Interviews by Ger Verrips with CPN members

Gerrit (Ger) Johannes Verrips; born in Amsterdam 18 December 1928, died in Amsterdam 31 August 2015; active member of the PvdA 1948-1952; member of the CPN 1953-1975; editor of the communist daily De Waarheid 1960-1968; member of the party executive of the CPN 1958-1964 again member of the PvdA from 1985; member of the editorial board of the monthly Socialisme en Democratie; chairman of the Fonds voor de Letteren 1980-1987; published a number of novels, of which Nathalie is probably the best known, and biographies of Albert Camus and Karel van het Reve.

In 1995, his magnum opus Dwars, duivels and dreaming appeared. The history of the CPN 1938-1991.

Interviews with Harry Verheij, Marcus Bakker, Henk Goudkuil, Duco Hellema, Henk Hoekstra, Hanneke Jagersma, J.C.W., Esther de Jong, Bertus Brandsen, Gerrit Kleinveld, Gerard Maas, Geert van der Molen, Frans Molin, Koert Stek, Jan Vlietman, Jaap Wolff, Joop Morriën.

CPN-conference in Amsterdam, Paul de Groot (left) and Marcus Bakker. 22 December 1973, Amsterdam

Dwars, Duivels en Dromend is a 1995 book by Ger Verrips that deals with the history of the Communist Party of the Netherlands (CPN) from 1938 to 1991.

Verrips, himself a member of the CPN for 20 years, based the book on never-before-examined documents, in the hitherto closed archives of the CPN in Amsterdam, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in Moscow and the Internal Security Service. He spoke to several prominent members of the party, including Annie van Ommeren-Averink, Bertus Brandsen, Harry Verheij, Jan Vlietman and Huib Zegeling.

He sketches a portrait of Paul de Groot, forty years the leader of the CPN. He describes the functioning of the illegal CPN during the war years and the communists’ resistance. He also describes the Cold War, the reactions to the Hungarian Uprising, the break with Moscow and the internal party struggle. Also described are the final period of crisis, intellectual revival, feminisation and the eventual decline that led to the dissolution of the party, which eventually led to its merger with other parties into GroenLinks.