General Dutch Youth League
The Algemeen Nederlands Jeugd Verbond (ANJV; English: General Dutch Youth League)[1] was a political youth movement in the Netherlands. The ANJV was a member of the World Federation of Democratic Youth.[2]
History
The predecessor of the ANJV was the Communistische Jeugd Holland.
The ANJV was founded on 15 June 1945, in the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam. Similar in organization to the East German Freie Deutsche Jugend, the ANJV was nominally an independent "progressive" youth organisation, but was ideologically heavily influenced by communism, and its leadership controlled by members of the Communistische Partij van Nederland (Communist Party of the Netherlands).[3] This is as opposed to other political youth organisations in the Netherlands, such as the Jonge Socialisten or the JovD, which are directly related to the PvdA and the VVD, respectively.
In its first three years of its existence, the ANJV enjoyed significant popularity, numbering 15,000 members just after its founding in 1945, owing to its broad anti-fascist orientation and attempts by its leadership to unite left-wing youth under a single banner.[3] Conflicts between communist and social democratic youth over the organisation's priorities, as well as the 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état and growing anti-communist sentiment nationally led to an exodus of non-communist members from the ANJV from the late 1940s on and a decline in membership.[3]
Growing anti-communist sentiment led to members of the ANJV, alongside those of the CPN and other communist mass organizations, were banned from government employment by the Drees government in 1951.[4] The political fallout from the 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary further contributed to the movement's marginalisation.[2]
From the 1960s onward, members of the ANJV figured prominently in various popular activist groups, such the movements against American involvement in the Vietnam War and opposing the placement of nuclear weapons in Western Europe.[2]
After the merger of the CPN into GroenLinks in 1991, the ANJV continued as an independent organization, which was dissolved in 2005, after 60 years.
See also
References
- ↑ Graaff, Bob de (2024-06-06). Lifting the Fog: The Secret History of the Dutch Defense Intelligence and Security Service (1912-2022). Bloomsbury Publishing PLC. ISBN 978-1-5381-7624-5. Retrieved 2025-07-22.
- 1 2 3 Maar, Rimko van der (2020-06-28). "Plastic contra Napalm. De Nederlandse Vietnambeweging en haar Communistische Contacten in het Buitenland: (Levend verleden)". Groniek (in Dutch) (222). doi:10.21827/groniek.222.37249. hdl:11245.1/4d3aae5e-2bb0-47a7-baf1-f73bfdeb6416. ISSN 0169-2801.
- 1 2 3 Weesjes, Elke M. (2010). Children of the red flag: Growing up in a communist family during the Cold War: A comparative analysis of the British and Dutch communist movement (Doctoral thesis). University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom: 92–94.
- ↑ Withuis, Jolande. 1990. Opoffering en heroiek : de mentale wereld van een communistische vrouwenorganisatie in naoorlogs Nederland, 1946-1976. Meppel: Boom: 11.