Pacifist Socialist Party

The Pacifist Socialist Party was a democratic socialist political party in the Netherlands. It is one of the predecessors of GroenLinks.

Party history

Before 1957

In 1955, a group of "politically homeless" activists had formed. The group mainly consisted of former members of the Labour Party and the Communist Party of the Netherlands. They had left the PvdA over the military intervention against the Indonesian independence movement and the Labour party's support for NATO. Many of them had a background in the orthodox Marxist wing of the Social Democratic Workers' Party or the Christian Democratic Union, which had merged into the PvdA. The former members of the CPN had left their party over the Stalinist course of the CPN. There was also a group of these politically homeless that had never been members of parties, while others had been member of pre-war parties such as the Independent Socialist Party.
These politically homeless individuals were a diverse group: progressive Christians, orthodox Marxists, Trotskyists, liberal pacifists and some anarchists. Many of them were active in the developing peace movement.
The party was sceptic of both the Eastern bloc and Western bloc. They were oriented at a third camp between Stalinist communism and western capitalism.
In 1956, the group asked the PvdA to put two candidates of these politically homeless on their list for the next elections, one on a 'safe' electable position on their candidate list and one that would need to be elected by preference votes. These candidates would have an independent position in parliament. The PvdA, although originally sympathetic to the idea rejected this. Thus the group felt forced to found its own party and it founded the Action group for the formation of a Party on Anti-militarist and Socialist principles in November 1956. It would chart the possibilities of a new political party.

1957–1971

On 26 January 1957, the PSP was founded by the Action group. The first year was devoted to the organisation of the party and the preparation for the elections which were expected to be in 1960. The party sought to expand its membership, its branches and its electoral support. The founders were joined by members of the Socialist Union, a group which had split unsuccessfully from the PvdA in 1950. In 1958, it entered in the provincial elections and it won two seats in the North Holland provincial legislative. In the 1959 elections the party won two seats in the House of Representatives.
In the early years, the party became known for its parliamentary and extra-parliamentary opposition against the rising Cold War, and especially the placement of nuclear weapons. The socialist revolution in Cuba and uprisings against the South African system of Apartheid led to considerable debate within the party between groups who opposed all violence and groups who opposed repressive violence and supported liberating violence. In 1961, the party threw off its principled pacifism and advocated the minimization of violence. Extra-parliamentary action against colonialism also became more important; the party supported New Guinean and Algerian independence.
In the 1963 elections, the party performed particularly well. It doubled its seats to four. This success can be attributed to several developments: the rising opposition to the Cold War, the party's appeal to the developing students' movement and especially the anarchist Provo movement, for whom the PSP was the only acceptable party, and finally the CPN's internal conflicts – in 1958 three MPs had left the CPN and formed their own parliamentary party, led by Henk Gortzak, called the Bridge Group and unsuccessfully competed in the 1959 elections. The group subsequently founded the Socialist Workers' Party. This internal dissent had caused the CPN to fall to only one seat in the 1963 elections.
In the mid-1960s, the Vietnam War became an important issue. The PSP was heavily involved in opposition against the American intervention. It was the first party to pay attention to the war and it was involved in the organisation of demonstrations, rallies and teach ins. The monarchy also became an issue as Crown Princess Beatrix would marry Claus von Amsberg in 1966. The PSP used this opportunity to voice its support for a republican constitution. In the same year the CPN-dissenters of the SWP joined the PSP. The PSP held on to its four seats in the 1967 election. In 1969 Gortzak, previously leader of the SWP returned as MP: now for the PSP.

