Piet Aalberse

Petrus Josephus Mattheus "Piet" Aalberse Sr. (27 March 1871 – 5 July 1948) was a Dutch Catholic politician and jurist who served as Minister of Labour between 1918 and 1925 and leader of the Roman Catholic State Party between 1931 to 1936. He was granted the honorary title of Minister of State on 31 December 1934.

Aalberse became a member of the House of Representatives after the death of Herman Schaepman, serving from 24 February until 21 June 1916. Aalberse worked as a professor at the Delft Institute of Technology from 21 June 1916 until 25 September 1918. After the 1918 general election, Aalberse was appointed as the first Minister of Labour in the first Ruijs de Beerenbrouck cabinet, taking office on 25 September 1918. After the 1922 general election Aalberse continued as Minister of Labour in the second Ruijs de Beerenbrouck cabinet, taking office on 18 September 1922. On 1 January 1923, the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Agriculture, Commerce and Industry were combined to form the Ministry of Labour, Commerce and Industry, with Aalberse continuing in the post as the newly renamed Minister of Labour, Commerce and Industry. After the 1925 general election, Aalberse was not given a cabinet post in the new cabinet, the Cabinet Ruijs de Beerenbrouck II was replaced by the Cabinet Colijn I on 4 August 1925. Aalberse subsequently returned to the House of Representatives, taking office on 15 September 1925. After the death of Roman Catholic State Party leader Wiel Nolens, Aalberse was selected as his successor, taking office on 15 September 1931.

Early life and education

He was born in Leiden to confectioner Bartholomeus Hendricus Johannes Aalberse and Johanna Kerkvliet. He attended a public elementary school and, from 1885 until 1891, attended gymnasium at the Sint-Willibrorduscollege in Katwijk. He started studying Dutch Language at Leiden University in 1891, but switched to Jurisprudence in 1893. At the university, he founded the Catholic student society Sanctus Augustinus along with Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck.

Aalberse contested the 1901 general election as a Catholic candidate in the districts of Enschede and Katwijk, but lost to the SDAP candidate Henri van Kol in the former, and to the Free Antirevolutionary candidate Otto Jacob Eifelanus van Wassenaer van Catwijck in the latter. The disappointment of these defeats led Aalberse to grow an aversion towards those Catholics who, within their political and social organisations, sought to bypass the Church leadership, and he began to align his reformist views more closely with various conservative groups amongst the country's highest clergy. This development brought his views more in line with those of Herman Schaepman, leader of the Catholics in parliament. He took office as a member of the House of Representatives on 24 February, and resigned from his municipal offices on 18 June of that year. In the House, Aalberse soon became an advocate of the Antithesis idea, and of a positive-Christian politics, and mainly concerned himself with policy regarding labour, trade and industry.

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