The battle between the party board of the SP and the Red youth division is approaching a new climax. A number of young people from Rood accuse the party board of computer trespassing and Stasi practices; party veteran Eric Smaling has begun a reconciliation attempt and tonight the Party Council, the highest body within the SP, is meeting about the heated argument.
At stake in the conflict is the expulsion of six radical young members who are active on the Communist Platform and the associated Marxist Forum. The party administration has kicked them out because of communist sympathies.
According to the SP, double membership of these organizations is not compatible with party membership. Nor would they reject violence if necessary to reform society, which the young people deny.
‘Witch hunt for critical members’
“We are socialists, not communists”, party chairman Jannie Visscher said earlier in an explanation of the expulsion. A week ago, the party board stopped financial and administrative support for Rood because one of the six young people, Olaf Kemerink, was elected as their chairman by the members of Rood. And Rood does not want to let him down, despite the pressure from the party management.
In a lengthy article on the website communisme.nu, the radical Red youth accuse the SP board this week of a ‘witch hunt’ on critical members.
One of the authors is Gus Ootjers, one of the six expelled members. He says: “We have consulted experts and this seems to be a breach of computer security and unlawful use of personal data. These are Stasi practices from the party management.”
‘Gambled usernames’
Lawyers consulted by the NOS say the SP may have violated the law. To prove that members were members of the Marxist Platform website, among others, at least one SP member checked whether they had an account on that website. This was done by guessing their usernames, say the SP youth. In this way, the SP would have checked whether about a hundred SP members have an account on the site.
But that is not allowed just like that, say the lawyers. “This concerns membership of a political party, which is sensitive personal data. That should not really be used”, says privacy lawyer Arnoud Engelfriet.
The SP states in a response that the party has only used “publicly accessible information”. The party would also have received the information resulting from the investigation from an SP member, and not have asked for it, the party claims.
Former Member of Parliament Eric Smaling, now chairman of the SP faction in the Provincial Council of North Holland, sees the battle between the party board and the young people with sorrow. “The party board is on a bit of a collision course,” he says. “Young people are still developing and should be able to be more radical within a party”. Smaling is one petition started to stir those involved to reflection and reconciliation. It has so far been signed by 500 SP members.
‘You can be a communist elsewhere’
It is doubtful whether this reconciliation will take place: the party management and Rood are diametrically opposed. An illustration of this is that the young people have turned against participation in the government of the SP, while party leader Marijnissen hopes to be able to co-ordinate after the elections. Preferably in a cabinet that is as left as possible, but she does not even rule out cooperation with the VVD, which the SP did previously.
Sources around the party top say that the expelled young people are trying to hijack the party through the youth organization and that it is therefore perfectly justified that the party board has intervened. “Fine if you want to be a communist, but then you do it somewhere else”, says an initiate.
Tonight the Party Council is considering a confidential proposal from the party board, which is in the hands of the NOS. It states that “the Communist Platform wants to transform our party into a communist and / or classical Marxist party. We distance ourselves from the Communist Platform because it is contrary to our principles and we reject the method of forming a party within the SP and thus gaining influence. “
Private Internet conference
The party board proposes to set up a committee to investigate how the relationship with Rood can be restored. “In our opinion, this committee is a mix of experienced SP’ers and committed young people. The starting point is and remains that our youth organization is one in the SP.”
The Party Council has a closed internet meeting tonight because it is an internal party affair. Party chairman Jannie Visscher does not want to respond to this in advance.
With the cooperation of Joost Schellevis and Jeroen Stans
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