The Republican Society (Dutch: ''Republikeins Genootschap'') is a Dutch republican movement, founded on 11 September 1996 in the

Prinsenhof Het Prinsenhof ("The Court of the Prince") is a museum in the city of Delft in the Netherlands. Formerly the monastery of St Agatha, the building changed purpose over time. The whole building came into the possession of Delft City Council by 1925 ...

Delft Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...

, at the initiative of Pierre Vinken. Its aim is to abolish the

monarchy of the Netherlands The monarchy of the Netherlands is governed by the country's charter and constitution, roughly a third of which explains the mechanics of succession, accession, and abdication; the roles and duties of the monarch; the formalities of communica ...

Founders and goal

According to the Republican Society's website, there are fourteen founders: The idea was to start with fifteen members, and two absent people –

Harry Mulisch Harry Kurt Victor Mulisch (; 29 July 192730 October 2010) was a Dutch writer. He wrote more than 80 novels, plays, essays, poems, and philosophical reflections. Mulisch's works have been translated into 38 languages so far. Along with Willem Fre ...

and Schuitemaker– would be marked as co-founders ''in absentia''. However, Mulisch withdrew and thus brought the number to fourteen. These were all prominent members of Dutch society with influential positions in politics, science, business, education and journalism. The society does not have any bylaws. Unlike the New Republican Society, the Republican Society does not undertake actions to bring the

republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

closer. It proceeds from the notion that the mere existence of the Republican Society will be enough to enable the restoration of the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, commonly referred to in historiography as the Dutch Republic, was a confederation that existed from 1579 until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. It was a predecessor state of the present-day Netherlands ...

in the long term. One can only become a member by

co-optation Co-option, also known as co-optation and sometimes spelt cooption or cooptation, is a term with three common meanings. It may refer to: 1) The process of adding members to an elite group at the discretion of members of the body, usually to manag ...

History

Origins, leak and controversy

The group originated from Vinken's circle of friends "to discuss the last taboo in the Netherlands". The Republican Society's existence was kept a secret at first; a period of two hidden years was planned, and then to await a blunder on part of the

monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, reigns as head of state for the rest of their life, or until abdication. The extent of the authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutio ...

. This decision was taken, because some members could get in trouble with their professional connections, and because opinion polls showed that 95% of the population favoured the monarchy. Initially, there was some confusion about how serious the fellowship actually was (amongst other things, the proposal "to proclaim the blue-gray

napkin A napkin, serviette or face towelette is a square of cloth or paper tissue used at the table for wiping the mouth and fingers while eating. It is also sometimes used as a bib by tucking it into a shirt collar. It is usually small and folded, s ...

of the Prinsenkelder the official Flag of the Republic" suggested the gathering was at least partially in jest). After the first gathering was over, the founders sent letters to others, to confidentially inform them about the Society, with the question if they were interested in joining. In October 1996, Piet Grijs (Hugo Brandt Corstius) already betrayed the cause by writing in ''

Vrij Nederland ''Vrij Nederland'' (Free Netherlands) is a Dutch magazine, established during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II as an underground newspaper. It has since grown into a magazine. The originally weekly turned monthly magazin ...

'' that, despite his fervent republicanism, he would not partake in the secrecy; however, his (limited) exposé did not cause any uproar yet. Early 1997, one of the people involved leaked the

minutes Minutes, also known as minutes of meeting, protocols or, informally, notes, are the instant written record of a meeting or hearing. They typically describe the events of the meeting and may include a list of attendees, a statement of the activit ...

of the founding meeting to ''

de Volkskrant ''De Volkskrant'' (; ), stylized as de Volkskrant, is a Dutch daily morning newspaper. Founded in 1919, it has a nationwide circulation of about 250,000. Formerly a leading centre-left Catholic broadsheet, ''de Volkskrant'' today is a medium- ...

'', who revealed it to the public on 26 February 1997. The also leaked post-foundation correspondence, showed that several members had distanced themselves from the Society in the meantime; for example, Mulisch (absent during the foundation) criticised the exclusion of women and foreigners ("Decision 4: Members will also be selected based on physical characteristics: only native men are eligible."). Members approached by the media for comments, reacted annoyed on the leaking of, and/or their membership of, the Republican Society, refused to respond or desired to remain anonymous. In the media, especially ''

De Telegraaf ''De Telegraaf'' (; ) is the largest Netherlands, Dutch daily morning newspaper. Haro Kraak,Gaat Paul Jansen de crisis bij De Telegraaf oplossen?, ''de Volkskrant'', 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2015. Paul Jansen has been the editor-in-chief since ...

'' that ran the headline "Leave our royal house alone!", and also from politics, including prime minister

Wim Kok Willem Kok (; 29 September 1938 – 20 October 2018) was a Dutch politician and trade union leader who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 August 1994 until 22 July 2002.Young Democrats and Young Socialists enthusiastically sought to join the Society, and hold nationwide discussions on monarchy and republic; the

Youth Organisation Freedom and Democracy The Youth Organisation Freedom and Democracy (, JOVD) is a Dutch political youth organisation. The JOVD cooperates with the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), but is politically independent. Having trained several well-known members o ...

stated they were in favour of a purely ceremonial kingship "according to the Swedish model".

