Sebald Justinus Rutgers (25 January 1879 – 14 June 1961) was a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

Marxist theoretician and journalist who played an important role in the

Left wing section The Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party was an organized faction within the Socialist Party of America in 1919 which served as the core of the dual communist parties which emerged in the fall of that year—the Communist Party of America ...

of the

Socialist Party of America The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of Ameri ...

. He was also a construction engineer who was active in building industry in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

Biography

Early years

S. J. Rutgers was born in

Leiden, Netherlands Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

on January 25, 1879. He studied from 1896 to the

Polytechnical School of Delft Delft University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Delft), also known as TU Delft, is the oldest and largest Dutch public technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. As of 2022 it is ranked by QS World University Rankings among ...

, where he came into contact with socialism. In 1900 he graduated as a civil engineer and took a job for the municipality of Rotterdam, where he worked on the expansion of the port. At the same time, he was active from 1899 in the

SDAP SDAP may refer to: * Social Democratic Workers' Party (Netherlands), a Dutch political party founded in 1894 that later merged into the Labour Party (Netherlands) * Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany, a German political party founded in 18 ...

. From 1911 to 1915 he was director of public works in

Medan Medan (; English: ) is the capital and largest city of the Indonesian province of North Sumatra, as well as a regional hub and financial centre of Sumatra. According to the National Development Planning Agency, Medan is one of the four ma ...

, and then buyer for Indonesian companies in the United States.

Political activities

During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, Rutgers was a frequent contributor to the Left Wing

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

press in America. His influential articles in'' The International Socialist Review'' and other publications supported the

antimilitarist Antimilitarism (also spelt anti-militarism) is a doctrine that opposes war, relying heavily on a critical theory of imperialism and was an explicit goal of the First and Second International. Whereas pacifism is the doctrine that disputes (especia ...

Zimmerwald Left The Zimmerwald Conference was held in Zimmerwald, Switzerland, from September 5 to 8, 1915. It was the first of three international socialist conferences convened by anti-militarist socialist parties from countries that were originally neutra ...

movement and helped publicize the ideas of

revolutionary socialism Revolutionary socialism is a political philosophy, doctrine, and tradition within socialism that stresses the idea that a social revolution is necessary to bring about structural changes in society. More specifically, it is the view that revolut ...

to an American audience. Rutgers was the financial force behind the establishment of a group called the

Socialist Propaganda League of America The Socialist Propaganda League of America (SPLA) was established in 1915, apparently by C. W. Fitzgerald of Beverly, Massachusetts. The group was a membership organization established within the ranks of the Socialist Party of America (SPA) and ...

in 1915, a

revolutionary socialist Revolutionary socialism is a political philosophy, doctrine, and tradition within socialism that stresses the idea that a social revolution is necessary to bring about structural changes in society. More specifically, it is the view that revoluti ...

forerunner of the

Communist Party of America The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...

. Rutgers was subsequently regarded as one of the leading theoreticians of the Left Wing of the

, a tendency which emerged as the

after 1919. After the

Bolshevik Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mome ...

of 1917, Rutgers made his way to Soviet Russia via

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea ...

and Japan. Having transversed the war zone of the

Russian Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Russian Civil War , partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I , image = , caption = Clockwise from top left: {{flatlist, *Soldiers ...

, he arrived in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

whereupon he was invited to meet with

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...

in the

Kremlin The Kremlin ( rus, Московский Кремль, r=Moskovskiy Kreml', p=ˈmɐˈskofskʲɪj krʲemlʲ, t=Moscow Kremlin) is a fortified complex in the center of Moscow founded by the Rurik dynasty. It is the best known of the kremlins (Ru ...

. He attended the First Congress of the

Communist International The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to "struggle by ...

. When the Comintern established its

Amsterdam Bureau The Amsterdam Bureau of the Communist International was an outpost of the Communist International established by the Executive Committee of the Communist International (ECCI) in September 1919. At the same time the ECCI also set up the Scandinavi ...

, Rutgers was appointed secretary and given the major portion of twenty million roubles – in the form of

precious stones A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, or semiprecious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, a ...

– with which to found this bureau. From 1922–1926, he led the construction of an international workers cooperative, the

Kuzbass Autonomous Industrial Colony The Kuzbass Autonomous Industrial Colony was an experiment in workers' control in the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1926 during the New Economic Policy. It was based in Shcheglovsk, Kuzbass, Siberia. History Creation of the Autonomous Industrial ...

in the Kuzbas area of Siberia. From 1926-1938 he lived alternately in the Netherlands, Vienna, and Moscow. In 1938, Rutgers left the Soviet Union. Back in the Netherlands, Rutgers lived out his life as a respected, but non-influential member of the

Communist Party of the Netherlands The Communist Party of the Netherlands ( nl, Communistische Partij Nederland, , CPN) was a Dutch communist party. The party was founded in 1909 as the Social-Democratic Party (SDP) and merged with the Pacifist Socialist Party, the Political P ...

Death and legacy

Sebald Rutgers died in

Amersfoort, Netherlands Amersfoort () is a city and municipality in the province of Utrecht, Netherlands, about 20 km from the city of Utrecht and 40 km south east of Amsterdam. As of 1 December 2021, the municipality had a population of 158,531, making it the second- ...

on June 14, 1961. A small collection of Rutgers' papers resides at the

International Institute of Social History The International Institute of Social History (IISH/IISG) is one of the largest archives of labor and social history in the world. Located in Amsterdam, its one million volumes and 2,300 archival collections include the papers of major figur ...

in Amsterdam."Archief Sebald Justinus Rutgers finding aid,"
Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiendenis, Amsterdam.

Footnotes

Works

* "The Left Wing: Mass Action and Mass Democracy," ''International Socialist Review,'' vol. 17, no. 5 (November 1916), pp. 301–303. * "The Left Wing: An Actual Beginning," ''International Socialist Review,'' vol. 17, no. 6 (December 1916), pp. 365–366. * "Mass Action in Russia," ''International Socialist Review,'' vol. 17, no. 7 (January 1917), pp. 410–413. * "The Future of International Socialism," ''International Socialist Review,'' vol. 17, no. 9 (March 1917), pp. 550–551. * "Letter from Karl Liebknecht," ''International Socialist Review,'' vol. 17, no. 10 (April 1917), pp. 610–612. * "Our Action Against Conscription," ''International Socialist Review,'' vol. 17, no. 11 (May 1917), pp. 721–722. * "Introduction to the History of the Labor Movement in Japan," ''International Socialist Review,'' vol. 18, no. 1 (July 1917), pp. 37–38. * "World Policies," ''International Socialist Review,'' vol. 18, no. 3 (September 1917), pp. 172–173.
"Letter to Oakley C. Johnson in NYC from S.J. Rutgers in Amersfoort, Holland, April 21, 1958,"
C.E. Ruthenberg Papers, Ohio Historical Society, Box 14, Folder 4, Microfilm reel 8. Corvallis, OR: 1000 Flowers Publishing, 2012.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rutgers, S. J. 20th-century Dutch engineers 1879 births 1961 deaths Dutch communists Dutch emigrants to the Soviet Union People from Leiden