The ''Doorbraak'' ("Breakthrough") was a Dutch short-term political movement after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, with the stated goal of renewing the

politics of the Netherlands The politics of the Netherlands take place within the framework of a Parliamentary system, parliamentary representative democracy, a constitutional monarchy, and a Decentralization, decentralised unitary state.''Civil service systems in Weste ...

by coalescing progressive liberals, Christian democrats and social democrats in a single progressive political party. In the process, the movement sought to 'break through' the

pillarisation Pillarisation (from the nl, verzuiling) is the politico-denominational segregation of a society into groups by religion and associated political beliefs. These societies were (and in some areas, still are) vertically divided into two or more gr ...

in Dutch politics. This led to the creation of the modern day Labour Party.

Background

After World War II, there was widespread feeling amongst progressives that the pillarised political system should be broken open. No longer should

Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

vote for the Roman Catholic State Party simply because they were Catholic or Reformed people for the

Anti-Revolutionary Party The Anti-Revolutionary Party ( nl, Anti-Revolutionaire Partij, ARP) was a Protestant conservative and Christian democratic political party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1879 by Abraham Kuyper, a neo-Calvinist theologian and mi ...

simply because they were Reformed. Instead, political issues should structure the political system. The

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

s were united in their vision of a democratic socialist Netherlands. In order to force this breakthrough, the Social Democratic Workers' Party, the left-liberal

Free-thinking Democratic League The Free-thinking Democratic League ( nl, Vrijzinnig Democratische Bond, VDB) was a progressive liberal political party in the Netherlands. Established in 1901, it played a relatively large role in Dutch politics, supplying one Prime Minister, W ...

and the Christian socialist Christian Democratic Union united to form the Labour Party, a progressive party open to all people. The new party did not, however, gain enough support from Catholics or Reformed adherents. Much of the liberal wing left in 1948 and joined with the conservative liberal Freedom Party to form the

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a conservative-liberal Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingstoke (Palgrave) p.49 political party i ...

. The PvdA became encapsulated in the socialist pillar. In 1966, social liberal

Democrats 66 Democrats 66 (; abbreviated D66, ) is a social liberal political party in the Netherlands, which positions itself in the centre of the political spectrum. It is a member of the Liberal International (LI) and the Alliance of Liberals and Demo ...

attempted another breakthrough of the pillarised political system, again unsuccessfully.

References

{{Reflist Political history of the Netherlands Labour Party (Netherlands) Aftermath of World War II in the Netherlands