These interviews were made by Hedda van Gennep in 1976 and early 1977 for the nine-part VARA television series (on 16mm film) Voorwaarts en niet vergeten, broadcast between 11 January and 5 May 1977. The series covers the history of the socialist movement in the Netherlands from 1850-1918, with the last part extending the line to 1976. It lasts a total of 5 hours and 45 min. The start of the series was accompanied in the VARAGids (8 January 1977) by an article on the background to the project, which included interviews with the project’s scientific advisor Johan Frieswijk.
The people with whom the interviews were conducted range from all kinds of ‘nameless’ fighters of the socialist labour movement from all over the country – including some of the workers from Friesland already interviewed for the film on Imke Klaver, such as the Brandsma couple and Douwe de Wit – to children of socialist forerunners of the first hour such as Schaper, Vliegen, Troelstra and Domela Nieuwenhuis. Discussions include: the Railway Strike of 1903; the Seamen’s Strike of 1911; the Potato Revolt of 1917; Troelstra’s revolt attempt in 1918; the Algemene Diamantbewerkers Bond (ANDB) and Henri Polak; women’s suffrage; Wibaut and social housing; the SDAP; the trade union movement, including the NVV and the NAS but also the Catholic and Christian organisations; the CPH and David Wijnkoop; the Social Democratic Union (SDB); the Maast
