Founding leader of the Dutch Social Democratic Workers' Party, whose failed call for revolution in 1918 is known as "Troelstra's mistake"
Dutch lawyer, journalist and politician, and a poet in Frisian. One of the twelve founders of the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) in 1894, he led it from 1897 as head of its parliamentary group and championed the fight for universal suffrage. In 1909 he drove the Tribunist Marxists out of the party, and his call for a socialist revolution in the Netherlands following the German revolution of November 1918 failed and is remembered as "Troelstra's mistake". He left politics in 1925.
Also known as: Piter Jelles Troelstra
Activities and affiliations
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1881–
Literature and arts
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1894–1930
Social Democratic Workers' Party (Netherlands) (SDAP)Main
Political and party leadership
Career Timeline
- 1890Joined the Social Democratic League (SDB).
- 1894Co-founded the SDAP.
- 1897Entered the House of Representatives and led the parliamentary party.
- 1900Became editor-in-chief of the party daily Het Volk.
- 1918.11Called for revolution in parliament, without success.
- 1925Left parliament.
- 1930.05.12Died in The Hague.
From the founding of the SDAP to "Troelstra's mistake"
Troelstra studied law at Groningen and practised as a lawyer in Leeuwarden, coming to the labour movement by way of the Frisian movement. In 1890 he joined Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis's Social Democratic League (SDB), but when the League turned against parliamentary work in 1893 he broke with it, insisting on socialist activity through parliament. The next year he and eleven others founded the Social Democratic Workers' Party, and in 1897 he entered the House of Representatives and became leader of its parliamentary group. From that year he also took up the Hogerhuis case, in which three poor brothers had been given long sentences on flimsy evidence, denouncing class justice in what became known as the Dutch Dreyfus affair. He was also editor-in-chief of the party daily Het Volk, founded in 1900.
As parliamentary leader he was inclusive and did not insist on a tight party line, but after the railway strikes of 1903 the conflict with the orthodox Marxists deepened. When David Wijnkoop and others attacked the leadership in De Tribune from 1907, he had them removed from the party in 1909; the Social Democratic Party (SDP) they founded later became the Communist Party of the Netherlands. His great cause was universal suffrage. After the electoral success of 1913 the party was offered a place in a coalition government, but Troelstra opposed joining and the party stayed out.
When revolution broke out in Germany in November 1918, Troelstra believed the Netherlands was ready for revolution too and demanded the government's resignation in parliament. The government did not resign and, supported by most of the population, prevented the revolution from spreading. The failure became known as "Troelstra's mistake"; discontent in the party grew and he only narrowly survived the 1919 congress. He left parliament in 1925, wrote his memoirs and died in The Hague in 1930.