History
DS'70 was founded on 4 April 1970 as a result of a split from the Labour Party (PvdA). In June 1970 two members of the House of Representatives, Goedhart and Schuitemaker, left the PvdA and became members of DS'70, because of the anti-American position the PvdA had taken in the Vietnam war. They had previously been frustrated by its cooperation with other left-wing parties, such as the Pacifist Socialist Party, and its leftist fiscal policy.
In its declaration of principles (Beginselverklaring), the Democratic Socialists argued that whilst the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) lacked the comprehension of the necessity of social and economic reforms, the PvdA had at the time anarchist and unrealistic pacifist aspirations
In the 1971 general election, the party won eight seats in parliament. After the elections, the party cooperated in the first Biesheuvel cabinet, together with the VVD, Anti Revolutionary Party (ARP), Christian Historical Union (CHU) and Catholic People's Party (KVP). The party supplied two ministers and two junior ministers, among them the party leader, Willem Drees jr, who became minister of Transport and Water Works. In 1972 the cabinet fell because of the opposition of DS'70 to the proposed budget. DS'70 ministers refused to accept budget cuts in their own departments.
In the 1972 election, the party lost two seats, and it was confined to opposition to the PvdA-headed Den Uyl cabinet.
Directly after its foundation two factions developed: the social-democratic faction led by Jan van Stuijvenberg, and the anti-communist faction led by Frans Goedhart. In 1975 the divisions led to a conflict. The party leader, Willem Drees Jr, was seen as conservatively social-democratic, lacking a willingness to reform and the ability to oppose the Den Uyl cabinet fiercely. However, Drees won the conflict, and a group of prominent members left the party.
In the 1977 general election the party was left with only one seat, which it lost at the 1981 general election. In 1983 the party was officially dissolved.
Read more about this topic: Democratic Socialists '70
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