, which threatened savers and those with private insurance, and increased the risk of unemployment. In addition, government spending should be reduced and the budget should be restructured. DS'70 also advocated lower and simpler taxes. Still, DS'70 envisaged a major role for the state to do all of this. If the market could not ensure a fair distribution of income, the state should do so through taxes and duties. Child benefit should be paid regardless of the parents' income, as children have independent rights. DS'70 found the pension rights of political office holders too high.

In terms of the free development of personality, social assistance should be fair, but the citizen should also make proper use of it. DS'70 thought about a better organization of the social work and a better fight against abuse. For example, she saw disability legislation as a means by which companies (with the knowledge of the trade unions) got rid of redundant staff.

Education and the environment

Education was an important aspect of personal socialism . Education should prepare young people for society and the labor market; DS'70 had many suggestions for more open teaching and for a better vocational school system. Tuition should be available to everyone, regardless of parents' income. However, in the higher education sector, expensive training courses for which there was no demand in society should not be subsidized by the state. For DS'70, tuition fees were a guarantee for more responsible study. DS'70 also spoke out against arbitrariness in art funding.

The limited space in the Netherlands should be better used, so mobility by car was a thorn in the side of DS'70 . With better spatial planning and a mix of living, working, shopping and recreation, one could curb the need for mobility. As a social democratic party, a large supply of living space was important for DS'70 , but this should not be promoted through subsidies, but through tax policy.

DS'70 also took on topics such as environmental protection and energy saving . By saving energy and maintaining the level of prosperity, the expansion of nuclear energy is superfluous. The income from the natural gas should be invested in long-term projects for sustainable energy generation.

Foreign and Security Policy

In foreign policy, DS'70 was not very innovative, it saw the Netherlands as a small country without much influence. DS'70 was pro-European and for majority voting in the Council of Ministers of the EEC , pro-Israel and required the PLO to recognize Israel's borders and end terrorism, and pro-American. From the point of view of DS'70, the USA defended democratic rights, also in Indochina.

For DS'70, NATO, as a collective security system and defender of freedom, was the basis of security policy. A corresponding Dutch defense budget was important. On this point, DS'70 differed sharply from the left-wing PvdA, which only recognized in the mid-1970s that the country should remain in NATO.

Countries that opposed the democratic order and advocated aggressive goals should, according to DS'70, receive no development aid. The amount of development aid should generally be related to the financial possibilities of the Netherlands. Therefore, DS'70 was critical of the increase in development aid at the time. In addition, in 1974 DS'70 used the phrase “Our country is full” with the report “The Netherlands must not become a country of immigration ”, which was strongly condemned by left-wing media. Immigration from the Caribbean colonies should be restricted. The colonial relationship should be replaced by relationships under international law.

Election results

Election results ( Tweede Kamer ) of the DS 70
year be right Seats
1971 5.3% 8th
1972 4.1% 6th
1977 0.7% 1
1981 0.6% 0
1982 0.4% 0

Structural

The DS'70 secretariat was in Amsterdam . The youth organization was called Sociaal-Demekratisch Jongeren Aktief (SDJA), the party foundation Stichting Wetenschappelijk Instituut DS'70. In the 1970s the party had around three thousand members, this decreased around 1980 and dropped to 2,500 by December 1981.

Party leader:

  • A. van Stuyvenberg (provisional until November 14, 1970), April 4, 1970 to October 30, 1971
  • FL Polak, October 30, 1971 to April 7, 1973
  • ML de Brauw, April 7, 1973 to March 8, 1975
  • G. Abma, March 1975 to April 19, 1975
  • H. Staneke, April 19, 1975 to November 26, 1977
  • Z. Hartog, November 26, 1977 to March 31, 1983

literature

  • Herman Vingerling, Christiaan Cornelis Schouten: Democratisch Socialisten '70. Nevenstroom in de sociaal-democratie? Diss. Rotterdam, Rotterdam 2003.

