THE STRIKE IN BELGIUM

New Zealand Tablet, 26 June 1913, Page 11

THE STRIKE IN BELGIUM

ITS ORIGIN AND FAILURE After their crushing defeat at the general elechons m June, 1912, the Opposition, consisting of the combined Liberal-Socialistic forces, decided that sometkll*f S^ U ? 7 d be d , one (writes the special correspondent of the Catholic limes). Nothing less than a change in the electoral law of the land could bring them into power again and rid the country of the hated ‘ clerical ’ Government. To effect this change the Socialists resorted to force; the Liberals—the moderate Liberals at least put their hope in persuasion. Force prevailed, and a general meeting of the Socialist Party. decided on & general strike in favor of pure universal sunrage. , One Man One Vote; and the strike was to begin on April 14, to be a peace--lul one, and to last—perhaps for months—till victory was won. Money was exacted from the members of the party to be distributed during the strike. Socialists abroad were asked to give shelter and food to the children of the strikers foreign trade unions were requested to prevent goods from being shipped to Belgian harbors. 6 11 ‘ The intentions of the Government were well known; the Prime Minister, Baron de Broqueville, had already intimated that the Ministry intended to anpoint a Commission to study the 'electoral questions affecting the Provincial and the Town Councils elections, but that in no way, after having been returned to power with an immensely increased majority, could

he take it upon , himself to introduce, a scheme of pure universal suffrage, inasmuch as the electors had decided against it. He stated, moreover, that if when examining the questions mentioned it happened- that the members of the Commission were - of opinion that something could be done for the. extension of the franchise in elections to Parliament, the Government would not block the way. These were' his intentions before it was resolved to resort to strike ; under the threat of the strike: he refused even to appoint this Commission. The position was accordingly as follows: On the one _ hand the Government were resolved to maintain and defend the principles of authority on which rest all civilised authority, not obstinately opposed to conciliation, but determined to present no appearance of weakness. On the other hand, the Socialists - were ready for every possible sacrifice. Then occurred A Memorable Event. The Burgomasters of the four great cities of the Kingdom, Brussels-, Antwerp, Liege, and Ghent, had an interview with the Prime Minister and afterwards with the members of the ‘ Commission for the. General Strike.’ This Commission was working under 'Socialistic control, and the news went forth that tho Socialists had changed their minds , and that- there would be no strike at all. As far as can be ascertained, for the Burgomasters do not seem to agree on the point, this was actually the case. The Burgomaster of Brussels told the members of the Commission that the Prime Minister had refused to discuss the subject of electoral reform as long as the threat of the general strike was impending, but had said that if the Socialist Party abandoned the idea of the strike, the Government would do ‘something/ But this had not been the attitude of Baron de Broqueville. He had promised nothing, as the Burgomaster of Ghent declared later on in Parliament, except that if the strike project was given up, he would appoint a Commission to study the problem of Provincial and Town Council elections. The Prime Minister remained firm, adding nothing to his words nor taking from them in any way. When it became publicly known and was authoritatively stated that the Minister had mot at all pledged the Government to examine the question of universal suffrage at Parliamentary elections, there was - A Wild Outburst of Anger amongst the Socialists, and a general meeting of the party was summoned on Easter Monday. Notwithstanding the efforts of their most influential leaders, including a man of no less importance than M. Vandervelde, it was decided to call the working men out for a general strike, and the date previously indicated was agreed to, April 14. A psychological question here presents itself: In what degree were the Socialists sincere when they abandoned the strike, unreservedly as they said at the time, in order to allow the Government to examine the difficulties without pressure or threat of any kind. It seems as if the leaders had to give way to the feelings of some extremists and to the resentment, the blind resentment, of the masses they had intoxicated by their fiery speeches against the ‘ clericals ’ ! The restraints of reason were swept away by passion. Though I have fought against the strike,’ exclaimed M. Vandervelde, ‘I will now do my. duty as a mere soldier of the proletarian army and exert myself to make it a success.’ Judging by the people whom they attracted to their meetings, the loaders might well have doubted the prospect of success ! But it was too late. On April 16 and 17 in Parliament the Baron de Broqueville once more stated his views, which, he said were not altered because now the strike was an unavoidable fact, for on Monday, April 14, the strike had begun. What was an evident fact, too, was that the strike could never become a general one, and that it was foredoomed to be and remain A Mere Socialistic Affair. •* True, about 270,000 men went out; say in-round numbers even 300,000. This represented not thirty per cent out of the total number of industrial workmen.

