7 . t h e m o nst e r of amste rdam (j u ne 1 4 , 1966)
The Provos were not the only people in Amsterdam with grievances against authority. Though they and their Dada-style political theatrics had so far made the most impact on the structures of power, it was a jest of cosmic irony that the capital of the Netherlands was eventually brought to the brink of civil war over a minor labor dispute. A 2% cut in the vacation allowance of unorganized construction workers in Amster dam had been mandated to pay the administrative costs of han dling their vacations. The issue underlying the workers' response to the cut was the s ame one the Provos faced: authoritarianism. The decision had been made at the national level of the trade union movement without any discussion of the issue with the workers themselves , and without putting it to a vote . As a result , all of Am sterdam's construction workers simply said " No ! " So by early June of 1 966 the structure of authority in the Netherlands was set to be challenged by the same explosive com bination of workers and youth that would rock France during the dynamic revolution of May 1 968 . Roel Van Duyn was stating the obvious when he wrote that the generalized tension resulting from the government's overreaction to Provo activity needed little fuel in order to take fire . The most accessible source on the Battle of Ams terdam , as the riots generated by the labor dispute quickly became known , is a 90-page booklet entitled Oproer in Amsterdam (Revolt in Amster dam) . Oproer was written by reporters from De Telegraaf and slants editorially in favor of the police . From time to time it takes snide digs at both the workers and at variou s government official s , most of whom were members of the Dutch Socialist Party. Nonetheles s , i t does capture the essence and chaos o f the June 1 4th riots , being in part a summary of a long official document, the Interim Report of the Commission for Research on the Amsterdam Inciden ts, created by the Dutch parliament during its investigation of the riots and the
••••••• p rovo : amsterdam 's a narc hist revol t •91
