Jacques de Kadt

Jacques de Kadt (30 July 1897 – 16 April 1988) was a prominent and often controversial 20th Century Dutch political thinker, politician and man of letters who was born in Oss and died in Santpoort. Born into a liberal Jewish family, he was the youngest son of a factory manager, Roelof de Kadt, and his wife Bertha Koppens. Author of numerous books and articles, his reputation was established by his book Het fascisme en de nieuwe vrijheid (Fascism and the New Freedom) which was published in 1939, shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War.

Early career

De Kadt's early political career was shaped, in part, by the influence of Rosa Luxemburg. He joined the Dutch Communist Party, soon only to become disenchanted with it and, especially, with the political developments in the Soviet Union. In consequence, he left the Communist Party of Holland in 1924, and formed the League of Communist Struggle & Propaganda Clubs (BKSP) along with Henriette Roland Holst and several others. In , De Kadt predicts the coming of the Second World War, the ultimate defeat of Fascism and the emergence of the United States of America and the Soviet Union as the dominant global powers. The book also contains a normative defence of "western civilization" and its scientific underpinning. The book served as one source of inspiration for H. Floris Cohen's 1994 historiographical exploration of the 'scientific revolution'.

Parliamentary career

De Kadt was a Labour Party member of the Dutch parliament from 1948 to 1963. He served for many years as the party's principal spokesman on foreign affairs, though his outspoken stance on Indonesian independence (of which he was a vigorous early proponent) and his sharp, unqualified, opposition to Stalinism and the Soviet system ruled him out as a contender for the ministerial position that was held by Joseph Luns. He was a strong supporter of NATO in order to protect to protect against the USSR, and during the Korean War he proposed imprisoning 5000-10,000 communists in labour camps. De Kadt was a regular radio commentator for the VARA during these years. His contribution to Dutch public life and service was recognized in 1959 when he was awarded a knighthood in the Order of the Netherlands Lion.

Later life Despite his growing concerns over what he saw as pacifist tendencies within the PvdA, he left the House of Representatives due to advanced age on relatively good terms. As the New Left gradually grew in influence within the PvdA, he grew alienated from the party, seeing them as "the fifth column of Moscow". In 1970, he left the PvdA, and would sympathise with DS'70, a moderate splinter group. De Kadt became increasingly conservative and cynical, and in a book from 1972 he would condemn the social changes that were engulfing the Netherlands during that decade, but he had become a marginal figure. In 1979, he quit writing due to health issues. Jacques de Kadt died on 16 April 1988 in Santpoort