[1] In the 1918 elections, the first election with a system of proportional representation and male universal suffrage the threshold for the House of Representatives was relatively low, at just over half of 1% of the vote.
In 1919 the SP MP had left the parliamentary party, disaffected with the cooperation.
In its manifesto of principles called "God, Thyself, Thy neighbour", the BCS took the second commandment of Christ from the Gospel of Matthew, "Thou shall love thy neighbour like thyself", as its leading principle.
The party had a traditional socialist program, including the abolition of monarchy and the Senate, equal rights for men and women, free education, the implementation of better labour laws, a minimum wage and social security, disarmament, legalisation of conscientious objection against military service and independence of the Dutch Indies.
The BCS had only limited support, which it drew primarily from lower-class Protestants.