* In two districts alone was some uneasiness felt, vin Hainault and Liege, the coal districts, and there the strike was somewhat general. Everywhere - else—in Brussels as well as in Antwerp, in Ghent'as well as in Namur—the vast majority of workers kept doing their daily ‘ work; even in Liege the big works of John Cockerill, pf Yah St. Lambert, of the ‘ Fabrique Rationale d’armes de guerre/ were not compelled to close their gates. Work went on with reduced numbers.: Moreover, the working men depending on the towns and .on the officials of the State railways, the post offices, telephones, water-works, gas departments, etc., did not join the strikers. Life went on during this troubled period exactly as before, and in cities and towns people wondered. They had believed in the strength of Socialism and > < ;

Thought that Shops would be Closed

and tramways stopped, and that armed men would be seen everywhere. Nothing of all that happened. They had stored potatoes, sugar, coffee, tea, and meat for weeks and months, as if we in Liege were about to be besieged by a German army, and all this for fear of the strike! It was, moreover, becoming clearer every day that an immense army, about 100,000 Catholic ‘ syndicated ’ workmen, would persist in their resolution to .go on working as . long as the doors of the factories remained open, and their example proved very efficacious. The promoters of the strike had hoped to see the figures rise day by day, but they did not rise. .On the contrary, they went down. Having ascended once more, they went down after three days to a regular level till the end of the week. . The week was a very quiet one. No disturbances, at least no serious riots, occurred, thanks to the warnings of the Socialist leaders, and thanks, too; to the measures so wisely taken by the Government. For, from the -Saturday before the 14th, the army occupied the coal mining districts and the industrial cities so as to protect those who desired to work. Of course, some acts of intimidation in big centres could not be prevented, but as a whole, things went on very well. It was manifest people were not very enthusiastic even the Socialists. They understand a strike for economical but not for political reasons. The less educated workmenin Belgium the coalminersformed the vast majority of the strikers.

Parliament and the Strike.

Something strange was to happen. On Friday, the 18th, as on previous days, Parliament met, when a member of the Left, a prominent Liberal leader, Mr. Masson, rose and brought forward a motion which ran as follows: The House, in- view of the words spoken by the Prime Minister, passes on to the order of the day/ What were the magic words? On April 16 M. de Broqueville once more explained to the House the intentions of the Government. The main part of his speech consisted in reading a part of his declaration made on March 12, twelve days before the strike was decided on. The policy of the Government remained the same: a Commission would be nominated to enquire into the mode of elections to Provincial and Town Councils ; no promise could be made concerning Parliamentary elections, but no opposition was offered by the Government to a change if the electorate, next year, proved in favor of one, and if the different parties chanced to agree. These were the Prime Minister’s words. It appeared that the Opposition had not been able to understand them, but on Friday, the 18th, light was thrown on them, and they were understood and found very acceptable to the Liberals. Half an hour would be sufficient, they said, to make up their minds and to vote on Mr. Masson’s motion ; but the Minister asked the House to give the Socialist members some time for consideration, and the House adjourned till Tuesday, as it does every week, there being no sittings on Saturdays and on Mondays.

M. Liebaert’s Motion.

The different political parties met on Monday, or on Tuesday morning, and in the evening the following motion was introduced by M. Liebaert, Catholic exMinister : —‘ Considering the declarations made by

the Government on March ; 12, April -I6 ? and : 17 and the following words (her© followed the statement concerning the appointment'* of a Commission), - and repudiating and condemning the general strike the House passes on to the order of the day.’ The first part of the motion was carried by 175 votes, one member (M. de Broqueville) abstaining; "the second part, condemning the strike, by 124 votes against 39 (Socialists). Ten Radicals abstained from voting. It is to be noted that before the division took place, M. Liebaert expressly declared that the appointment of the Commission neither directly nor indirectly involved any change in the Constitution (as would the adoption of a simple universal suffrage). . . - Thus condemned by an immense majority in Parliament, it was difficult; nay impossible,- for the strike to survive. On Thursday morning a general meeting of the Socialist Party, after much discussion and violent opposition, voted that work be resumed. By Saturday nearly every workman had gone back to his work, and on Monday all resumed their places in the mine, the mills, or the factories, if the managers and directors allowed them to do so. A Blow to Socialism. The strike has;thus been a failure. The Socialists delivered innumerable speeches, .held hundreds of meetings, stirred the hearts of their followers, spread distrust and ill-feeling amongst the workmen, deprived them of their wages, caused very serious loss to the country, gave opportunities to rival industries and to rival harbors to harm dear little Belgium, and all. that for a strike of ten days, at the end of which’ they possess exactly what they had before— ' more, nothing less. The result will be additional strength for the Catholic Government. Many workmen in the Catholic or neutral federations dealt a very real blow to Socialism. This is already noticeable in more than one , centre. The leaders, the politicians,* were very badly treated, even abused by the people, when they went out to tell them how it all ended in Parliament.