Free-thinking Democratic League - Relationships With Other Parties

Relationships With Other Parties

The VDB was part of the Concentration the alliance with the liberal Liberal Union and League of Free Liberals. These parties had good relations. The VDB served as bridge between the liberals and the socialist Social Democratic Workers' Party. The SDAP supported two liberal minority cabinets, but the SDAP was unwilling to join a cabinet with these bourgeoise parties in 1913. After 1918, when the liberals lost more than half of their seats, the relations with Concentration dissolved and the two other concentration parties merged to form the Liberal State Party. The VDB continued to serve as the bridge between liberals and socialists. This strategy resulted in the fall of the cabinet Ruys van Beerenbrouck in 1925. The VDB was unable to form a government of liberals, socialists and Catholics. In 1933 the relations between the SDAP and the VDB worsened as the VDB joined the Cabinet Colijn, which had a very conservative economic policy. Their cooperation in the Second World War improved the relations between SDAP and VDB considerably. This led to the Doorbraak and the formation of the Labour Party with the SDAP and the VDB is its major components.