Samenvatting

In 1973 a new Dutch cabinet was formed. One of the central points of its programme was to revise the relations with the former Dutch colonies in the West Indies to be able to stop the immigration from Suriname. This immigration was seen by this government as a serious threat to Dutch society. In reality the migration was modest in numbers and consisted for a good deal of middle class people. In 1967 there were 13.000 Surinamese in the Netherlands. But the immigration had gained momentum and in 1972 there were 51.000. The cabinet launched a vigorous campaign to change the relations with Suriname and close the border for immigrants. The outcome of this policy was that there were 110.000 Surinamese in the Netherlands in 1975 and the immigration caused indeed problems that were unknown before. In this article the reasons for the complete failure of the anti-immigration policy are analysed.