Between the devil and the deep blue sea - University of Canterbury

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among the population. Between 1915 and 1918, for example, the membership of the NAOR
and its affiliates rose from 8,500 to nearly 39,000 people. 58 The council used this support as
a mandate to petition the govermnent to promote peace and to urge foreign govermnents to
start arbitration, while the IVDV (along with the International Women's Organisation) held
an international congress for women in The Hague in 1915 with similar aims. 59 Few of
these organisations had any real political motive, although there were some politically­
inspired attempts at brokering peace. For example, the SDAP leader tried to organise a
meeting of Scandinavian and Dutch socialists with this purpose in mind during 1917. 60
At the other end of the spectrum, organisations such as the International Anti­
Militarism Association (Internationaal Anti-Militaristische Vereeniging, IAMV) sought not
only to put an end to the war but also an end to the use of military power. 61 They were often
politically-oriented, and used more overt and pro-active fonns of lobbying. For example,
the IAMV was a member of the Sa711enwerkende Arbeidersvereenigingen (Associations of
Organised Workers, SA V). 62 The SA V was set up in August 1914 to organise the various
radical socialist and anarchist unions and political parties, including the SDP (Sociaal­
De7110cratische PartU, SDP), under one umbrella with the motto "war against the war!".63
Established in 1904 with a radical socialist agenda, the IAMV had always been active in
decrying militarism as the scourge of capitalist and imperialist regimes. What concerned
military authorities during the war years, was that the organisation urged soldiers to lay
pp. 70, 80; M. Riemens, "Vredespleidooi uit onmacht: de Nederlandsche Anti-OOl'log Raad en het Nederlands
pacifisme tijdens de Eerste Wereldoorlog" [Peace plea out of impotence: the Dutch Anti-War Council and Dutch
pacifism during the First World War] laarboek Buitenlandse Zaken. 3, 1996, pp. 49 - 69.
58 Nederlandsche Anti-Oorlog Raad, Wat de Nederlandsche Anti-OO/'log Raad Doet p. 5.
59 For example, see: the NAOR's "Oproep aan het Nederlandsche Volk" [Call to the Dutch people!] October 1914, in
ARA, "Archiefvan de Raad van Ministers 1823 -1977" entry no. 2.02.05.02, inventory no. 146. See also: NAOR
propaganda distributed in Germany in 1917 and 1918 in ARA, "A-Dossiers van het Ministerie van Buitenlandse
Zaken 1871 - 1918" entry no. 2.05.03, inventory no. 175; and peace and arbitration requests sent by the NAOR to the
Dutch and foreign governments, in ARA, "A-Dossiers van het Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken 1871 - 1918"
archive no. 2.05.03, inventory no. 178; Louter, "De vredesbeweging" p. 144; Ritter, De Donkere Poort Volume 1, p.
24l.
60 B. van Dongen, "De SDAP, de Eerste Wereldoorlog en de vredesbeweging in de SDAP" [The SDAP, the First
World War and the peace movement in the SDAP] Socialisme en Democratie. 39, no. 7/8, July/August 1982, pp. 342
- 354.
61 For a very good history of the IAMV, see: Heijmans et. ai., De I.A.M. V. See also: Gernot Jochheim, "Nederland als
centrum van de internationale anti-militaristische beweging, 1900 - 1940" [The Netherlands as centre of the
international anti-militarism movement, 1900 - 1940] Transaktie. 6, July 1977, pp. 88 - 105.
62 The SA V became the Revolutionair Socialistisch Komite (Revolutionary Socialist Committee) in 1916 (Burger,
Linkse jrontvormil1g p. 57).
63 B. B. van Dongen, "Rood verdeeld. De positie van de Nederlandse socialisten ten opzichte van de oorlog en hun
interne verdeeldheid" [Red divided. The position of Dutch socialists with regard to the war and their own divisions]
in Schuursma (ed.), 14 -18 Volume 4, p. 768.