The ('''SP''',
Socialist Political Party . After the
2006 Election , the Socialist Party became one of the major parties of the Netherlands with 25 seats of 150, an increase of 16 seats. The party is in opposition against the
Fourth Cabinet Balkenende .
The Socialist Party was founded in October . The founders of KPN/ML, led by
Daan Monjé , belonged to the '
Proletarian ' wing of the KEN(ml), who did not want an organisation dominated by students and intellectuals. In
1972 KPN/ML changed its name to ''Socialistiese Partij'' (Socialist Party). In its early years, the Maoist SP had close links with the
Communist Party Of China .
The SP started to build a network of local parties, with strong local roots. The SP had its own
General Practitioner s' offices, provided advice to citizens and set up local action groups. This developed within front organisations, for instance separate trade unions, environmental organizations and tenant associations. This work resulted in a strong representation in several municipal legislatives (so-called
Gemeenteraden ), notably in
Oss . Also in provincial legislatives (so-called
Provinciale Staten ), the SP gained a foothhold, especially in the province of
Noord-Brabant .
The SP's tenency to practise politics close to "the people", especially to the working class, led to controversial publications. The booklet "''Gastarbeid en Kapitaal''" (
Migrant Labour and
Capital ), which was published in the
1980s , denounced the migration of foreign workers into the Netherlands. It was portrayed as a ploy of the capitalists to reduce the
Class Consciousness of the proletariat. There was only one solution to prevent the factionalisation of the Dutch proletariat, namely that foreign workers were to adapt to Dutch society or had to be moved back to their own country. This provoked some local councillors to call the SP the
Centrumpartij of the left, the Centrumpartij being the radical right-wing party in those times (the 1980s).
The experience of working in legislatives however also had a moderating effect on the SP. Since
1977 it attempted to enter the Tweede Kamer. The party failed in
1977 ,
1981 ,
1982 ,
1986 and
1989 . In
1991 , the party officially abandoned
Marxism-Leninism , although this practice had ceased many years earlier.
In s, the major leftist party, the Labour Party (
PvdA ), moved to the centre, thus making the SP and the green
GroenLinks viable alternatives for some left-wing voters. In
1998 the party was rewarded for its opposition to the
Purple government and it more than doubled its seats to five. In
1999 Erik Meijer was elected into the
European Parliament for the SP.
In . Leading up to the
2003 elections, the SP was predicted to win as much as 24 (16%) seats in the polls. These gains failed to materialise however, as many potential SP voters chose to cast strategic votes for the Labour Party (
PvdA ), who stood a good chance of winning the elections. In the
2004 European Elections its one seat was doubled to two.
In the
2005 Referendum on the European Constitution the SP was the only left-wing party in parliament to oppose it. The party grew dramatically in polls but fell slightly after the referendum.
The
Municipal Elections Of 2006 saw a huge success for SP, more than doubling its total number of seats. This can in part be explained by the fact that the party participated in much more municipalities, but it can also be seen as a reaction to the so-called 'right-wing winter' in national politics, as the welfare-reforms of the right-wing
Second Balkenende Cabinet were called by its left-wing opponents. In a reaction to these results, Marijnissen declared on the election evening that the "SP has grown up".
After the untimely end of
Balkenende II and the minority government of
Balkenende III , the SP gained 16 seats in the parliament after the
2006 Elections , nearly tripling its size. With 25 seats, the SP became the third party of the Netherlands. In the
2006-2007 Cabinet Formation the SP was unable to work out its programmatic differences with the
Christian Democratic Appeal , the largest party and remained in opposition against the social-Christian
Fourth Cabinet Balkenende .
In the provincial elections of 2007 the SP gained 54 provincial legislatures more than in the provincial elections of 2003 and made it to a total of 83 provincial legislatures. As a result of the provincial elections the SP has increased it's representatives in the upper house (Eerste Kamer) to 12 from the 4 it had previously.
The party was founded as the (Dutch: ''Kommunistiese Partij Nederland/Marxisties-Leninisties'', KPN/ML) in 1971. In 1972 it adopted the name '''Socialistiese Partij''', which was spelled in the progressive spelling of that era with ''-iese'' instead of ''-ische''. In 1993 the party changed its name to the conventionally spelled ''Socialistische Partij''.
The party has a democratic socialist ideology. In its manifesto of principals it calls for a society where
Human Dignity ,
Equality and
Solidarity are most important. Its core issues are
Employment ,
Social Welfare and investing in
Education ,
Public Safety and
Health Care . The party opposes privatisation of public services and is a critic of
Globalization .
Leader of the Lower House faction
:
1994 -now
Jan Marijnissen
Lijsttrekker
:2006: Jan Marijnissen
:2003: Jan Marijnissen
:2002: Jan Marijnissen
:1998: Jan Marijnissen
:1994: Jan Marijnissen
:1989:
Jan Marijnissen
Development of the number of seats in the Lower House, of the 150 available:
:
1994 - 2
:
1998 - 5
:
2002 - 9
:
2003 - 9
:
2004 - 8 (Ali Lazrak left)
:
2006 - 25
After the 2006 elections the party has twenty five representatives in the
Lower House Of Parliament :
#
Jan Marijnissen , chairperson of the parliamentary party (''fractievoorzitter'') and the party organisation, MP since
1994 .
