Henk Sneevliet
Henk Sneevliet
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