Social Democratic Workers' Party (Netherlands)

The Social Democratic Workers' Party (in Dutch: Sociaal Democratische Arbeiders Partij, SDAP) was a Dutch socialist political party and a predecessor of the social-democratic PvdA.

History

1893-1904

The SDAP was founded by members of the Social Democratic League (SDB) after a conflict between anarchist and reformist factions. During the SDB party conference of 1893 in Groningen, a majority voted to stop participating in the elections. They were afraid that the parliamentary work would drift the socialists away from what socialism was really about. A minority of members led by Pieter Jelles Troelstra tried to prevent this, and later left the party in order to create a new party. The foundation of a new party was controversial within the socialist movement, because Troelstra was seen as a bourgeois force who had destroyed the unity of the SDB and the socialist movement. When the anarchist elements began to take full control of the SDB, important regional social-democratic figures joined the group around Troelstra. Together they formed a group called "the twelve apostles". The twelve apostles nearly all came from the provinces of Fryslan and Groningen or from large cities like Amsterdam and Rotterdam, and most were educated men in bourgeoisie occupations like teacher, vicar or lawyer. That's why SDB-members and other socialists mockingly called the SDAP not a workers' party but a teachers' (Dutch: Schoolmeesters), vicars (Dutch: Dominees) and lawyers (Dutch:...
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