#
Agnes Kant , MP since
1998 .
#
Harry Van Bommel , MP since
1998
#
Jan De Wit , MP since 1998, before that member of
Eerste Kamer .
Parlement & politiek - Mr. J.M.A.M. de Wit . Downloaded 27 November 2006.
#
Krista Van Velzen , MP since
2002 .
#
Ewout Irrgang , MP since
6 October 2005 , succesor of
Piet De Ruiter .
#
Ronald Van Raak , MP since
2006 , before that member of
Eerste Kamer .
#
Emile Roemer , MP since 2006.
#
Renske Leijten , same.
#
Paul Ulenbelt , same.
# Ron Abel, same.
#
Sharon Gesthuizen , same.
#
Jasper Van Dijk , same.
#
Sadet Karabulut , same.
#
Nathalie De Rooij , same.
#
Hans Van Leeuwen , same.
#
Fons Luijben , same.
#
Paulus Jansen , same.
#
Remi Poppe , MP 1994-2002 and since 2006.
#
Arda Gerkens , MP since 2002.
#
Rosita Van Gijlswijk , MP since 2006.
#
Henk Van Gerven , the same.
#
Marianne Langkamp , the same.
#
Paul Lempens , the same.
#
Hugo Polderman , the same
Development of the number of seats in the Upper House or Senate, of the 75 available:
:1999 - 1
:2003 - 4
:2007 - 12
After the 2007 elections the party has 12 representatives in the
Senate :
# Tiny Kox, chairperson of the parliamentary party
# tineke slagter-roukema
# Arthur Elzinga
# Paul Peters
# Geert Reuten
# Arjan Vliegenthart
# Sineke ten Horn
# Anja Meulenbelt
# Nanneke Quik-Schuijt
# Kees Slager
# Eric Smaling
# Düzgün Yildirim
Development of the number of seats in the Upper House, of the between 600 to 700 available:
:
1999 - 1
:
2004 - 2
SP MEPs are part of the faction
European United Left - Nordic Green Left .
After the
2004 European Parliament Elections the party has two representatives in the
European Parliament :
#
Erik Meijer
#Kartika Liotard
The SP provides no
Queen's Commissioner s or mayors. Dutch mayors and Queen's Commissioners are appointed by the
Minister Of The Interior ; the SP opposes this procedure, and wants mayors to be elected by the municipality council. Nor is the SP part of any provincial executive,
Gedeputeerde Staten . The SP is part of several municipal executives,
Colleges Van Burgemeester En Wethouders notably in
Oss and
Nijmegen .
The SP has over 50,000 members and has grown considerably since it entered parliament in 1994 making it the third largest party in members.
The highest organ of the SP is the party council, formed by the chairs of all local branches and the party board, it convenes at least four times a year. The party board is elected by the party congress, which is formed by delegates from the municipal branches. The congress decides on the order of the candidates for national and European elections and it has a final say over the party program.
The official chair of the party board is
Jan Marijnissen , who also is chair of the parliamentary party. In the Netherlands it is traditional to separate these two offices. The real leader of the party's organisation is the
General Secretary . The party board further consists of regionally and nationally elected members and the head of the party's youth wing and the editor of the party's magazine.
The SP is sometimes criticised for its allegedly
Hierarchical organisation. Critics claim not many things are decided within the national party, or even its local branches, without the consent of its leader Jan Marijnissen.Kagie R. ''De Socialisten, Achter de Schermen van de SP'' Mets & Schilt (2004) Amsterdam
The SP remains a very active in extra-parliamentary protest. Many of its members are active in local campaigning groups, often independent groups dominated by the SP, or in the SP neighbourhood centres, where the party provides help for the working classes.
Two
Trotskyist Entrist groups currently operate within the SP,
Offensive and
International Socialists . The SP decided not to allow membership of both the SP and the International Socialists. The similar but very small group Offensief is not considered a factor of power and its approximately 20 members are not banned. Members of the party
Socialist Alternative Politics also operate within the SP.
The youthwing is called '').
The SP publishes the magazine the ''Tribune'' monthly (which was also the name of a historical
CPN newspaper).
The SP is a member of the
European United Left . The party is unaffiliated with either the
Party Of The European Left or the
Nordic Green Left Alliance .
The SP has always been in opposition. On many issues the SP is the most leftwing party in parliament. Between
1994 and
2002 the PvdA had a conscious strategy to isolate the party, always voting against their proposals. The party however did cooperate well with
GroenLinks . After the for the PvdA desastrous election result in 2002, the Labour Party, now back in opposition, did also cooperate with the SP, against some of the policies of the right-wing Balkenende government, and their relationship improved significantly. New tensions arose however after the elections of 2006, when the SP approached the PvdA in electoral support, and the PvdA joined the government, whereas the SP did not.
