Hendricus Josephus Franciscus Marie Sneevliet, known as Henk Sneevliet or by the pseudonym "Maring" (13 May 1883 – 13 April 1942), was a Dutch communist politician who was active in both the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies. As a functionary of the Communist International, Sneevliet guided the formation of both the Communist Party of Indonesia in 1914, and the Chinese Communist Party in 1921. In his native country, he was the founder, chairman, and only Representative for the Revolutionary Socialist (Workers') Party (RSP/RSAP). He took part in the communist resistance against the occupation of the Netherlands during World War II by Nazi Germany, for which he was executed by the Germans in April 1942.
Biography
Early life
Hendricus "Henk" Sneevliet was born on 13 May 1883 in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and grew up in Den Bosch in a poor Catholic family. He was the son of Anthonie Sneevliet, a cigar maker, and the former Henrica J. W. van Macklenbergh.
After finishing his education in 1900, Sneevliet moved to Zutphen and started working for the Dutch railways.
China
Vladimir Lenin was impressed enough by him to send him as a Communist International (Comintern) representative to the Republic of China. Following Grigori Voitinsky's preparatory work in Shanghai to form a communist party in 1920, Sneevliet arrived in China with Vladimir Neumann in June 1921 and urged Li Da to convene a formal congress. Sneevliet was present at the founding congress of the Chinese Communist Party in July 1921.
Early in 1924, Sneevliet returned to Moscow, his tenure as a Comintern representative to China at an end. This organization concentrated on national issues, gaining some successes in organizing the unemployed movement, strike actions, and the struggle against the rise of fascism.
He remained interested in Indonesian affairs and in 1933 was sentenced to five months imprisonment for his solidarity actions for the Dutch and Indonesian sailors who took part in the mutiny on "De Zeven Provinciën", which was put down by an air bombardment in which twenty-three sailors were killed and which at the time aroused considerable passions in the Dutch public opinion. That same year, while still imprisoned, Sneevliet was elected a member of the Lower House of parliament, a position in which he remained until 1937. along with the International Communist League, led by Leon Trotsky, the OSP and the Socialist Workers' Party of Germany. This declaration was intended as a step towards a new Fourth International of revolutionary socialist parties. In 1938, Sneevliet and the RSP ultimately refused to join this new international organization, however, thereby breaking with the Trotskyist movement. The train ticket to visit Sneevliet was found in his pocket when he (Reiss) was assassinated in Lausanne, Switzerland.
With James Maxton of the ILP, Sneevliet headed deputations to civil war Spain on behalf of the international campaign for socialists there persecuted after the May Days of Barcelona. "They harassed Republican Ministers with their questions and protests and proceeded to knock on the doors of the Communist Party's secret prisons." Despite expecting to hear that the POUM Executive had been summarily executed, the campaign, according to Victor Serge in the 1940s, saved their lives and was "a real moral triumph".
Death
As a known communist, Sneevliet had to go into hiding even before he started his resistance activities. In the underground he edited a clandestine newspaper called Spartakus and took part in other activities. It was reported that they went to their deaths singing "The Internationale".