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News
01Background articles and reports about Henk Sneevliet, his comrades and the commemoration.
Henk Sneevliet (1883-1942), rebel in Asia and Europe
Overview of the life and political paths of Henk Sneevliet, from Rotterdam via Indonesia and China to the resistance and his execution in 1942.
Alex de Jong
The place of Henk Sneevliet in the national and international labour movement
Introduction on Sneevliet as trade union leader, party leader and internationalist, and on his conflict with Trotsky over the NAS and the Fourth International.
Jan Willem Stutje
Donate
02The foundation raises money to keep alive the memory of Sneevliet and his comrades and their ideas. Your contribution goes towards the flowers at the Dokwerker (the Dockworker statue) and at the monument in Driehuis/Westerveld, and towards the upkeep of that monument.
- Account number
- NL38 TRIO 0320 9340 39
- In the name of
- Henk Sneevliet Stichting, Amsterdam
- Reference
- 'bloemen' (flowers) or 'monument'
The Henk Sneevliet Stichting is not an ANBI (Dutch public benefit organisation). Donations are therefore not tax-deductible.
Annual commemoration
03The Sneevliet Commemoration Committee organises a commemoration of Sneevliet and his comrades every year. The foundation funds that commemoration.
Every year, on behalf of the committee, flowers are laid at the Dokwerker (the Dockworker statue) in Amsterdam, in memory of the February Strike of 1941, in which members of the Marx-Lenin-Luxemburg-Front were also involved. Flowers are also laid annually at the monument in Driehuis/Westerveld. The committee also takes care of the upkeep of that monument. Major maintenance was last carried out in 2013.
Who was Henk Sneevliet
04
Henk Sneevliet (1883-1942) grew up in a poor Rotterdam family and at the age of seventeen went to work for the railways. In 1902 he joined the SDAP (Social Democratic Workers' Party). He became the first socialist town councillor of Zwolle and in 1911 chairman of the railway workers' union. That same year he broke with the party, which refused to support a strike.
In 1913 he left for the Dutch East Indies. In Semarang he pulled the railway union VSTP in a more radical direction and in 1914 he founded the Indies Social Democratic Association (ISDV), which in 1920 became the first Asian party to join the Communist International. By then Sneevliet had already been expelled. In 1921 he went to Shanghai for the Comintern, where he advised the newly founded communist party on cooperation with the nationalist Kuomintang.
Back in the Netherlands he became chairman of the NAS (National Labour Secretariat) in 1924. He sided with Trotsky's Left Opposition, left the CPN (Communist Party of the Netherlands) in 1927 and founded the Revolutionary Socialist Party, from 1935 the RSAP (Revolutionary Socialist Workers' Party). In 1933, convicted for his support of the mutiny on De Zeven Provinciën (The Seven Provinces), he entered the Tweede Kamer (the Dutch House of Representatives) from prison.
After the German invasion of May 1940 Sneevliet led the Marx-Lenin-Luxemburg-Front. In early 1942 its leadership was rolled up through betrayal. Eight men received the death sentence. Cor Gerritsen died in his cell, the seven others were shot by firing squad on 13 April 1942.
About the foundation
05The Henk Sneevliet Stichting raises money to keep alive the memory of Henk Sneevliet, his comrades and their ideas. Donations are mainly used to fund the activities of the Sneevliet Commemoration Committee.