Old and New Anti-Fascism. Evolutions of anti-fascist action in the Netherlands, 1945-1989

Abstract

This master thesis deals with three different periods of anti-fascism activism in the Netherlands between 1945 and 1989. Using Dan Stone’s theory of the downfall of the anti-fascist consensus and Nigel Copsey’s concept of the anti-fascist minimum, it asks the question what role anti-fascism has played as a structuring force in Dutch politics in the post-war era. Three different waves of anti-fascism are identified, during which ideological components significantly varied, leading to different views of what constituted the fascist threat. The main argument is that anti-fascism provided the left with a discourse to express anxieties about the survival of democracy, was driven by shifting narratives and interpretations of World War II and formed a potential instrument for intra-left cooperation.