Pacifist Socialist Party

The Pacifist Socialist Party, or PSP, was a Dutch political party.

Party History

The PSP was founded in 1957 as a party of the "politically homeless". This group was neither social-democratic nor communist, nor was it aligned with either of the two blocs of the cold war, the US and the USSR. The party's electorate was very heterogenous, although most could be seen as intellectuals. The party was a refuge for people who came from the social-democratic party (PvdA) and the communist party (CPN), and was favoured by progressive Christians, Trotskyites, people who favoured nuclear disarmament, pacifists, socialists, anarchists and many more left-wing groups.

In the sixties, with the beginning of the students' movement, the party grew, being seen as the only acceptable party for radical student groups like Provo. But the rise in membership also led to internal strife.

Externally, the party remained isolated. It had been in a state of 'war' with communists from the beginning. Many founders of the PSP had been removed from the communist ranks. The Social-Democratic PvdA had searched for cooperation with the PSP during the seventies, but the PSP saw the PvdA as neither socialist or pacifist. While the PvdA grew more radical in the seventies, the PSP lost votes.

At the beginning of the eighties, however, with renewed danger of Nuclear War, the ranks of the party grew again. But when the fear subsided, the party nearly lost all of its seats and was forced to cooperate with others. In 1989 it became one of the founding groups of GroenLinks together with their former adversaries, the communists and radicals. The latter had been closely aligned with the PvdA during the seventies. They were later joined by progressive Christians.

Ideology

The ideology of the party was based on pacifism, socialism and democracy. These were seen as inseparable. In both capitalism and war human rights are oppressed. The party opposed all forms of oppression: it was anti-colonial, republican, feminist and pro-gay. It was also one of the first parties in the Netherlands to address the problem of pollution. Nationally the party refused to cooperate with others and prefered a position of 'testimonial party', which resembles the position of the dutch orthodox protestant parties. There are very few parties, internationally, that resemble the PSP; only Scandinavian parties like the Danish Socialist People's Party come close.