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{{Infobox political party
| name = Free-thinking Democratic League
| native_name = Vrijzinnig Democratische Bond
| native_name_lang = nl
| logo = Vrijzinnig-Democratische Bond logo (1).svg{{!}}class=skin-invert
| logo_size = 150px
| caption = 
| colorcode = {{party color|Free-thinking Democratic League}}
| abbreviation = VDB
| leader = 
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| founder = 
| founded = 17 March 1901
| registered = 
| legalised = <!-- or |legalized= -->
| dissolved = 9 February 1946
| banned = 
| merger = [[Radical League]]<BR>left-wing of the [[Liberal Union (Netherlands)|Liberal Union]]
| split = 
| merged = [[Labour Party (Netherlands)|Labour Party]]
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| ideology = [[Social liberalism]]<BR>[[Radicalism (historical)|Radicalism]]
| position = [[Centre-left politics|Centre-left]]
| european = 
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| international = [[International Entente of Radical and Similar Democratic Parties|Radical International]]
| colors = 
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| seats1 = <!-- {{Infobox political party/seats|50|100|hex=#ff0000}} -->
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| country = the Netherlands
| footnotes = 
}}
{{Politics of the Netherlands}}
The '''Free-thinking Democratic League''' ({{langx|nl|Vrijzinnig Democratische Bond}}, VDB) was a [[Social liberalism|progressive liberal]]<ref name="Broughton1999">{{cite book|author=David Broughton|title=Changing Party Systems in Western Europe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NkDNoNiBEjUC&pg=PA166|access-date=20 August 2012|date=4 January 1999|publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group|isbn=978-1-85567-328-1|pages=166–}}</ref><ref name="Moldenhauer2001">{{cite book|author=Gebhard Moldenhauer|title=Die Niederlande und Deutschland: einander kennen und verstehen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vm_h-NPz1T8C&pg=PA113|date=1 January 2001|publisher=Waxmann Verlag|isbn=978-3-89325-747-8|pages=113–}}</ref> [[List of political parties in the Netherlands|political party]] in the [[Netherlands]]. Established in 1901, it played a relatively large role in Dutch politics, supplying one [[Prime Minister of the Netherlands|Prime Minister]], [[Wim Schermerhorn]]. The League is a predecessor of two of the major Dutch political parties, the conservative liberal [[People's Party for Freedom and Democracy]] (VVD) and the social democratic [[Labour Party (Netherlands)|Labour Party]] (PvdA). The social liberal [[Democrats 66]] also claims an ideological connection with the VDB.

==Name==
Like some other liberal parties in Europe, such as the [[Free Democratic Party of Switzerland]], the party did not have the word "liberal" in its name because of its connotation with [[conservative liberalism]]. Instead it used the term ''vrijzinnig'', which is difficult to translate into English. The term, which literally translated would be "free-thinking" or "free-minded" has meanings in the Protestant church referring to more [[liberal christianity|liberal]] or [[latitudinarian]] tendencies in the church, rather than secular [[freethought]], as well as more progressive and social tendencies in liberalism, as opposed to [[classical liberalism]].

The term "Democratic" is included in the parties name because of its clear commitment to further democratisation of the Dutch political system. The term "League" is used instead of "Party" because the organisation was not a centralised, strictly organised [[mass party]] but rather a loose league of politicians and local [[caucus]]es. In liberal circles parties were seen as factionalist and incompatible with the common good.

==History==
===Background===
The VDB was a merger of two groups; one, the [[Radical League]], was founded in 1892 as an Amsterdam secession of the [[Liberal Union (Netherlands)|Liberal Union]]; they left the Union over the issue of [[universal suffrage]]. The second group was the Free-thinking Democratic political club (Dutch: ''Vrijzinnig Democratische Kamerclub'' or ''VD-kamerclub''). This was a club of Liberal Union MPs (in 1901, it had about 25 members, out of 35 Liberal Union MPs and 100 MPs in total). The second group left the Union over the same matter. In 1901, the board of the Liberal Union, supported by the ''VD-kamerclub'', proposed that all its candidates would stand on a platform of universal suffrage. The party congress rejected this proposal. In reaction to this the party's board, some of the members of the ''VD-kamerclub'', and some of the party caucuses left the party.