1971–1981

The 1970s were characterized by internal conflicts between moderate and more radical members of the PSP. The most important reason for this was the radicalization within the PvdA. A new, more radical, generation had gained power in the PvdA. They wanted to form a majority cabinet with only leftwing parties. To achieve this they formed the Progressive Accord with the new left-liberal Democrats 66 and the progressive Christian PPR. The PSP also participated in these talks but broke off, because the majority of the PSP congress thought this alliance was neither pacifist nor socialist. The cooperative minority clashed strongly with the isolationist majority. In the 1971 elections, the party lost two of its four seats, while the PvdA won seats.
In 1972, the party's political leader, Hans Wiebenga was replaced by the younger Bram van der Lek, who emphasized the environment as an important issue. He was unable to win seats in the 1972 elections. As party leader he would embrace extra-parliamentary protest of all kinds of groups: the PSP was involved in the nascent environmental, squatting, women's and students' movements.
Both the moderates and the most radicals left the party. Until 1974, a Trotskyist group, the Proletarian Left, led by Erik Meijer, now MEP for the Socialist Party operated within the party because they wanted to use the PSP to electrify the masses. In 1974 nearly all of them left the party to found what later became the group Socialist Alternative Politics. In 1975 the moderate so called progressive cooperatives left the party. Many members of them joined the PvdA.
Starting in 1975, the party membership exhibited strong growth and doubled in the next five years. Nevertheless, the 1977 elections were disastrous: the party lost all but one seat – this is attributed to the political competition between the social-democratic prime minister Joop den Uyl and his Christian democratic competitor Dries van Agt, which caused many PSP-sympathizers to vote for Den Uyl. The internal dissent within the party also damaged its popular appeal. After one year Van der Lek left parliament, and he was replaced by Fred van der Spek.

1981–1989

In the early 1980s, the placement of American nuclear weapons became an important political issue. The PSP was involved in the organisation of national demonstrations against nuclear weapons and more than 80% of the members of the PSP attended one of the two mass protests against the placement nuclear weapons of 1981 and 1983. In the 1981 election the PSP was rewarded for its principled opposition: it won three seats. In the subsequent 1982 election it kept its seats. The party membership nearly reached 10,000 in this period.
Since the 1980s, the party began to cooperate more with the PPR, which had broken with the PvdA, and the CPN, which had destalinized. It cooperated mainly in municipal and provincial elections and legislatures, because a higher percentage of votes is necessary to gain seats in such elections. At the 1984 European Parliament election, the PPR, CPN and PSP formed the Green Progressive Accord that entered with one joint list. They won one seat, which rotated between the PSP and PPR. Party members also met each other in grassroots extraparliamentary protest against nuclear energy and nuclear weapons. The cooperation led to internal conflicts. Before the election of 1986 the CPN and the PPR wanted to form an electoral alliance with the PSP. This led to a crisis within the party: chair of the parliamentary party, Fred van der Spek who opposed cooperation was replaced by the party congress by Andrée van Es, who favoured cooperation. Van der Spek founded his own Party for Socialism and Disarmament. The 1986 PSP congress however still rejected cooperation. In the elections of 1986 nuclear weapons were no longer an issue: the party was left with only one seat. The membership of the party rapidly declined. The pressure to cooperate increased.

After 1989

In 1989, the PSP initiated talks with the PPR and the CPN. Their initiative was supported by an open letter from members of trade unions, environmental movements and the arts which called for one progressive formation left of the PvdA. After long negotiations, which were pressured by the fall of the Second cabinet Lubbers and the subsequent earlier elections, the party entered in the 1989 elections as part of GreenLeft. Andrée van Es was second on the list. In 1991, the PSP dissolved itself into GreenLeft. In 1992, a group of former PSP-members who had refused to join GreenLeft formed the PSP'92.
The PSP made a considerable mark on GreenLeft, although it has moderated its pacifism and socialism. Especially the progressive, tolerant and non-dogmatic ideals of the PSP still play an important role. MPs Kees Vendrik, Ineke van Gent and Leo Platvoet were active within the party, as was MEP Joost Lagendijk.

Ideology and issues

Ideology

The party's ideology was based on pacifism, socialism, and democracy. These three values were united by human rights. In war, capitalism, and dictatorship human rights are infringed.
In its 1957 manifesto of principles, the PSP advocated two major societal renewals: Firstly, a spiritual renewal, which sought to replace a society based on fear, division and power with a society based on trust, unity and justice – this reflected the party's pacifism. Secondly, an economic renewal, which sought to replace a society based on classes by a classless society. This reflected the party's socialism. The PSP furthermore advocated a democratic political system and a democratic economy, it rejected the use of violence to solve international conflicts and it proposed a federal world state in which wealth would be shared by both the former colonizing powers and their former colonies.
In the 1970s and 1980s, new issues were incorporated into the PSP's ideology: women's liberation, gay rights, and environmentalism.