Daniël "Daan" de Clercq (21 August 1854 in

Heerde Heerde () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a town in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Gelderland, in the eastern Netherlands. Compared to the rest of the Netherlands, Heerde is fairly religious, as are many of t ...

– 15 December 1931 in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

) was a Dutch socialist and activist.

Biography

He was the grandson of

Willem de Clercq Willem de Clercq (15 January 1795 – 4 February 1844) was a poet and leader of the Réveil, the Protestant Church Revival in the Netherlands. He is known for his diary entries, which contain extensive reports of the events he witnessed. He was al ...

and grew up in

where he became good friends with

Frederik van Eeden Frederik Willem van Eeden (3 April 1860, Haarlem – 16 June 1932, Bussum) was a late 19th-century and early 20th-century Dutch writer and psychiatrist. He was a leading member of the Tachtigers and the Significs Group, and had top billing amo ...

at the HBS high school there. After continuing his education by studying technology in Delft and chemistry in Berlin he settled in Leiden, but in 1878 he returned to Haarlem to become the technical director of a paint factory there, where he lived the rest of his life. For this factory he introduced several labor reforms which he then tried to scale to the rest of Haarlem and later as a member of the socialist labor party, to the rest of the country. His first act was to create a room for workers to eat their meals; a "schaftlokaal" or

cafeteria A cafeteria, called canteen outside the U.S., is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether in a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or school; a scho ...

. He next instituted health insurance and accident insurance for his employees along the lines of Bismarck's Health Insurance Bill of 1883 and Accident Insurance Bill of 1884. He expressed the need for secondary school for the future workers of his factory and wished to create a training school connected to his factory. These extra expenses were not popular with his employer however and de Clercq quit his job in 1890. In 1891, he began the Haarlem society called ''De Ambachtsschool'' to unify various city efforts to start the first vocational school in Haarlem.''Deugd boven geweld, Een geschiedenis van Haarlem, 1245-1995'', edited by Gineke van der Ree-Scholtens, 1995, , p555 He also became a member of the ''Haarlem Debating society'' where he advocated his views on housing and education reform for the working class in Haarlem. In 1883 he joined the Amsterdam

freethought Freethought (sometimes spelled free thought) is an unorthodox attitude or belief. A freethinker holds that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and should instead be reached by other meth ...

society De Dageraad. He propagated land nationalisation whereby he combined the " gardencity" ideas of

Ebenezer Howard Sir Ebenezer Howard (29 January 1850 – 1 May 1928) was an English urban planner and founder of the garden city movement, known for his publication '' To-Morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform'' (1898), the description of a utopian city in wh ...

with the socialist ideas of Domela Nieuwenhuis who he knew through "De Dageraad". He believed that by nationalizing the land and creating freestanding homes for everyone, more workers would have more energy for society due to better health. These ideas were popular among workers and reformers alike. He organized meetings where the painter-reformer Herman Heijenbrock and the writer-reformer Frederik van Eeden could air their social ideas. He became an activist for

vegetarianism Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

. In 1894 he joined the newly formed NVB, the Dutch Vegetarian Society () and became editor of its magazine ''Vegetarische Bode'' in 1897. In 1898 he succeeded Felix Ortt as chairman of the group and remained chairman until 1907. He published numerous brochures and articles and was a popular guest speaker for reformist groups. He was also candidate of the SDAP (Dutch socialist party).

List of publications

* ''Schoolbaden'' chool bathing(Haarlem 1890) * ''Voordracht gehouden op 1 mei 1890 in 'Felix Favore', Haarlem'' peech held on 1 May 1890 in 'Felix Favore', Haarlem(Haarlem 1890) * Boekbeoordelingen' in: 'De Nieuwe Gids, 137–142'' ook reviews in 'De Nieuwe Gids', 137–142* ''Glasgow en hare gemeente-organisatie. Een voorbeeld van praktisch socialisme met eene beschouwing over inkomsten- of grondrente belasting'' lasgow and it municipal organisation. An example of practical socialism with reflection on income and land interest taxes(Amsterdam 1891) * ''Nog een pleidooi voor den acht-uren-dag'' nother pleading for an eight-hour workday(St. Anna-Parochie 1891) * ''Vegetarianisme of natuurlijke leefwijze'' egetarianism or natural way of living(St. Anna-Parochie 1891) * ''De socialistische kolonie te Sinaloa'' he socialist colony in Sinaloa(St. Anna-Parochie 1891) * ''De sociale en etiese betekenis van het vegetarisme'' he social and ethical meaning of vegetarianism(Rotterdam 1891) * ''Vegetarisme en alkoholbestrijding'' egetarianism and fighting alcohol(St. Anna-Parochie 1899) * ''Sport en vegetarisme'' port and vegetarianism(Den Haag 1900) * ''Een pleidooi voor dieren-recht'' plea for animal rights(Den Haag 1900) * Domela Nieuwenhuis en het vegetarisme' in: Gedenkboek ter gelegenheid van den 70sten verjaardag van F. Domela Nieuwenhuis 143–144'' Domela Nieuwenhuis and vegetarianism' in: Gedenkboek ter gelegenheid van den 70sten verjaardag van F. Domela Nieuwenhuis, 143–144(Amsterdam 1916) * ''De vleeschnood en het middel om er aan te ontkomen'' he meat problem and a way to escape it(Amsterdam 1916) * ''Het wonder der zon''

he miracle of the sun He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

(Zandvoort 1923) * ''De levensverzekering als hygiënisch instituut'' he life insurance as a hygienic institute(Haarlem 1926) * ''Radio-rede op 2 April 1927 te Hilversum uitgesproken'' adio reasoning on 2 April 1927 in Hilversum(Haarlem 1926) * ''Radio-rede over de fundamenteele fout in de grondregels onzer samenleving in verband met de exploitatie der Zuiderzee-gronden'' adio reasoning on the fundamental mistakes in the foundational rules of our society in connection with the exploitation of the Zuiderzee grounds(Haarlem 1929) * ''Het 4e internationale Congres tot hervorming van het grondbezitsrecht en den vrijen handel te Edinburg 29 Juli - 5 Augustus 1929'' he 4th international congress for the reformation of right of land ownership and free trade in Edinburgh, 29 July(Haarlem 1929) * ''De rechten der dieren. H.I.R.O. Radio Rede op 26 Februari '31 gehouden'' he rights of animals. H.I.R.O. Radio reasoning 26 February 1931(Haarlem 1931)

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clercq, Daniel de 1854 births 1931 deaths Dutch activists Dutch male writers Dutch vegetarianism activists People from Haarlem People from Heerde Social Democratic Workers' Party (Netherlands) politicians Dutch animal rights activists Dutch socialists