===Founding and early history===
The two groups, the Radical League and the ''VD-kamerclub'', merged in 1901 to form the Free-minded Democratic League. In the [[1901 Dutch general election|1901 elections]] they won nine seats. The party always remained rather small, but because of its strategic position and the quality of its MPs, the party was very influential.

Although the VDB had split from the Liberal Union and the other liberal split, the League of Free Liberals, was against universal suffrage, they still needed each other to form a liberal alternative to the [[Christian democracy|Christian democratic]] [[Coalition (Netherlands)|Coalition]]. In many districts there was only one liberal candidate supported by all three liberal parties.

In 1905, the VDB won two additional seats. From 1905 to 1908 the Liberal Union and the VDB formed a liberal minority cabinet led by [[Theo de Meester]]. The cabinet was supported by [[Social Democratic Workers' Party (Netherlands)|Social Democratic Workers' Party]] (SDAP). In the [[1909 Dutch general election|1909 election]], the Coalition regained its majority. The VDB lost two seats, making its total nine. In the [[1913 Dutch general election|1913 election]] the Christian democrats lost their majority. The VDB lost four seats, because it was not the only liberal party in favour of universal suffrage; the Liberal Union and the League of Free Liberals had also included in their programmes. Furthermore, the SDAP performed exceptionally well in these elections. The leader of the VDB, [[Dirk Bos]], attempted to form a government with the liberals, free liberals, socialists and free-thinking democrats. The socialists refused to cooperate, because one of their major issues (unilateral disarmament of the Netherlands) could not be realised. A liberal [[cabinet of the Netherlands|extra-parliamentary cabinet]] was formed, led by [[Pieter Cort van der Linden]]. It implemented [[universal suffrage]] and [[proportional representation]].

During this cabinet, a conflict between the VDB parliamentary party and minister [[Willem Treub]] led to his resignation. Treub left the party and founded the [[Economic League (Netherlands)|Economic League]], which would merge with the Liberal Union to form the [[Liberal State Party]].

===Interwar years===
[[File:Houdt Koers.jpg|thumb|left|1922 poster created by the VDB. "Houdt Koers" means "Hold Firm". In the image the "Ship of State" avoids smashing on the rocks of revolution and reaction.]]
[[File:VDB 1937.jpg|thumb|1937 poster created by the VDB, declaring a vote for the VDB is "a vote for Freedom and Democracy"]]
In the 1918 elections, with universal suffrage and proportional representation in place, the liberal [[liberalism in the Netherlands|alliance]] lost nearly half its seats. The VDB remains relatively stable with five seats, but they were nonetheless forced to a position in opposition to a Christian democratic cabinet. In 1919, however, VDB leader Henri Marchant initiated the law for female suffrage. In the 1922 elections the party retained its five seats. [[Betsy Bakker-Nort]] became the party's first female member of the House of Representatives.<ref>{{cite web|author= |url=https://www.parlement.com/id/vg09lkxp6otv/b_betsy_bakker_nort |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190825133917/https://www.parlement.com/id/vg09lkxp6otv/b_betsy_bakker_nort |title=Mr. B. (Betsy) Bakker-Nort |publisher=[[Parlement.com]] |date= |archive-date=25 August 2019}}</ref>{{sfn|Klijnsma|2007|pp=282,285}}

In 1925, the party was instrumental in the fall of the cabinet led by [[Hendrikus Colijn]]: each year the orthodox Protestant [[Reformed Political Party]] (SGP) proposed that the [[Diplomatic mission of the Netherlands to the Holy See|Dutch representation at the Holy See]] be removed. The Protestant SGP was fervently anti-Catholic. This proposal was always supported by the Protestant [[Christian Historical Union]] (CHU), which was part of the Catholic–Protestant cabinet, but nonetheless had an anti-Catholic history. For the [[General League of Roman Catholic Caucuses|Catholic]] leader [[Hubert Nolens|Nolens]], this Papal representation was of utmost importance. In 1925 the VDB had convinced the other opposition parties that this was their chance to let the government fall and create a progressive cabinet. The entire opposition voted with the SGP and CHU, and the cabinet fell. In the following [[1925 Dutch general election|1925 election]] the party gained two seats. The party leader, [[Henri Marchant]], attempted to form a [[progressivism|progressive]] government with the [[Roman Catholic State Party]] (RKSP), the SDAP and the VDB. He failed, however, and a new Christian democratic cabinet was formed.

