Lambertus Johannes Bot

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Lambertus Johannes Bot (born May 28, 1897 in Amsterdam , † December 6, 1988 in The Hague ) was a Dutch anti-militarist , politician, chairman of various organizations and an anarchist .

Life

At the age of thirteen, Lambertus Johannes Bot started an apprenticeship as a blacksmith because his parents did not have the financial means to let him study at a pedagogical college (kweekschool) . Because of his unruly behavior, Bot was beaten by his employer during his apprenticeship, whereupon he gave up the job and worked with his brother in the construction industry to learn the trade of carpenter . Around 1923 he ran a mail order book trade to supplement his low weekly wage of 20 florins . In 1929 he founded an independent carpentry business and, together with his wife, a tobacco shop .

Bot was the father of two children.

Act

The consequences of the First World War made Bot an active anti-militarist. In 1917 he became a member and later chairman of the "International Anti-Militarist Association" ( International Antimilitarist Association , IAMV). For a short time in 1923 he was able to get a paid job at the IAMV. Since the IAMV had decided at the end of 1923 not to employ any more paid employees, Bot lost his paid position as chairman of the IAMV's "Regional Committee" (Landelijk Comite) , but remained a member of the board (Bestuurslid) . At IAMV he got to know FD Nieuwenhuis , and later Arthur Lehning , Albert de Jong , NJC Schermerhorn, Bart de Ligt and Johan de Haas . They undoubtedly influenced Bot's anarchist world of ideas, as well as vice versa. In 1921 he was able to work as treasurer (Penningmeester) of the “Office against War and Reaction” (IAMB) of the IAMV and in 1923 also as treasurer of the “Revolutionair Comite tegen de Vlootwet” (Revolutionary Committee against the Naval Law) . Bot described his active time with the International Antimilitarist Association as the happiest in his life with the words: “Het was eigenlijk een grote Vriendenclub” ( It was actually a big friends club . Quoted from Paul Denekamp, ​​BWSA).

Under the influence of the Russian Revolution , Bot had joined the Communist Partij van Nederland (Communist Party of the Netherlands, CPN) together with his brother . When the CPN board member, J. Brommert, indicated to him that he should organize small communist groups for the CPN in the IAMV, Bot resigned from the party. In 1935 he became, under his pseudonym J. Lambo, chairman of the "Dutch Syndicalist Union" ( Nederlandsch Syndicalistische Vakverbond , NSV). In 1940 the German National Socialists banned the syndicalist union. During the Second World War , Bot had helped persecuted Jews go into hiding. Two Jewish citizens were arrested at his home.

While Bot was an inspirer for anti-militarism and the syndicalist trade unionists within the Dutch anarchist movement after the First World War , he was one of the driving forces and organizer of the building of anarchism after the Second World War. In 1945 the Rudolf Rocker Stichting ( Rudolf Rocker Foundation) was established whose aim was to unite the anarchists in the Netherlands who had survived the war. Bot became secretary of the foundation and in 1946 chairman of the Dutch Association of Free Socialists ("Nederlandse Bond van Vrije Socialisten", NBVS). From 1947 to 1949 he worked as an editor of the magazine Socialisme van onderop (" Socialism from below"). In the 1950s Bot was active in the peace movement De Derde Weg ("The Third Way"). In 1956 he decided to become a member of the Pacifist Socialist Partij ("Pacifist Socialist Party", PSP), where he was chairman in The Hague for five years. After leaving the PSP around 1970, despite his advanced age, he tried to find a political basis for his anarchist ideas. In the early 1970s, Bot and two others wrote an invitation to anarchists and like-minded people to start a new socialist panel. Disappointed with the way the PSP had acted towards him - he had expressed criticism of the party - he joined the Politieke Partij Raduellen ("Political Party of Radicals"). From 1970 to 1983 he was secretary of the Freethinkers Association ("Vrijdenkersvereniging") De Vrije Gedachte ("The Free Thought"). Lambertus Johannes Bot wrote and worked partly under the pseudonym “J. Lambo ".

criticism

Bot was criticized by anarchists during his active time in the Pacifist Socialist Partij (PSP) for his party and parliamentary work. His answer: a reference to the membership in the Second Chamber of Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis, one of the most important representatives of anarchism in the Netherlands. The younger PSP members had concerns about what they saw as the “old bot” who was, among other things, chairman of the party council. In a letter from the younger party department published in 1970, provocative demands were made: the whole beach was a nude beach. Unhindered sexual intercourse in all public parks. Community brothels for necrophiles . ( Het hele strand een naaktstrand. Onbelemmerd paren park in all publieke. Gemeentebordelen voor necrofielen . Quoted from Paul Denekamp, ​​BWSA). The municipal council publicly distanced itself from the letter and the party's executive committee. At a PSP meeting, the content of the letter was rejected, but no criticism of the PSP junior management board was expressed. Bot then left the party and the local council.

Fonts (selection)

  • De Vlootwet . In: "International Anti-Militarist Jaarboek 1924", page 42
  • Three eeuwen onderdrukking; 25 years: Indië los van Holland . Together with AA de Jong, A. Müller-Lehning. In the magazine “De wapens neder”, 1929, pages 30–33
  • Indonesia onder hollandse terreur . In: “International Anti-Militarist Jaarboek 1928”, pp. 29–31

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Author: Paul Denekamp. Portret: LJ Bot . In: Biographical Woordenboek van het Socialisme en de Arbeidersbewegung in Nederland (BWSA). First published in BWSA 6 (1995), pages 31 to 33. The information about the life of LJ Bot comes from this portrait . Photo: Bob Bronshoff. Dutch, accessed May 6, 2011
  2. See: LJ Bot, De Vlootwet ("The Fleet Law")