The Belgian Communist Party and the Socialist Trade Unions, 1940–60

Abstract

Occupation during the war left the socialist trade unions in Belgium in disarray and enabled the Belgian Communist Party to dominate the post-war amalgamated union – the Federation Generale du Travail de Belgique. The crisis that the communist movement is experiencing everywhere in Europe has been going on for a long time in Belgium. The communist opposition strategies escalated into a fully-fledged confrontation with the socialist trade union leaders. Thus, from the very start, the marginal position of the Belgian Communist Party and the existence of a well-organized socialist trade union movement obliged the Communist Party to develop a strategy to counter the socialist domination. This situation largely explains communist impotence in trade union matters. In the field of trade unionism, too, the Communist Party was able to improve its position considerably. To Belgian politics in general these elections brought radical change: a Catholic-liberal coalition government was formed, and the socialist party was relegated to the opposition benches.