Historical background
Dooyeweerd became the editor of the newspaper the Nieuw Nederland just after the end of the Second World War in August 1944.
The war had hit The Netherlands hard – the Nazis invaded in May 1940. The resistance movement was strong there. Dissent against the Nazis meant that each person had to trust one’s life to the next resitance fighter – this brought about a spirit of of unity and trust. Christians and Marxists were co-belligerents against a common enemy.
The Dutch National Movement (Nederlandse Volksbeweging) hoped to build upon this unity and hope and so issued a manifesto in May 1945. Many including Queen Wilhelmina (1880-1962; she reigned from 1890 until her abdication in 1948) were supportive of this and it was hoped that the next elections in 1946 would see a new ideal in politics. Dooyeweerd, however saw that the principle of pluriform democracy was at risk. It was this issue that Dooyeweerd hoped to raise people’s awareness of these issues and the importance of the antithesis in particular.
