Willem van Ravesteyn

Who is Willem van Ravesteyn?

Willem van Ravesteyn was a Dutch Communist politician and historian.

Ravesteyn studied history at the University of Leiden and was involved in setting up the local branch of the Dutch Social Democratic Workers' Party in 1898. With David Wijnkoop and Jan Ceton he was on the editorial board of the left-wing Marxist newspaper De Tribune when it was set up in October 1907. However, Pieter Jelles Troelstra and Vliegen, the reformist leaders of the SDAP, found this unacceptable and organised a special congress to discuss throwing out De Tribune from the party. They were able to get a clear majority for this at the congress held on February 14, 1909. The De Tribune group founded the Social Democratic Party on March 14, 1909.

He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1918 and was an MP until 1926, although he left the Communist Party of Holland in 1925. He was also a local councillor in Rotterdam from 1919 to 1927. He was curator of the Rotter Municipal Library.