The astrophysicist who mapped the Milky Way, and the council communist Lenin attacked in 'Left-Wing Communism'
One summer night in Bremen, 1908 — after teaching a workers' class — Pannekoek went out with his telescope. His verbal descriptions of the Milky Way clouds, notebook after notebook, would later become the evidence that let stellar statisticians first gauge the distance to our galaxy's spiral arms.
Dutch astronomer and founder of council communism. He won the RAS Gold Medal for his work on stellar atmospheres and galactic structure. In the Dutch and German left he built the theory of workers' council revolution, becoming the principal target of Lenin's 'Left-Wing Communism'.
Career timeline
1899Observer at Leiden Observatory; PhD on Algol variability
1901Joins the Dutch SDAP
1906–1914Active in the SPD left wing in Berlin and Bremen; party-school teacher
1909Co-founds the Social Democratic Party, forerunner of the Dutch CP
1918–1921Co-founds the Dutch CP; Comintern Amsterdam Bureau
1920Target of Lenin's pamphlet; replies with 'World Revolution and Communist Tactics'
1921–1927Expelled from CP; active in KAPN and the Communist Workers' International
1925–1942Professor at University of Amsterdam; founds the astronomical institute
1938Publishes 'Lenin as Philosopher' under pseudonym J. Harper
The Dutch revolutionary who planted communist seeds in Indonesia and China, then fought both Stalinism and Nazism
On the night of 12 April 1942 at Amersfoort camp, bound and facing the firing squad, Sneevliet refused a blindfold and together with seven comrades sang 'The Internationale.' He asked the executioners to untie his hands; they refused.
Dutch revolutionary. In the East Indies he co-founded the ISDV, forerunner of the Indonesian Communist Party; as Comintern envoy he brokered the founding of the Chinese Communist Party and the First United Front. He fought both Stalinism and Nazism before his execution in 1942.
Career timeline
1902–1911Dutch railway & tram union (NV) officer; chairman in 1911
1912Joined the Social Democratic Party (SDP); wrote for De Nieuwe Tijd
1914–1918Dutch East Indies — co-founded ISDV, organized railway union, expelled
1920PKI delegate to 2nd Comintern Congress; elected to ECCI
1921–1923Comintern representative in China — CCP founding, Sun Yat-sen meeting, First United Front
1924–1927CPN Central Committee, NAS secretary; broke with Stalinism
1929–1938Founded and led RSAP; International Bureau of Revolutionary Socialist Unity
1933–1937Dutch MP — elected from prison for supporting naval mutiny
1940–1942Organized MLL-Front, published Spartakus, February 1941 strike, arrested & executed
