A Russian transport ship, the Karl Marx, carrying timber entered the port of Zaandam on 30 August 1924. Local members of the CPN, the Dutch Communist Party, chaired by Fokke Bosman, paid a comradely visit to the crew of the Karl Marx.
They observed a gathering of the ship’s soviet – “apart from the captain, everybody on board was communist” – and invited the crew to Dutch-Russian festivities at the Apollo Theatre.
There, the audience listened to a speech (in German) given by a CPN hotshot and danced merrily to the balalaika music played by the Russians.
The chairman of the ship’s soviet then borrowed Fokke Bosman’s bike: “this was extraordinary, as the majority of the Russians were unable to ride a bike. But he did! He rushed off and got completely lost”. (Fokke Bosman papers, no. 8)
NB: The picture shows the Michael Tomsky, which arrived in Zaandam later.