Frederik "Fré" Meis (17 November 1921 – 15 December 1992) was a Dutch communist politician and trade unionist. He served in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

for the Communist Party from 1971 until 1977, the Municipal Council of the

city of Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of ...

from 1949 until 1958 and 1960 until 1978, and in the

Provincial Council of Groningen The Provincial Council of Groningen (, ), also known as the States of Groningen, is the provincial council of Groningen, Netherlands. It forms the legislative body of the province. Its 43 seats are distributed every four years in provincial el ...

from 1962 until 1978. Meis received national attention as the leader of the 1969 strikes in

Oude Pekela Oude Pekela ( Gronings: ''Olle Pekel''; ) is a town in the Dutch province of Groningen. It is located in the municipality of Pekela, about 5 km southwest of Winschoten. It was established to exploit the peat in the area. During the 19th cent ...

, and the 1970 strike in the

Port of Rotterdam The Port of Rotterdam is the largest seaport in Europe, and the world's largest seaport outside of Asia, located in and near the city of Rotterdam, in the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. From 1962 until 2004, it was the List of bus ...

Biography

Meis was born on 17 November 1921 in

, Netherlands in a communist family. After finishing elementary school, he worked on a farm and later for a

brickworks A brickworks, also known as a brick factory, is a factory for the manufacturing of bricks, from clay or shale. Usually a brickworks is located on a clay bedrock (the most common material from which bricks are made), often with a clay pit, quar ...

. In 1943, during World War II, he became a

forced labourer Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, or violence, including death or other forms of ...

in Delfzijl, and later was ordered to build

bunker A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. T ...

s on the German island of

Borkum Borkum (; ) is an island and a municipality in the Leer District in Lower Saxony, northwestern Germany. It is situated east of Rottumeroog and west of Juist. Geography Borkum is bordered to the west by the Westerems strait (which forms the ...

. After the

liberation of the Netherlands Despite Dutch neutrality, Nazi Germany German invasion of the Netherlands, invaded the Netherlands on 10 May 1940 as part of ''Fall Gelb'' (Case Yellow). On 15 May 1940, one day after the Rotterdam Blitz, bombing of Rotterdam, the Dutch forces ...

, Meis joined the

Communist Party of the Netherlands The Communist Party of the Netherlands (, , CPN) was a communist party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1909 as the Social Democratic Party (Netherlands), Social Democratic Party (SDP) and merged with the Pacifist Socialist Party, the ...

(CPN) and helped distribute ''

De Waarheid ''De Waarheid'' (literally 'The Truth') was the newspaper of the Communist Party of the Netherlands. History It originated in 1940 under the History of the Netherlands (1939–1945), German occupation as a Dutch resistance, resistance paper, the ...

'', the party newspaper. In July 1946, he was a candidate for the

, but did not get elected. In the same month, he was a candidate in the

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

Winschoten Winschoten (; ) is a city with a population of 18,518 in the municipality of Oldambt (municipality), Oldambt in the northeast of the Netherlands. It is the largest city in the region of Oldambt (region), Oldambt in the province of Groningen (prov ...

, and was elected. In 1948, Meis was fired, and had difficulty finding employment as a known communist. He moved to the

. On 22 June 1949, he was elected to the municipal council of the Groningen and served until 28 May 1958. He was re-elected on 31 October 1960 and served until 1 November 1978. On 6 June 1962, he was elected to the Provincial Council of Groningen.

Strike leader

On 22 September 1969, the employees of the cardboard factory Union in

called a Monday

wildcat strike A wildcat strike is a strike action undertaken by unionised workers without union leadership's authorization, support, or approval; this is sometimes termed an unofficial industrial action. The legality of wildcat strikes varies between countries ...

and demanded the same wages as their colleagues in the west of the country. Meis went to Oude Pekela to organise the strike. The strike spread to more factories in the region, and from 27 October onwards, 23,000 employees were on strike each Monday. The press referred to the strikes as "Red Mondays". On 15 December 1969, 30 women at cigar factory Champ Clark in

Nieuwe Pekela Nieuwe Pekela (Gronings dialect, Gronings: ''Nij Pekel'') is a village in the Netherlands, Dutch province of Groningen (province), Groningen. It is located in the municipality of Pekela, about 7 km southeast of Veendam. The village started as ...

called the first women's strike of the Netherlands for the same wages as their male colleagues. Champ Clark threatened to fire the women, however the women went to Meis who brought in the union. The strikes were successful. Regional differences in pay were no longer considered acceptable, and women and men were to receive equal pay. At the in Groningen the Communist Party scored an electoral victory with 14% of the votes. The newspapers called it the "Meis-effect". Meis was promoted to the executive committee of the CPN. In August 1970, a strike was called in the

. The CPN dispatched Meis to Rotterdam, who quickly became the leader of the strike, and ensured that all demands were met.

Later life

On 11 May 1971, Meis was elected to the

, and served until 8 June 1977. On 1 November 1978, Meis retired from the municipal and provincial councils due to health problems. In 1987, he published his autobiography "40 jaar actie" (40 years action). Meis remained a communist after the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

. In 1990, the CPN abandoned its Marxist–Leninist roots and merged with

GroenLinks (, ; GL) is a Green politics, green List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands. It was formed on 1 March 1989 from the merger of four Left-wing politics, left-wing parties: the Communist Party of the Neth ...

. Meis reluctantly joined the new party. In 1992, he resigned from GroenLinks after fellow party member Herman Verbeek had made a remark about the old-

Stalinist Stalinism (, ) is the totalitarian means of governing and Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1927 to 1953 by dictator Joseph Stalin and in Soviet satellite states between 1944 and 1953. Stalinism in ...

s. Meis had also been conducting weddings for the

civil registry Civil registration is the system by which a government records the vital events ( births, marriages, and deaths) of its citizens and residents. The resulting repository or database has different names in different countries and even in diffe ...

of Groningen since 1969. On the advice of his doctor, he retired, and conducted his last marriage on 14 December 1992. Meis died on 15 December 1992 in Groningen, at the age of 71. In 2002, a statue of Fré Meis by was revealed in Oude Pekela.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meis, Fre 1921 births 1992 deaths People from Pekela Dutch communists Communist Party of the Netherlands politicians Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Members of the Provincial Council of Groningen Municipal councillors of Groningen (city) Dutch World War II forced labourers Dutch trade unionists