Jan Sterringa

Jan Sterringa (born February 25, 1870 in Beneden Knijpe , also called De Knijpe (municipality of Heerenveen ), † November 27, 1951 in Broek op Langedijk ) was a Dutch editor, author, theosophist , publisher and anarchist .

Life

Jan Sterringa spent his childhood in the province of Friesland . He was a typesetter by trade and, like his father Gerrit Hermanus Sterringa, could hardly find work in Friesland, the poverty was widespread in the province at that time. In 1889 he moved from Heerenveen to The Hague. Here he made the acquaintance of J. Methöfer , one of the first anarchists in the Netherlands , in 1891 . In the same year Sterringa entered service with the First Regiment of Field Artillery . Two years later he submitted his dismissal and moved to Amsterdam , where his father was now living. He worked in various printing houses, but was fired several times because of his anarchist beliefs. From January 1894 to May 1895 he edited the " anarchist-communist " magazine Licht en Waarheid together with BP van der Voo as editor . The former pastor Willem Meng (1843-1924) published a magazine under the same title as a theosophist and in 1891 founded the "vrijdenkersvereniging" ( Freethinkers Association) Het Vrije Woord . Meng was a great influence on Sterringa.

Sterringa lost his job due to a strike and became an independent publisher of Licht en Waarheid , and he was also a bookseller. The series of brochures he edited, with publications by Jean Grave , Benjamin Tucker , Sébastien Faure and Élisée Reclus , among others , became known as Sterringa vijf-cents-brochures ("Sterringa's five-cent brochures") because of the low prices . According to his claim, the historian Max Nettlau is said to have named his brochures as “the best and most complete” (“de beste en volledigste”).

Sterringa's opinion was that an improvement in the existing social and political circumstances was not possible. He saw the state as the greatest threat. In March 1891 an anarchist conference was held in which he attended and in which he came to the fore. He distanced himself from the “social anarchists” Johannes Methöfer and Hendrik Ebo Kaspers , both of whom were editors of the magazine Anarchist ; his conviction was more individualistic anarchism . In 1896 he had published the magazine An-Archie together with BP van de Voo , which was to serve as a replacement for the paper Anarchy . Due to financial difficulties, the publication of the paper had to be temporarily stopped in 1899. During this period, Sterringa also published the magazine Maandblad wetenschapelijke Bijdragen (literally: "Monthly journal for scientific articles"). In 1902 "An-Archie" was finally discontinued.

With his girlfriend and future wife, Trijntje Vliegop, he lived for a few months in the municipality of Walden , which was founded by Frederik van Eeden (1860–1932) and existed from 1898 to 1907. Shortly thereafter, he became secretary of the Gemeenschappelijk Grondbezit department (literally: "common property") in Amsterdam. In October 1902 they both traveled to America, where they stayed until 1910. He moved to Delfzijl in 1910 and got a job in a shipping company. With the anarchists Hendrik Ebo Kaspers, Bart de Ligt and Lodewijk van Mierop , among others , he signed the Dienstweigeringsmanifest ("Manifesto for conscientious objection") in 1915 , which had no consequences for him. Other anarchists received prison sentences for signing the manifesto.

In the life of Sterringa, theosophy had always had a greater place. He saw no contradiction between anarchism and theosophy. As early as 1897 he signed the founding act of the Theosofic Genootschap , of which the American Katherine Tingley was president. Around 1900 Sterringa opened a café for teetotalers ( geheelonthouder ). The café also served as a meeting place for the Socialist Jongeliedenbond afdeling Amsterdam . With the journal Vrede (Peace), among others, edited by Jacob van Rees and Felix Ortt , who was Christian Anarchism in the Netherlands known. Sterringa published a few articles in Vrede in which he was critical of non-violence . He sympathized with assassins like Luigi Lucheni and Leon Czolgosz . Through employees of the An-Archie magazine , he came into contact with Tolstoyans , who, however, found him to be "too extreme". Sterringa was observed by the Dutch military secret service from 1917 to 1918 because the service assumed he was a communist . Sterringa worked in Delfzijl until 1930 and then had various places to live in Assendelft, Amsterdam and Broek op Langedijk.

Jan Sterringa was married to Trijntje Vliegop and the father of three children.

See also

• Anarchism in the Netherlands

Publications (selection)

• Het militairisme. Het right op leven. Amsterdam 1900
• What will de anarchists do? Amsterdam 1901
• Nieuwe liederenbundel. Amsterdam 1902
• Article in Recht voor Allen (1896); in De Vrije Socialist (1898); in An-Archie and Vrede (1898)

literature

• J. Hoving: Levensherinneringen van een vrijdenker. Uitgeverij Jeugd, Antwerp 1934. pp. 417-418
• B. Luger: Walden in droom en daad. Amsterdam 1980. pp. 130, 143
• Max Nettlau (Ed.), History of Anarchy. In collaboration with the IISG , Amsterdam. Newly published by Heiner Becker. Library Thélème, Münster 1993, 1st edition, reprint of the Berlin edition, Verlag Der Syndikalist , 1927.
  • Volume 5: Anarchists and Syndicalists. Chapter IX. “The Dutch socialist beginnings. Multatuli. The communist anarchists. The Christian anarchists. Antimilitarism in Holland and France until 1914. ”p. 358

Individual evidence

1. ^ Author: Jannes Houkes, Johanna M. Welcker. Portret: J. Sterringa. In: Biographical Woordenboek van het Socialisme en de Arbeidersbewegung in Nederland (BWSA). Originally published in BWSA 4 (1990). Pp. 197 to 199. Unless otherwise stated, the information on this article comes from the biography. Last modified on March 10, 2003. Dutch, accessed June 15, 2013
2. ↑ See on this: Anton Levien Constandse : H et anarchisme in de Nederlanden . Published in the magazine "Ons Erfdeel", Volume 22, No. 1, January / February 1979. Raansdonksveer 1979. p. 365
3. ↑ Information about Walden and the founder Fv Eeden . Dutch, accessed June 15, 2013
4. ↑ See also: B. Luger, JS de Ley (Editors): Frederik van Eeden, Walden in droom en daad (Walden diary). Appendix III, Articles of Association of the Vereniging Walden. Pp. 286 to 288
5. ↑ Not to be confused with the "Theosofischen Vereniging Nederland"
6. ↑ Brief information on Katherine Tingley . Dutch, accessed June 15, 2013