The MLCN held its Second Congress in January 1970. At that meeting it decided to change its name to the Marxist-Leninist Communist Unity Movement of the Netherlands (KEN-ML), which was proclaimed to have the purpose of strengthening “the unity of the working class and unity of intellectuals and workers in the struggle for socialism.” It was reported at the time “the party is well organized and appears to be growing rather rapidly.”
At its inception, the KEN-ML had a youth organization, and it maintained a school and library at the Marxist-Leninist Center in Utrecht. That institution offered courses in Marxism-Leninism and in the works of Mao Tse-tung.
The 1970 congress decided to make the party newspaper De Rode Tribune more popular and topical, instead of being “contemplative” as the congress claimed it had been theretofore. It was reported that “During the rest of the year, the paper devoted articles to criticizing the CPN congress … charging that CPN policies were contributing to a ‘direct strengthening of the existing system’ … criticizing Soviet foreign policy as ‘imperialism with a socialist label’ … and describing the KEN-ML as the Vanguard’ of the Dutch working class in the West European class struggle.”[323]
The KEN-ML controlled several front groups in the early 1970s. These included the Marxist-Leninist Students Union, Marxist-Leninist Youth, “a trade union named Workers Power,” a Union of Tenants and Those in Search of Housing; and a group concerned with environmental problems.[324]
The influence of the KEN-ML was certainly minimal in the labor movement. In 1971, its newspaper De Rode Tribune accused the Dutch unions of having “betrayed the workers” and said that their proper role was to become “schools of communism.”[325]
Although it was reported that in 1972 the KEN-ML “declined considerably,” it did “play a role” in a large metal workers strike by helping in publicity for the walkout. It also participated in an anti-Vietnamese War campaign.[326]
In May 1977, the KEN-ML participated in elections for the first time. However, its candidates had “very poor results.” In that year, it also was a major element in the founding of a Netherlands-China Friendship Organization.[327]
In spite of its efforts to win support among the organized workers, the KEN-ML consistently had its principal following among students. H.J.M. Mennes and Dennis L. Bark reported in 1972 that “most of the followers of KEN-ML can be found in the Communist Students Union.”[328] Six years later C. C. van den Heuvel noted that the KEN-ML still “consists primarily of students.”[329]
In 1979, after three Maoist groups had joined to form a new one, the Communist Workers Organization Marxist-Leninist (KAO-ML), the KEN-ML cooperated “in various fields” with the new group, but refused to merge with it.[330]
Communist Party of the Netherlands (Marxist-Leninist)-Socialist Party
The Communist Party of the Netherlands (Marxist-Leninist) was formed as the result of a split in the KEN-ML in 1971. H.J.M. Mennes and Dennis L. Bark reported that “In the course of 1971 controversies arose within the KEN-ML between a group of theoreticians’ (advocates of propaganda) and the group of ‘practicians’ (advocates of action). The differences of opinions caused a split in October. The group of theoreticians’ retained the name KEN-ML and continued publishing the party organ, De Rode Tribune. The ‘practicians,’ led by D. Monge, renamed themselves the Communist Party of the Netherlands (Marxist-Leninist).”[331]
The new party prospered at its inception. Mennes and Bark reported that the membership had doubled in its first year, reaching a total of 250. After its First Congress in October 1972, the party took the name Socialist Party (SP). Three reasons for the change in name were given by the party leaders, according to Mennes and Bark. “The old name caused confusion with the CPN and led to discussions on the Sino-Soviet conflict at the expense of party emphasis on achieving socialism in the Netherlands; anti-communist propaganda has successfully given the old party a poor reputation; and the old name gave the party the image of a small sectarian group, which was no longer suitable in view of the party’s fast-growing influence on the masses in districts and factories.’”
The Socialist Party gained control of the old KEN-ML front group, the Union of Tenants and Those in Search of Housing, which had “successful” results. They also mounted a unique anti-Vietnam war campaign—sending out 250,000 postcards protesting the war to U.S. residents chosen from telephone books.[332]
By 1974, the Socialist Party was establishing a monthly, De Tribune.[333]
In May 1974, the Socialist Party participated in municipal elections for the first time. It received 15,000 votes in twelve municipalities. It was reported that by that time the SP was “mainly concerned with problems of housing shortage and environmental protection.”[334]
Unlike the other Dutch parties of Maoist origin, the Socialist Party totally abandoned the pro-Chinese Communist camp. It was reported in 1978 that “The SP does not maintain relations with China or with foreign pro-Chinese parties. It mainly works through front groups in the fields of public health, environment, and housing.”[335]
The Marxist-Leninist Party of the Netherlands
The Marxist-Leninist Party of the Netherlands (MLPN) was founded under the leadership of Chris Petersen in 1969. It does not appear to have been established as the result of a split in any other party. In 1971 it was reported that “The party’s correspondence with the Chinese Communist Party and the Albanian Workers Party is regularly published in its monthly organ, De Kommunist.” In 1970, the MLPN began issuing another periodical, Central Paper for Industrial Workers, to try to gain influence among organized labor.[336]
In 1971 the party proclaimed its purpose to be “capture of political power” through the class struggle. It proclaimed that everything else, “including the individual interests of all who may be considered to belong to the working classes,” was subordinate to this drive for power.[337]
As became apparent soon after it was founded, the Marxist-Leninist Party of the Netherlands put special emphasis on establishing and maintaining as close contact as possible with Maoist parties in other countries. Mennes and Bark said in 1973 that such contacts “determine to a great extent the importance of this organization.”[338]
By the late 1970s, the MLPN was still one of the three most significant parties of Maoist origin in the Netherlands—along with the KEN-ML and the Socialist Party.[339]
There are indications that the Marxist-Leninist Party of the Netherlands was one of the three Maoist parties that merged in 1978 to establish the Communist Workers Organization-Marxist-Leninist.[340]
The Red Youth
324
H.J.M. Mennes and Dennis L. Bark, in Yearbook on International Communist Affairs, 1974, Hoover Institution, Stanford, Calif., page 198.
327
C. C. van den Heuvel, in Yearbook on International Communist Affairs, 1978, page 185; see also SED, Dokumentation, 1980, page 119.
329
C. C. van den Heuvel, in Yearbook on International Communist Affairs, 1980, Hoover Institution, Stanford, Calif., page 193.
334
van den Heuvel, in Yearbook on International Communist Affairs, 1975, Hoover Institution, Stanford, Calif., page 224.