Web links

Commons : DS'70  - collection of images, videos and audio files

supporting documents

  1. ^ Herman Vingerling, Christiaan Cornelis Schouten: Democratisch Socialisten '70. Nevenstroom in de sociaal-democratie? Diss. Rotterdam, Rotterdam 2003, p. XIV.
  2. ^ Herman Vingerling, Christiaan Cornelis Schouten: Democratisch Socialisten '70. Nevenstroom in de sociaal-democratie? Diss. Rotterdam, Rotterdam 2003, p. XV.
  3. ^ Herman Vingerling, Christiaan Cornelis Schouten: Democratisch Socialisten '70. Nevenstroom in de sociaal-democratie? Diss. Rotterdam, Rotterdam 2003, p. XIV.
  4. ^ Herman Vingerling, Christiaan Cornelis Schouten: Democratisch Socialisten '70. Nevenstroom in de sociaal-democratie? Diss. Rotterdam, Rotterdam 2003, p. XIV.
  5. ↑ Parlement & Politiek: Democratisch-Socialisten 1970 (DS'70) , accessed on February 15, 2012.
  6. ^ Herman Vingerling, Christiaan Cornelis Schouten: Democratisch Socialisten '70. Nevenstroom in de sociaal-democratie? Diss. Rotterdam, Rotterdam 2003, pp. 121/122.
  7. ^ Herman Vingerling, Christiaan Cornelis Schouten: Democratisch Socialisten '70. Nevenstroom in de sociaal-democratie? Diss. Rotterdam, Rotterdam 2003, p. XVI.
  8. ^ Herman Vingerling, Christiaan Cornelis Schouten: Democratisch Socialisten '70. Nevenstroom in de sociaal-democratie? Diss. Rotterdam, Rotterdam 2003, pp. XVII / XVIII.
  9. ^ Herman Vingerling, Christiaan Cornelis Schouten: Democratisch Socialisten '70. Nevenstroom in de sociaal-democratie? Diss. Rotterdam, Rotterdam 2003, p. XVIII.
  10. ^ Herman Vingerling, Christiaan Cornelis Schouten: Democratisch Socialisten '70. Nevenstroom in de sociaal-democratie? Diss. Rotterdam, Rotterdam 2003, pp. XVIII / XIX.
  11. ^ Herman Vingerling, Christiaan Cornelis Schouten: Democratisch Socialisten '70. Nevenstroom in de sociaal-democratie? Diss. Rotterdam, Rotterdam 2003, pp. XIX / XX.
  12. ^ Herman Vingerling, Christiaan Cornelis Schouten: Democratisch Socialisten '70. Nevenstroom in de sociaal-democratie? Diss. Rotterdam, Rotterdam 2003, pp. 261/262.
  13. ^ Herman Vingerling, Christiaan Cornelis Schouten: Democratisch Socialisten '70. Nevenstroom in de sociaal-democratie? Diss. Rotterdam, Rotterdam 2003, pp. 263/264.
  14. ^ Herman Vingerling, Christiaan Cornelis Schouten: Democratisch Socialisten '70. Nevenstroom in de sociaal-democratie? Diss. Rotterdam, Rotterdam 2003, pp. XX / XXI.
  15. ^ Herman Vingerling, Christiaan Cornelis Schouten: Democratisch Socialisten '70. Nevenstroom in de sociaal-democratie? Diss. Rotterdam, Rotterdam 2003, p. XXI.
  16. ^ Herman Vingerling, Christiaan Cornelis Schouten: Democratisch Socialisten '70. Nevenstroom in de sociaal-democratie? Diss. Rotterdam, Rotterdam 2003, p. 261.
  17. ^ Herman Vingerling, Christiaan Cornelis Schouten: Democratisch Socialisten '70. Nevenstroom in de sociaal-democratie? Diss. Rotterdam, Rotterdam 2003, p. XXVII.
  18. ^ Herman Vingerling, Christiaan Cornelis Schouten: Democratisch Socialisten '70. Nevenstroom in de sociaal-democratie? Diss. Rotterdam, Rotterdam 2003, pp. XXI / XXII.
  19. ^ Herman Vingerling, Christiaan Cornelis Schouten: Democratisch Socialisten '70. Nevenstroom in de sociaal-democratie? Diss. Rotterdam, Rotterdam 2003, pp. XXIII / XXIII.
  20. ^ Herman Vingerling, Christiaan Cornelis Schouten: Democratisch Socialisten '70. Nevenstroom in de sociaal-democratie? Diss. Rotterdam, Rotterdam 2003, pp. XXIII / XXIV.
  21. ^ Herman Vingerling, Christiaan Cornelis Schouten: Democratisch Socialisten '70. Nevenstroom in de sociaal-democratie? Diss. Rotterdam, Rotterdam 2003, pp. XXIV / XXV.
  22. ^ Herman Vingerling, Christiaan Cornelis Schouten: Democratisch Socialisten '70. Nevenstroom in de sociaal-democratie? Diss. Rotterdam, Rotterdam 2003, p. XXV.
  23. ^ Herman Vingerling, Christiaan Cornelis Schouten: Democratisch Socialisten '70. Nevenstroom in de sociaal-democratie? Diss. Rotterdam, Rotterdam 2003, p. XXV.
  24. ^ Herman Vingerling, Christiaan Cornelis Schouten: Democratisch Socialisten '70. Nevenstroom in de sociaal-democratie? Diss. Rotterdam, Rotterdam 2003, p. XXVI.
  25. ↑ Parlement & Politiek: Democratisch-Socialisten 1970 (DS'70) , accessed on February 15, 2012.
  26. ↑ DNNP: DS'70- ledentallen (1970-1983) , accessed on February 15, 2012.
  27. ↑ DNNP: DS'70 - voorzitters (1970-1983) , accessed on February 15, 2012.