Willem Hubert Vliegen

Wilhelmus Hubertus "Willem" Vliegen (20 November 1862 – 29 July 1947) was a Dutch journalist and politician of the Social Democratic Workers' Party who served as a member of the House of Representatives from 1909 until 1915, and again from 1922 until 1937. He also served as a member of the Senate from 1917 until 1922.

Early life and career Wilhelmus Hubertus Vliegen was born in Gulpen on 20 November 1862 to Jan Martinus Hubertus Vliegen, a carpenter, and Helena Jacquemin. He attended lower education until the age of 11, and then worked as a typesetter. He was introduced to socialism while working in Liège, and after moving to Amsterdam in 1883, he became a member of the Social Democratic League (SDB). He started working at Excelsior, the SDB's publishing office, in The Hague in 1887, and became a member of the executive board of the party's local branch. In 1889, Vliegen moved to Maastricht, where he established a local SDB branch. He also became editor of the SDB-aligned paper the following year.

For some time, Vliegen was conflicted about the party's internal struggle between revolutionaries and reformists, but he ultimately joined the latter in leaving the party, and became one of the twelve founders of the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) in 1894. In 1897, he became editor of and was elected chairman of the SDAP's national party board. He briefly lived in Paris, where he was inspired by the constructive politics of Jean Jaurès, and in 1902 he became editor of Het Volk.

Within the SDAP, Vliegen was a leader of the moderate wing. Alongside the party's leader, Pieter Jelles Troelstra, he opposed the orthodox Marxist opposition within the party until it broke away to form the Social Democratic Party in 1909. In 1913, however, Vliegen came into conflict with Troelstra by publicly arguing in favour of the party's participation in government, and he strongly disapproved of Troelstra's attempt at revolution in the Red Week in 1918.

Private life Vliegen married Maria Margaretha Hofman, who worked as a domestic servant, on 23 May 1888. The couple had two sons and two daughters. This urban forest was also meant to serve as buffer zone between residential neighborhoods and a chemical factory located on the bank of the IJ river.