“In order to guarantee human dignity, equality and solidarity, a democratic revolution must first take place.” This is stated in a new basic program proposal for the service provider. It was introduced this morning by former Member of Parliament Van Rak. It happened at a meeting in Amersfoort where the party celebrated its anniversary. Today, fifty years ago SP was founded.

Under the proposal, market forces placed communal utilities in the hands of profit-hungry companies and democratic control disappeared. Van Raak states, “It is no longer about the markets, but the people must be in charge.”

In Amersfoort, party leader Marijnesen joined the call for democratization. “Maybe our party’s image is that government is the answer to everything, while we believe more in democratizing at least the common good. This is the only way to break the cynicism of so many people.”

According to Van Rak, many politicians believe in “the neoliberal promise that the free market will lead to freer societies”. He writes that “what cannot go bankrupt does not belong to the market” and that this applies to all public utilities. This also includes energy, according to SP.

The party recently launched a petition to nationalize energy. “Because of the privatization of our energy supplies, we now have nothing to say about it. Commercial companies increase our energy bills and become laughably rich, while leaving us out in the cold,” says SP in the petition.

The Socialist Party will discuss the new basic program in the near future and is scheduled to be adopted by the party in June next year.

At Amersfoort, Marijnissen said she would like to cooperate with other parties, but did not want to join the PvdA and GroenLinks bloc. SP now holds 9 seats in the House of Representatives and ranks 7-9 in the polling index (weighted average of opinion polls by I&O Research, Ipsos/EenVandaag and Kantar).