Regrouping

Knapen, who had distanced himself from the Society soon after its foundation, accused ''De Telegraaf'' and ''de Volkskrant'' of taking the Society way too seriously, and called the media controversy a "farce". Van Amerongen, however, stood up defiantly in ''

De Groene Amsterdammer ''De Groene Amsterdammer'' () is an independent Dutch weekly news magazine published in Amsterdam. It is one of the five independent opinion magazines in the Netherlands, alongside '' HP/De Tijd'', '' Vrij Nederland'', ''Elsevier'' and the Jewish ...

'', in which he indeed explained "Decision 4" to be a mere joke, but the republican initiative as a whole "extremely serious" and "serious in every sense", and provided more legitimacy for the cause. He primarily rebuked ''De Telegraaf'', accusing it of hypocrisy by first calling the emergence of the Republican Society "barely noteworthy", before filling page after page about it for an entire week, and write down reviling remarks from several famous Dutch people addressed to the republicans (singer

Gerard Joling Gerard Jan Joling (born 29 April 1960) is a Dutch singer and television presenter. Known for his high tenor voice, he rose to fame in the late 1980s and released a string of singles including "Ticket to the Tropics" and "Love Is in Your Eyes". H ...

called them "traitors"). Some like historian Anton van Hooff joined the ranks of the Society, other republicans such as

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

leader

Jan Marijnissen Johannes Guillaume Christianus Andreas "Jan" Marijnissen () (born 8 October 1952) is a retired Dutch politician of the Socialist Party (SP). Marijnissen, a welder by occupation, was selected as Leader of the Socialist Party after the death of ...

did not (no 'conspiratory clubs'), but did support having a public nationwide debate on the monarchy, which in their opinion unjustly appeared to be a taboo subject. Several politicians and commentators proceeded to sweeten the issue, which, despite the serious undertone, appeared to be a partially "derailed joke", because the prankish remarks in Vinken's minutes such as "Decision 4" were unintentionally taken seriously in print. Although the existence of the Republican Society was revealed prematurely and rather clumsily, it succeeded in having the form of government debated nationally. One year later, the media no longer wrote about the royal house without criticism, and the membership of the Republican Society grew rapidly.

Growth and competition

During its first anniversary in September 1997, the Republican Society itself sought publicity by showing a new, expanded list of members, which now included women and foreigners, such as

Jeroen Brouwers Jeroen Godfried Marie Brouwers (30 April 1940 – 11 May 2022) was a Dutch writer. From 1964 to 1976 Brouwers worked as an editor at Manteau publishers in Brussels. In 1964 he made his literary debut with ''Het mes op de keel'' (''The Knife t ...

Remco Campert Remco Campert (28 July 1929 – 4 July 2022) was a Dutch author, poet and columnist. Early years Remco Wouter Campert was born in The Hague, son of writer and poet Jan Campert, author of the poem ''De achttien dooden'', and actress Joekie Bro ...

, Jaap van Heerden, André Haakmat, Jasperina de Jong, H.U. Jessurun d'Oliveira, Ite Rümke, André Spoor,

Jan Timman Jan Timman (born 14 December 1951) is a Dutch chess grandmaster who was one of the world's leading chess players from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. At the peak of his career, he was considered to be the best non-Soviet player and was known a ...

, Adriaan Morrien, Theo Sontrop, Theo van Gogh and

Theodor Holman Theodor Holman (born 9 January 1953, in Amsterdam) is a Dutch journalist, presenter, and writer of Indo descent. He studied Dutch language and History at the University of Amsterdam. He was editor of the satirical student newspaper Propria Cure ...

. However, the Society's exclusivity by co-optation and the lack of public actions formed an obstacle to various politically active youths, who launched the New Republican Society (NRG) on 21 January 1998 in De Balie. On 28 January, the NRG jokingly proclaimed the Third Republic of the Netherlands on

Dam Square Dam Square or the Dam () is a town square in Amsterdam, the capital and most populated city of the Netherlands. Its notable buildings and frequent events make it one of the best-known and most important locations in the city and the country. ...

, preceding queen

Beatrix Beatrix is a Latin feminine given name, most likely derived from ''Viatrix'', a feminine form of the Late Latin name ''Viator'' which meant "voyager, traveller" and later influenced in spelling by association with the Latin word ''beatus'' or "ble ...

's 60th birthday celebrations. The two republican societies did soon decide to approach each other and possibly cooperate. In 2005, the Republican Society and the New Republican Society co-founded the magazine '' De Republikein'' ("The Republican").

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.republikeinen.nl/ Clubs and societies in the Netherlands Political organisations based in the Netherlands Republicanism in the Netherlands