Herman Gorter

Poet, born in Wormerveer, W Netherlands. He studied classics in Amsterdam and worked as a teacher, producing his first poem Mei (May) in 1889, of which the first canto was published in the magazine De nieuwe gids. The magazine's editors recognized in it the materialization of the impressionist aesthetics of the Movement of the Eighties. After Mei he began to write sensitivist poems, trying to express sensations and feelings as directly as possible, without interference of the mind. The collection Verzen (1890) are considered the first experimental poems in Dutch literature, and influenced J H Leopold, H Marsman, and Lucebert. From 1895 onwards he devoted himself increasingly to politics, first Socialism and later Communism.

Gorter's first book, a 4,000 verse epic poem called "Mei" ("May"), sealed his reputation as a great writer upon its publication in 1889, and is regarded as the pinnacle of Dutch Impressionist literature. Gorter rapidly followed this up with a sequel epic poem called "Juni" ("June") and a book of short poetry simply called "Verzen" ("Verses") in 1890, which was equally hailed as a masterpiece.

Gorter shared in common with the Tachtigers an interest in leftist politics, and became the most politically involved of the group, becoming an active writer on Socialist theory. In 1909 he participated in a schism from the SDAP to form the Social-Democratic Party (Sociaal-Democratische Partij) of the Netherlands, widely understood to be the world's first Communist political party.

In 1918 the Social-Democratic Party changed its name to the Communist Party of Holland (Communistische Partij Holland), and in 1919 Gorter left the party. In 1921 he was a founding member of the Communist Workers Party of Germany, joining its Essen Faction and becoming a leading supporter of the Communist Workers International.