Marcus Bakker

Marcus Bakker (20 June 1923 – 24 December 2009) was a Dutch politician of the defunct Communist Party of the Netherlands (CPN) now merged into the GreenLeft (GL) party and journalist.

Marcus Bakker
Marcus Bakker in 1972
Leader of the Communist
Party of the Netherlands
In office
15 December 1963  9 September 1982
Preceded byPaul de Groot
Succeeded byIna Brouwer
Chairman of the Communist
Party of the Netherlands
In office
15 December 1963  9 September 1982
Preceded byPaul de Groot
Succeeded byIna Brouwer
Parliamentary leader in the
House of Representatives
In office
15 December 1963  9 September 1982
Preceded byPaul de Groot
Succeeded byIna Brouwer
Parliamentary groupCommunist Party of
the Netherlands
Member of the House of Representatives
In office
7 November 1956  16 September 1982
Parliamentary groupCommunist Party of
the Netherlands
Personal details
Born
Marcus Bakker

(1923-06-20) 20 June 1923
Zaandam, Netherlands
Died24 December 2009(2009-12-24) (aged 86)
Zaandam, Netherlands
NationalityDutch
Political partyGreenLeft (1989–1999)
Other political
affiliations
Communist Party of
the Netherlands

(1943–1989)
Spouse(s)
Els Ezerman
(m. 1946; his death 2009)
Children5 children
OccupationPolitician · Journalist · Editor · Author · Critic · Activist

Biography

Early life

Bakker was the son of an accountant who worked for the slaughterhouse in Zaandam. He joined the then illegal Communist Party of the Netherlands (CPN) in 1943, during World War II. After the war he became an editor of the communist daily newspaper De Waarheid and an official of the CPN.

Politics

In 1953, Bakker became editor-in-chief of De Waarheid, and in 1956 a member of the House of Representatives. He was a confidant of the then party leader Paul de Groot, who took firm action against dissident movements within the party. Bakker wrote a book called De CPN in de oorlog (The CPN during the war, 1958), in which he accused prominent party members such as Gerben Wagenaar, Henk Gortzak, Frits Reuter and Bertus Brandsen of being spies. They were eventually expelled from the party.

In 1956, Bakker openly supported the crack down on demonstrations that expressed solidarity with the protests in Poznań in Communist-led Poland. Bakker did not accept criticism of the Soviet Union.

When the Netherlands were in the process of adopting a new constitution, the draft of Article 1 banned discrimination "on the grounds of religion, conviction, political orientation, race or gender". Bakker proposed to add "or any other ground" to this, which was accepted.

Life after politics

Bakker was succeeded as CPN leader by Ina Brouwer in 1982. He was not involved in the talks that led the party to merge with three other parties to form GreenLeft in 1991. He became a member of the new party, but cancelled his membership in 1999, when the party supported the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.

Bakker published his memoirs, entitled Wissels - Bespiegelingen zonder berouw (Reflections without Contrition). He criticized his own role in the Cold War, but did not apologize for it. He also expressed regrets about labelling dissident party members spies. Bakker never distanced himself from communism as an ideology, although he stated that he felt 'used' by the communist practice in the Eastern Bloc. Particularly the revelation that the Soviet Union was behind the Katyn massacre was a disillusionment to Bakker.

The Marcus Bakkerzaal, a room in the current building of the Dutch House of Representatives, was named after Bakker in 1991.

Personal life

Bakker married Els Ezerman in 1946. The couple had five children. He died on December 24, 2009, at the age of 86.[1]

References

Official
Party political offices
Preceded by
Paul de Groot
1963
Lijsttrekker of the
Communist Party of
the Netherlands

19671971197219771981
Succeeded by
Ina Brouwer
1982
Preceded by
Paul de Groot
Leader of the Communist
Party of the Netherlands

1963–1982
Succeeded by
Ina Brouwer
Chairman of the Communist
Party of the Netherlands

1963–1982
Preceded by
Paul de Groot
Parliamentary leader of the
Communist Party of the Netherlands
in the House of Representatives

1963–1982
Succeeded by
Ina Brouwer
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