Editing Labour Party (Netherlands) (section)

=== Early years (1946–1965) ===
[[File:Willem Drees 1958.jpg|thumb|left|[[Willem Drees]], co-founder, party leader (1946–1958) and Prime Minister (1948–1958)]]
During the [[Netherlands in World War II|German occupation of the Netherlands]] in [[World War II]], a group of prominent Dutchmen of all democratic political ideologies were interned as hostages in [[Kamp Sint-Michielsgestel]] by the German occupation authorities. They came to the consensus that the pre-war fragmentation of Dutch political life, known as "[[Pillarisation]]", should be overcome after the war in a so-called [[Breakthrough (Dutch political history)|Breakthrough]]. These people formed the [[Nederlandse Volksbeweging|Dutch People's Movement]] (NVB) immediately after the war ended in 1945. The new movement promoted the foundation of the Labour Party on 9 February 1946 through a merger of three pre-war parties, namely the [[Social Democratic Workers' Party (Netherlands)|Social Democratic Workers' Party]] (SDAP), the [[social liberal]] [[Free-thinking Democratic League]] (VDB) and the progressive [[Protestant]] [[Christian Democratic Union (Netherlands)|Christian Democratic Union]] (CDU). They were joined by individuals from [[Catholic]] [[Dutch resistance|resistance group]] Christofoor, as well as some of the more progressive members of the Protestant [[Christian Historical Union]] (CHU).<ref name="DNPP">{{Cite web|url=https://www.rug.nl/research/dnpp/politieke-partijen/pvda/geschiedenis/|title=Partijgeschiedenis|first=Philip|last=Van Praag|language=nl|work=Documentatiecentrum Nederlandse Politieke partijen|access-date=17 August 2024|date=13 October 2023}}</ref> The founding convention was chaired by NVB member [[Willem Banning]].

Despite its ambitions to force a breakthrough, the electorate returned to their pillars. Lead by [[Willem Drees]] in the [[1946 Dutch general election|1946 general election]], it won 29 seats, two less than its predecessors had won in [[1937 Dutch general election|1937]]. During the [[1946 Dutch cabinet formation|1946 cabinet formation]], the [[first Beel cabinet]] was formed with the [[Catholic People's Party]] (KVP) and the PvdA ([[Roman/Red]]). In 1948, some of the left-liberal members, led by former VDB leader [[Pieter Oud]], left the PvdA after concluding it had become too socialist for their liking. Together with the [[Freedom Party (Netherlands)|Freedom Party]], they formed the [[People's Party for Freedom and Democracy]] (VVD), a [[Conservative liberalism|conservative liberal]] party.

Between 1948 and 1958, the PvdA led centre-left<ref>Decolonising the Caribbean Dutch policies in a Comparative Perspective By Gert Oostindie, Inge Klinkers, P.234</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=p1SFCwAAQBAJ&dq=and+in+the+same+year+it+entered+into+a+centre-left+coalition+with+the+catholic+peoples+party&pg=PA119 Company Financial Reporting A Historical and Comparative Study of the Dutch Regulatory Process By Stephen A Zeff, Frans van der Wel, C. Camfferman, 2016, P.119]</ref> [[coalition government]]s with the KVP, and combinations of VVD, ARP and CHU, with the PvdA's [[Willem Drees]] as prime minister. The KVP and the PvdA together had a large majority in parliament. Under his leadership the Netherlands recovered from the war and began to build its [[welfare state]], and [[Indonesia]] became [[Indonesian National Revolution|independent]].

After the cabinet crisis of 1958, the PvdA was replaced by the VVD. The PvdA was in opposition until 1965. The electoral support of PvdA voters began to decline.