Klassenstrijd

Summary

Father comes home and makes himself comfortable. He grumbles about his son Gerrit coming too late for the evening meal. Piet calls to collect Gerrit so that they can attend a political meeting. Father asks what is the point of all the meetings. Piet points out that, formerly, a working man was a wage-slave but nowadays he is selfassured and organized.

Father defends the activities of people like van Marken, Stork and Philips (three very well-known Dutch factory owners). A discussion arises in which Father defends liberalism and Piet defends socialism.

Three months later, a strike breaks out in the factory in which Gerrit works. Although Gerrit enthusiastically takes part in the strike, Leo, the fiancé of his sister Marie, stands aloof. After a quarrel about money, Gerrit is thrown out of the house by his father. Eighteen months later, Marie, now married to Leo and the mother of a son, is visited by a totally down-and-out Gerrit. At the insistence of his sister, Gerrit reconciles himself with his father and tells how his so-called friend, Piet the socialist, had left him to sink or swim.