The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and THe News WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16, 1913. THE BELGIAN STRIKE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 90, 16 April 1913, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and THe News

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16, 1913. THE BELGIAN STRIKE.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance; And the good tliat vie can do.

The-general strike which is now in progress all over Belgium is one of the most interesting phenomena of modern political history. Here we have hundreds of thousands of men combining to refuee to work, not on account of any specific gnevance about long hours or small pay but because they resent the position of political inferiority" in which they have been so long held by the ruling classes, and they have resolved to secure for themselves a t all costs the power to make their voices heard effectively in the government .of their country and the making of .its laws. The Belgian strike is not strictly an industrial, but a political, episode, and to understand the character of this great movement it is necessary to glance briefly at the system which has produced it. Belgium has been an independent kingdom for over eighty years, and, ac it received its freedom as an outcome of the great revolutionary upheaval at the beginning of the nineteenth century, it might have been expected that its rulers would have been inclined to sympathise with the demand of the working classes for political rights. But the government of Belgium has been conducted all along on reactionary and autocratic lines. For -the first fifty years of its existence as an independent kingdom there were only two political parties iv the country—the Clericals, or Conservatives, and the Liberals. But the literals, though supporting what are usually termed constitutional methods of government, were very far from democratic in their views; and it was not till 1893 that the masses were able to break through the harriers that mediaeval traditions had placed in their path, and secure some form of political liberty. In that year the workers, who had founded a Labour party ten years before, compelled the Government to grant the franchise to all men over 25 years of age, and -iiom that time forward they have been constantly struggling to strengthen their position and enlarge the benefits they have secured. For, even since 1593, the working classes in Belgium have had ample excuse for complaint against their country's political condition. Though all male citizens over the age of 25 have the right to vote, a system of plural voting has been devised which throws a practical monopoly of power into the hands of the wealthier and better-educated classes. Taxpayers, property-holders, and men who can give proof of educational training up to a certain standard, have the right to additional votes; in fact, one man in Belgium may haVe three votes. •Naturally .the workers have protested against this anomaly, and they have taken up the "one-man-one-vote" cry, which is now the watchword of progress in nearly all democratic communities. But, co far, the Clerical or Conservative party has more than held its own. Gradually the influence of the Social Democrat propaganda has extended itself to Belgium; M. Vandervelde, the leader of the Belgian Democratic party, has a following of 3S members in the Chamber of Deputies, and he exercises influence and authority in his own country equal to the power wielded by 'Herr Bebel in Germany and M. Jaures in France. But, for various reasons, largely connected 'with international politics and ; the problems of national defence, the Clericals have recovered of late come of their lost ground. At last year's general elections they secured no less than 101 out of IS6 seats, the Liberals being able to muster an Opposition of only 45 members, while the Social 'Democrats of different shades number 40. Against so strong a body of Conservatives the Social Democrats are obviously helpless if they confine themselves to purely Parliamentary methods. But they have resolved to make a bold stand for the "one-man-one-vote" principle, and the refusal of Government to set up a Commission to inquire into the whole question of electoral reform has precipitated matters. A general strike has been declared, and co far the plans of the Social Democrats, which have been laid with great care and forethought, seem to have worked out as satisfactorily a3 they could desire. ■We have yet to learn if the Belgian Government is strong enough to withstand the steady and relentless pressure of so formidable a movement as this. So far the Clericals have shown no signs of yielding, except that they have rather ingeniously attempted to outwit their antagonists by proposing a scheme of universal suffrage. The Clericals believe that if Belgian women had the franchise, their votes would almost always be cast on Conservative lines-; while at the same time Government is thus throwing on its opponents the responsibility of rejecting what purports to be a strictly democratic proposal. But the Socialist party kuows that in its demand for the effective representation of the workers in Parliament, and in public life, it has an immensely strong body of popular feeling behind it. We ■have said that this strike is not an industrial movement, and strictly that is so. But there can be no doubt that the discontent which has manifested itself •in Ibis pr-rsistert demand for the "one fflMff <T:- vs'i/'' is industrial in

origin. Belgium is a very densely populated and industrially active country, and it is prosperous enough, measured by .the gross amount of wealth it produces annually. But in spite of its material progress, Belgium is still much in the position in -which the country stood forty years ago, when it was described by Karl Marx, the founder of Social Democracy, as "the Paradise of Capitalism." It is, as M> Vandervelde has said bitterly, "the promised land of low wages and long lours." In igO6 the Census returns showed that of 613,000 working men and women appearing in the schedules, 170,000 received less than J 2 francs a. day, 172,000 received from 2 to 3 francs a day, and only 102,000 received more than 4 francs a day. This means that more than half the working population was then earning from 1/6 to 2/6 a day; while the wages of agricultural labourers varied from 1/3 to 2/ a day. It is true thai wages have rieen slightly in. Belgium dn moet tradee during the past ten years, but the rates of pay are still abnormally low. And this is not the only grievance of which the Belgian workers complain. Of about 600,000 workpeople .the Census for 1806 showed that only 70,000, or a little more than one-tenth, worked less than 10 houns a day; 310,000, or about one-half, worked from 10 to 10J hours a day; 100,000, or about one-eixth, worked 11 hours; and 125,000, or about one-fifth, worked more than 11 hours a day. Here, again, matters have improved slightly in the last decade; but the report of the Commission on Domestic Industries in 1001 showed that there were then thousands of men and women toiling 13, 14, and even 15 hours a day for a miserable pittance, which even the over-worked and under-paid Sritieh worker would reject with scorn. As >h Vandervelde said eeven yeare ago in an article contributed to the "National Review," the Belgian capitalists and employers 'have "exploited the human capital of the proletariat" to an outrageous degree. In their efforts bo maintain their ascendency and eecure their gains they have opposed fiercely any attempt to improve the conditions of the workers by legislation of the same character as the British Factory Acts, and they are charged- also- with persistently- breaking the regulations now fin force for the protection of the workers, and evading the inspection of Government officials. In no country in Europe is the feeling between workers and employers more bitterly antagonistic than, in Belgium to-day, and it ie greatly to the credit of Mi Vandervelde and the other leaders of Labour there that ■they have kepb their followers co well in hand. Our readers will notice that according to our cable; -news ■to'prevent- ,- any sort of active conflict between the workers and the authorities the Labour leaders have decreed that no meetings ehall be held during the strike; and the workers'programme is being carried out with an amount of decorum and self-control that might ibe a useful lesson to (British militant suffragettes. Another point that we may note in passing is that the Belgian Socialists, while bitterly incensed against the ruling classes, by no means share« the prejudices of the British -liabour party against war in defence of their country. '11. Vandervelde is a strong advocate of peace, but, like Herr Bebel, in Germany, he has declared repeatedly that if their country is attacked, or her independence is menaced, the Social Democrats will fight as bravely as any other men to protect it. We mention these features of the Socialist movement in Belgium because they seem to us to show that there is nothing of Anarchism or the purely destructive revolutionary creed about it. The Belgian workers are striving to secure the redress of genuine grievances, and they can see no way of ameliorating their lot until they can ma'kc their voices heard and their weight felt in ParliaT ment. This is why distinguished publicists like Maeterlinck and Anatole ! France are expressing approval of their action, and so long as they refrain from violence they will be. supported by the goodwill and sympathy of all democratic communities throughout the world.