In the [[1929 Dutch general election|1929 election]], the VDB retained its seven seats. In [[1933 Dutch general election|1933]], the party lost one seat. Nonetheless, the party was asked to cooperate in the centre-right government led by [[Hendrikus Colijn|Colijn]], which consisted of the Catholic RKSP, the Protestant CHU and ARP, and the liberal VDB and Liberal State Party. The VDB cooperated in the budget cuts and the strengthening of the Dutch armed forces. The previously good relations with the SDAP came under considerable strain from this. In 1933 the party's leader, Marchant, who also served as minister of Education, stepped down after his secret conversion to Catholicism. [[Pieter Oud]] took his place as political leader of the VDB, until he became major of Rotterdam in 1938. In [[1937 Dutch general election|1937]], they managed to retain their seven seats. In 1941, the party was forbidden by the German occupying force. The VDB played a minor role in the 1940–1945 cabinets in exile.

===Dissolution===
After the German occupation, there was a widespread feeling that a new political party was necessary, one that was not part of the pillarised system. This movement was called the [[Breakthrough (Dutch political history)|Breakthrough]]. [[Willem Schermerhorn]] became the first [[Prime Minister of the Netherlands|Prime Minister]] after World War II. He led a cabinet composed out of progressives of all parties. In 1946 the VDB merged with the Social Democratic Workers' Party and the progressive [[Christian Democratic Union (Netherlands)|Christian Democratic Union]] (CDU) to form the modern-day [[Labour Party (Netherlands)|Labour Party]] (PvdA). However, this party soon strengthened its ties to democratic socialist organisations. In 1948, a group dissatisfied with the failed "Breakthrough" and the increasingly socialist tint of the PvdA left the party. These were all former VDB members, led by former VDB leader Pieter Oud. They joined with the conservative liberal [[Freedom Party (Netherlands)|Freedom Party]] (PvdV) to form the [[People's Party for Freedom and Democracy]].

==Ideology==
{{Liberalism sidebar}}
The VDB started out as a [[Left-wing politics|left]], [[Social liberalism|social]] or [[progressivism|progressive]] [[Liberalism in the Netherlands|liberal]] party, committed to [[universal suffrage]] and the construction of a [[welfare state]]. It favoured the democratisation of the Dutch political system. [[Female suffrage]] was one of its most important issues. It favoured government influence in the national economy by nationalising crucial industries. It also believed that government should play an important part in ensuring the welfare of the population; hence, it favoured the implementation of [[state pension]]s for the elderly.

In the 1930s, the leader of the party, [[Pieter Oud]], was somewhat more conservative than his predecessors, at least fiscally, supporting as Minister of Finance the strict fiscally conservative line of the Cabinet.

Before [[World War I]], it favoured an army formed by national [[conscription]]. After the war and until the 1930s, it favoured unilateral disarmament. This position was abandoned with the rise of international tensions after 1933.

The VDB was mainly supported by [[atheist]]s and [[Liberal Christianity|liberal]] [[protestant]]s from [[upper class|higher classes]]; the party was supported by civil servants, intellectuals and educated teachers. Regionally, the VDB received most of its support form the large cities [[Amsterdam]] and [[Rotterdam]], but also from provincial centres in [[Groningen (province)|Groningen]], [[Drenthe]], [[North Holland|North]] and [[South Holland]].

