In 1897 the party won its first two seats in the House of Representatives. Pieter Jelles Troelstra, a controversial person in the party, won the seat of Tietsjerksteradeel in Friesland and became chairman of the parliamentary party. In parliament the SDAP supported the social legislation of the Liberal majority cabinet, led by Nicolaas Pierson. The core of the cabinet was formed by the Liberal Union. During this period the party became the major socialist party of the Netherlands, attracting famous writers and poets like Herman Gorter, Henriëtte Roland Holst-van der Schalk and Herman Heijermans junior, and the journalist Pieter Lodewijk Tak. In 1900, party leader Troelstra visited Berlin and received a considerable sum of money, with which the party founded its own daily newspaper, called Het Volk, Dagblad voor de Arbeiderspartij (The People, Paper for the Workers' Party). In the same year the remainder of the SDB, which was renamed Socialist League joined the SDAP In the 1901 election the SDAP performed particularly well: it tripled its seats to six, the Liberal cabinet which the socialists supported lost its majority. The confessional, Christian-democrat cabinet, composed of the Protestant Anti-Revolutionary Party and the Catholic General League ignored the Socialists. After the election victory the party's power in the socialist pillar began to rise. In a massive reorganisation, the associated socialist organisations had to integrate with the party's branches. 1903–1919 In January 1903, a large strike broke out in the docking sector, out of solidarity other sectors like the railway sector went on strike too. The employers reacted by firing the strikers. Years of oppression of the socialist movement and labour unions led to a huge revolt. The strikers demanded the re-employment of fired strikers, payment of wages for the striking days and the recognition of labour unions. The surprised directors of the railway companies accepted the demands. Meanwhile, the confessional cabinet led by Kuyper wanted to end the strike by posing harsh penalties against the strikers, because the strike struck vital industries. Initially the SDAP supported the strike, hoping it would spark a socialist revolution. But in reaction to the government legislation, moderate party members, including Troelstra, turned against the strikes. This led to a controversy between orthodox Marxists and moderate revisionists. The strike ended the cooperation of socialist unions with confessional unions and the social democratic SDAP and anarchists of other organisations. The strike however didn't only lead to breaches.