The son of a Baptist hotelier, Constandse completed the normal school between 1914 and 1918 and in this period came into contact with the teetotalers' movement.

He published two anarchist monthlies, Alarm (1922–1926) and Opstand ("Revolt", 1926–1928),[2] which together with Herman Schuurman's De Moker and Arthur Lehning's Grondslagen renewed the theoretical basis of Dutch anarchism.

He came to lead the newspaper's foreign desk, espousing views that ran counter to the Cold War ideology of the time, criticizing both Soviet and US policies as detrimental to world peace.

[1] A 1956 editorial in which Constandse argued against Western intervention in the Hungarian Uprising, for fear that it would lead to nuclear war, even caused a scuffle at the paper's news desk.

[5] After retirement, he continued writing for De Groene Amsterdammer and Vrij Nederland, as well as making radio programs for the VPRO and lecturing on Spanish and Latin American history at the University of Amsterdam.