==Electoral performance==
===General elections===
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:right"
! rowspan=2 scope="col"|Election
! rowspan=2scope="col"|Lead candidate
! rowspan=2scope="col"|List
! colspan=2scope="col"|Votes
! colspan=2scope="col"|Seats
! rowspan=2scope="col"|Government
|-
! No.
! %
! No.
! ±
|-
! scope="row" | [[1901 Dutch general election|1901]]
| align="left" rowspan=6|''None''
| align="left" rowspan=6|''None''
| 23,398
| 6.09
| {{Composition bar compact|9|100|hex={{party color|Free-thinking Democratic League}}}}
| {{steady}}
| {{no2|Opposition}}
|-
! scope="row" | [[1905 Dutch general election|1905]]
| 51,595
| 8.84
| {{Composition bar compact|11|100|hex={{party color|Free-thinking Democratic League}}}}
| {{increase}} 2
| {{yes2|Government}}
|-
! scope="row" | [[1909 Dutch general election|1909]]
| 54,007
| 9.06
| {{Composition bar compact|9|100|hex={{party color|Free-thinking Democratic League}}}}
| {{decrease}} 2
| {{no2|Opposition}}
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan=2|[[1913 Dutch general election|1913]]
| rowspan=2|64,165
| rowspan=2|8.35
| rowspan=2|{{Composition bar compact|7|100|hex={{party color|Free-thinking Democratic League}}}}
| rowspan=2|{{decrease}} 2
| {{yes2|Government}}<br>{{small|(1913–1914)}}
|-
| {{maybe|Confidence}}<br>{{small|(1914–1917)}}
|-
! scope="row" | [[1917 Dutch general election|1917]]
| 22,040
| 9.86
| {{Composition bar compact|8|100|hex={{party color|Free-thinking Democratic League}}}}
| {{increase}} 1
| {{maybe|Confidence}}
|-
! scope="row" | [[1918 Dutch general election|1918]]
| rowspan=4 align="left"|[[Henri Marchant]]
| align="left"| [[List of Free-thinking Democratic League candidates in the 1918 Dutch general election|List]]
| 70,674
| 5.27
| {{Composition bar compact|5|100|hex={{party color|Free-thinking Democratic League}}}}
| {{decrease}} 3
| {{no2|Opposition}}
|-
! scope="row" | [[1922 Dutch general election|1922]]
| align="left"| [[List of Free-thinking Democratic League candidates in the 1922 Dutch general election|List]]
| 134,595
| 4.59
| {{Composition bar compact|5|100|hex={{party color|Free-thinking Democratic League}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
| {{no2|Opposition}}
|-
! scope="row" | [[1925 Dutch general election|1925]]
| align="left"| [[List of Free-thinking Democratic League candidates in the 1925 Dutch general election|List]]
| 187,183
| 6.07
| {{Composition bar compact|7|100|hex={{party color|Free-thinking Democratic League}}}}
| {{increase}} 2
| {{no2|Opposition}}
|-
! scope="row" | [[1929 Dutch general election|1929]]
| align="left"| [[List of Free-thinking Democratic League candidates in the 1929 Dutch general election|List]]
| 208,979
| 6.18
| {{Composition bar compact|7|100|hex={{party color|Free-thinking Democratic League}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
| {{no2|Opposition}}
|-
! scope="row" | [[1933 Dutch general election|1933]]
| align="left"| [[Dolf Joekes]]
| align="left"| [[List of Free-thinking Democratic League candidates in the 1933 Dutch general election|List]]
| 188,950
| 5.08
| {{Composition bar compact|6|100|hex={{party color|Free-thinking Democratic League}}}}
| {{decrease}} 1
| {{yes2|Government}}
|-
! scope="rowgroup" rowspan=2|[[1937 Dutch general election|1937]]
| rowspan=2 align="left"|[[Pieter Oud]]
| rowspan=2 align="left"| [[List of Free-thinking Democratic League candidates in the 1937 Dutch general election|List]]
| rowspan=2|239,502
| rowspan=2|5.90
| rowspan=2|{{Composition bar compact|6|100|hex={{party color|Free-thinking Democratic League}}}}
| rowspan=2|{{steady}} 0
| {{no2|Opposition}}<br>{{small|(1939)}}
|-
| {{yes2|Government}}<br>{{small|(1939–1946)}}
|}

