Preliminary Programme

In 1940, Edward Brongersma, a Catholic intellectual, advocated Salazars neocorporatism in the Netherlands. After the German invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940, the national integralist political mass movement “The Netherlands Union” was formed. Brongersma joined this Netherlands Union, that strived for a “renewal”; a breakthrough in the Dutch religiously-segmented (“pillarized”) and socially divided society. Within the ideology of the Netherlands Union neocorporatism played a major role, as a “third way” between liberal capitalism and Marxism.

During wartime, the idea of neocorporatism was more and more considered contaminated (as fascist economics). Nevertheless, in the last years of the German occupation divergent, but in some cases highly neocorporatist ideas were conceived about a “renewal” in Dutch politics after the liberation from German occupation. Soon after this liberation in May 1945, pre-war pillarized party politics was restored, but “neocorporatist” consultation became a crucial and valued factor in postwar governmental socio-economic planning. This raises vital questions about the transfer of politics that I shall endeavor to answer.

After the liberation, Edward Brongersma became Labour senator. From the early 1970s until his death in the late 1990s he was highly controversial, not only for his pre-war admiration for Salazar, but also because of the liberal views he expressed on paedophilia and euthanasia. (Show less)