Alliance for National Reconstruction

Last updated
Alliance for National Reconstruction
Verbond voor Nationaal Herstel
FounderHorace van Gybland Oosterhoff
Cornelis Jacobus Snijders
Founded28 January 1933
Banned19 June 1941
NewspaperNationaal Herstel
Ideology Dutch nationalism
National conservatism
Imperialism
Anti-communism
Monarchism
Reactionarism
Political position Far-right
Party flag
Prinsenvlag.svg

The Alliance for National Reconstruction (Dutch : Verbond voor Nationaal Herstel; VNH) was a conservative-nationalist political party in the Netherlands. The VNH played only a marginal role in the Dutch parliament.

Contents

History

Since 1931, Van Gybland Oosterhoff had tried to unite all conservative and nationalist forces in the Netherlands. In the autumn of 1932, he founded the National Reconstruction Concentration, which was to prepare the foundation of new conservative party. On January 28, 1933, this committee founded the Alliance for National Reconstruction.

In 1933, the VNH entered in the election. Its top candidate Snijders, a former general, had already announced that he would not take his seat in parliament. He also served as the party's honorary chair. The party won one seat which was taken by the party's second candidate Westerman. After 1935, the party got considerable competition from the fascist NSB, many members advocated a merger with the NSB, wanted to steer a more conservative course. In 1937, Van Gybland Oosterhoff died, leaving the party in disarray. In the 1937 election, the party lost its seats. Most of its members left the party, some found their way to the NSB.

Since then, the VNH saw itself as a study club, which continued publishing the Nationaal Herstel ("National Reconstruction"). After the German invasion the club tried to organise a new front of national organisations. They were ignored. In 1941 the occupation government forbade the party.

Ideology & Issues

The VNH operated on the border between fascism and conservative nationalism. The party thought that society was sick, because authority was no longer accepted. This gave all kinds of revolutionaries, socialists and Communists a chance to disrupt society. Political parties and the electoral system destroyed the chance of independent candidates to win seats. The party feared the rise of communism, anti-militarism and the Indonesian independence movement.

The party wanted a national reawakening, which would rekindle values like solidarity, duty, loyalty to the House of Orange and willingness to sacrifice. It wanted a new electoral system which would allow independent candidates to enter parliament. The party wanted to strengthen the relation with the Dutch colonies. It advocated national production and a strong defence. The VNH wanted to be a movement for all Dutch people, above partisan and pillarised politics.

Election results

This table shows the VNH's results in elections to the House of Representatives. The sole seat won by the party in 1933 was occupied by William Westerman.

Election Lijsttrekker Votes %Seats+/–Government
1933 Cornelis Jacobus Snijders 30,3320.8 (#14)
1 / 100
NewOpposition
1937 Wilko Emmens 6,0590.1 (#19)
0 / 100
Decrease2.svg 1Extraparliamentary opposition

Electorate

The VNH was supported by civil servants and soldiers. Its electorate was concentrated in The Hague. After 1935, the electorate of the VNH became oriented to the more successful national-socialist NSB.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands</span> Dutch Nazi movement and political party

The National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands was a Dutch fascist and later Nazi political organisation that eventually became a political party. As a parliamentary party participating in legislative elections, the NSB had some success during the 1930s. Under German occupation, it remained the only legal party in the Netherlands during most of the Second World War.

The Alliance was a left-wing political party in New Zealand. It was formed at the end of 1991 by the linking of four smaller parties. The Alliance positioned itself as a democratic socialist alternative to the centre-left New Zealand Labour Party. It was influential throughout the 1990s, but suffered a major setback after its founder and leader, Jim Anderton, left the party in 2002, taking with him several of its members of parliament (MPs). After the remaining MPs lost their seats in the 2002 general election, some commentators predicted the demise of the party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Socialist Party (Netherlands)</span> Dutch political party

The Socialist Party is a democratic socialist and social democratic political party in the Netherlands. Founded in 1971 as the Communist Party of the Netherlands/Marxist–Leninist, the party has since moderated itself from Marxism–Leninism and Maoism towards democratic socialism and social democracy.

An electoral alliance is an association of political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of Flanders</span> Politics in a region of Belgium

Flanders is both a cultural community and an economic region within the Belgian state, and has significant autonomy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christian Historical Union</span> Defunct political party in the Netherlands

The Christian Historical Union was a Protestant Christian democratic political party in the Netherlands. The CHU is one of the predecessors of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), into which it merged in September 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Political parties in Flanders</span>

Flemish political parties operate in the whole Flemish Community, which covers the unilingual Flemish Region and the bilingual Brussels-Capital Region. In the latter, they compete with French-speaking parties that all also operate in Wallonia. There are very few parties that operate on a national level in Belgium. Flanders generally tends to vote for right-wing, conservative parties, whereas in French-speaking Belgium the socialist party is usually the most successful one.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Verdinaso</span> Fascist political movement in Belgium

Verdinaso, sometimes rendered as Dinaso, was a small fascist political movement active in Belgium and, to a lesser extent, the Netherlands between 1931 and 1941.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1920 Chilean presidential election</span>

Presidential elections were held in Chile on Friday, June 25, 1920. The Liberal Alliance candidate Arturo Alessandri defeated the National Union candidate Luis Barros Borgoño in the last Chilean presidential election to have been decided by an electoral college. The results were a turning point for Chilean history, setting the end of the succession of oligarch and 19th-century governments and the start of a new, modern one run by the middle class.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liberal Party of Montenegro</span> Political party in Montenegro

Liberal Party of Montenegro is a liberal and nationalist political party in Montenegro.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social Democratic League</span> Former Dutch political party

The Social Democratic League was a socialist political party in the Netherlands. Founded in 1881, the SDB was the first socialist party to enter the House of Representatives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Socialist Party (Netherlands, interbellum)</span> Political party in the Netherlands

The Socialist Party, also called the "Kolthek party" after its founder Harm Kolthek, was a Dutch revolutionary syndicalist political party. It was represented in Parliament between 1918 and 1922.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peasants' League</span>

The Peasants' League was a Dutch agrarian political party. The League played only a minor role in Dutch politics.

The 1918 Swan by-election was a by-election for the Division of Swan in the Australian House of Representatives, following the death of the sitting member Sir John Forrest. Held on 26 October 1918, the by-election led to the election of the youngest person to be elected until 2010 to the Parliament of Australia, Edwin Corboy. It saw the conservative vote split between the Country Party and the Nationalist Party, which directly prompted the introduction of preferential voting in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Netherlands (European Parliament constituency)</span> Dutch constituency of the European Parliament

The Netherlands is a European Parliament constituency for elections in the European Union covering the member state of Netherlands. It is currently represented by 31 Members of the European Parliament. Until the 2009 European Parliament election, it excluded the Dutch in the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba.

An election of Members of the European Parliament representing Netherlands constituency took place on 4 June 2009. Seventeen parties competed in a D'Hondt type election for the available 25 seats. For the first time, all Dutch residents of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba were also entitled to vote in the election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reformed Political League</span> Political party in the Netherlands

The Reformed Political League was an orthodox Protestant political party in the Netherlands. The GPV is one of the predecessors of the Christian Union. The party was a testimonial party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hendrik Seyffardt</span> Dutch general (1872–1943)

Hendrik Alexander Seyffardt was a Dutch general, who during World War II collaborated with Nazi Germany during the occupation of the Netherlands, most notably as a figurehead of the Volunteer Legion Netherlands, a unit of the Waffen-SS on the Eastern Front.

References