===Municipal government===
In its strongholds of Amsterdam and Rotterdam, the party provided various [[Burgermeester|mayors]]. The former VDB leader Oud was mayor of Rotterdam between 1938 and 1941. In 1919, [[Maria Elisabeth Bes|Maria Elisabeth Stellwag-Bes]] became party leader for the VDB in the municipal elections in Delft and was elected to the Delft municipal council.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Maria Elisabeth Bes|url=https://www.tudelft.nl/over-tu-delft/alumni/inspiring-alumni/historische-alumni-lustrumuitgave-2017/maria-elisabeth-bes|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200128063214/https://www.tudelft.nl/over-tu-delft/alumni/inspiring-alumni/historische-alumni-lustrumuitgave-2017/maria-elisabeth-bes/|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 28, 2020|access-date=2021-04-05|website=TU Delft|language=nl-NL}}</ref> Deputy leader [[Corry Tendeloo]], who later became instrumental in the legal advancement of women's rights, was a member of the municipal council in Amsterdam.<ref>{{cite book|title=Een stille revolutie? cultuur en mentaliteit in de lange jaren vijftig|language=nl|trans-title=A quiet revolution? Culture and mentality in the long decade of the 1950s|year=1997|first=Anneke|last=Linders|chapter=Vier fronten, een strijd|trans-chapter=Four frontiers, one struggle|pages=109–129|isbn= 9789065505491|editor-first1=Paul|editor-last1=Luykx|editor-first2=Pim|editor-last2=Slot|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q5mJY9mIbTkC}}</ref>

==Organisation==
===Parliamentary leadership===
{{Col-begin}}
{{Col-2}}
* [[Parliamentary leader]]s in the [[House of Representatives (Netherlands)|House of Representatives]]
** [[Hendrik Lodewijk Drucker|Hendrik Drucker]] (18 September 1901 – 29 June 1913)
** [[Dirk Bos]] (29 June 1913 – 6 May 1916)
** [[Henri Marchant]] (16 May 1916 – 27 May 1933)
** [[Dolf Joekes]] (1 June 1933 – 20 September 1937)
** [[Pieter Oud]] (20 September 1937 – 15 October 1938)
** [[Dolf Joekes]] (16 October 1938 – 9 February 1946)
{{Col-2}}
* [[Parliamentary leader]]s in the [[Senate (Netherlands)|Senate]]
** [[David van Embden]] (September 1923 – 9 January 1946)
{{Col-end}}

===Pillarisation===
The VDB lacked a real system of [[Pillarisation|pillarised organisations]] around it. "Neutral" organisations, which were not linked to a pillar, often had friendly relations with the VDB. This included the general broadcasting association [[AVRO]] (Algemene Verenigde Radio Omroep, General United Radio Broadcasting Organisation), the general union ANWV (Algemene Nederlandse Werkelieden Vereniging, the General Dutch Workers' Association); furthermore, the neutral employers' organisation [[VNO-NCW|VNO]] and the financial paper ''[[NRC Handelsblad|Het Handelsblad]]'' had good relations with the League. Together with the other liberal party, the Liberal State Party, these organisations formed the weak general pillar.

===Relationships with other parties===
The VDB was part of the [[Concentration (Netherlands)|Concentration]] the alliance with the [[Liberal Union (Netherlands)|Liberal Union]] and [[League of Free Liberals]]. These parties had good relations. The VDB served as bridge between the liberals and the [[Social Democratic Workers' Party (Netherlands)|Social Democratic Workers' Party]] (SDAP). The SDAP supported two liberal minority cabinets, but the SDAP was unwilling to join a cabinet with these bourgeois 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 [[second Ruijs de Beerenbrouck cabinet]] 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 Colijn cabinet, which had a very conservative economic policy. Their cooperation in World War II improved the relations between SDAP and VDB considerably. This led to the [[Breakthrough (Dutch political history)|Breakthrough]] and the formation of the [[Labour Party (Netherlands)|Labour Party]], with the SDAP and the VDB being its major components.

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
* {{cite book|last=Klijnsma|first= Meine Henk|title= Om de Democratie: de Geschiedenis van de Vrijzinnig-Democratische Bond, 1901-1946|language=nl|trans-title=About Democracy: the History of the Free-thinking Democratic League, 1901-1946|location=Amsterdam|publisher= Bert Bakker|year= 2007|isbn=978-90-351-3239-9}}

{{Defunct political parties in the Netherlands}}

[[Category:1901 establishments in the Netherlands]]
[[Category:1946 disestablishments in the Netherlands]]
[[Category:Defunct liberal political parties|Netherlands 1901]]
[[Category:Defunct political parties in the Netherlands]]
[[Category:Liberal parties in the Netherlands]]
[[Category:Political parties established in 1901]]
[[Category:Political parties disestablished in 1946]]
[[Category:Social liberal parties]]