On November 16, 1919, the Socialist vote rose to 644,499, with election of 70 Deputies and 20 Senators, an increase of 21 Deputies and 5 Senators.
In March, 1919, out of the 100 members of the Second Chamber of Holland, there were four Communists or Socialists of the extreme left and 20 of more moderate tendencies. The Communists published a newspaper called "The Bolshevist" and maintained relations with the Russian Soviet Government and the German Sparticides. David Wynkoop, the leader of the Dutch Communists, is called "Holland's Little Liebknecht" and in a parliamentary speech openly threatened a general strike. There was a Bolshevist crisis in January, 1919. An assembly of international communists met at the Hague and Spartacide success in Germany was the only thing required to launch a revolutionary attempt, accompanied by a general strike and terrorism. The government then adopted stern measures. Civil guards were formed, and banks, newspaper offices and police bureaus were occupied by the military with machine guns, the banks and newspapers having been previously equipped with wireless against the cutting of telephone wires.
Wynkoop, in the company of workingmen, visited soldiers in their barracks asking them to join the movement, but the soldiers fired, killing three and wounding several. Efforts to corrupt the cavalry and the navy by similar means were not a success.
Shortly after the overthrow of the Austro-Hungarian Government, the three Socialist parties of Czecho-Slovakia, which had been divided
principally over questions of nationality, got together and their leaders of moderate tendencies were very sanguine over the outlook for a general victory at the ballot box in the near future. It appears, however, that the party was afterwards split into pro and anti Bolshevist factions, with a consequent decrease in political strength.