[This is the second of two articles on the Belgian miners' strike.]
Brussels
The Jeune Garde Socialiste is at present based mainly among students, and its support for the strike has been conditioned by this fact. Also, the JGS was weak in the Limbourg region at the beginning of the strike. Another grouping among the students, which could be characterized as "Maoist- Spontaneist," had a base at Louvain University which is not too far from the mines. The Maoist-Spontanéists combine Maoist features with some anarchist ideas, and their methods of operating and political approach to the strike have contrasted sharply with those of the JGS.
One difference between the two groups has been the question of the Permanent Committee itself. "There has been a lot of noise," François Vercammen told me, "about the political views of some of the miners in the Permanent Committee. The Maoist-Spontanéists have especially attacked the Permanent Committee. They say that itrepresents the foremen, etc., in the mine and not the real workers.
"It is true that the president of the committee is a foreman, but there is absolutely no question that the Permanent Committee is the genuine leadership of the rank-and-file workers. Second, they say that the Permanent Committee is run by the Volksunie [Flemish National Union!, a rightist Flemish nationalist party. For these reasons, they say, they don't support the Permanent Committee.
"It is true that after World War II the Volksunie represented those who had collaborated with the Nazis, and that it still has a fascist faction inside it. Since the war, however, it has become more and more the spokesman for some layers of the Flemish petty bourgeoisie. The backbone of the party is made up of doctors, lawyers, etc.
"But along with the new industrial- March 9, 1970
FRANCOIS VERCAMMEN
ization ot Flanders, a middle Flemish bourgeoisie is developing, with which the Volksunie is becoming identified. This one region in Limbourg is now the only place where the Volksunie has a base among the workers.
"Because of the backwardness of the area, the Social Democracy was late in developing, and the Communist party is extremely weak. Both the Social Democracy and the CP appear conservative and electoralist-oriented, and the only party that speaks a radical-sounding language to the workers is the Volksunie, which has won a base there.
"This of course doesn't make the Volksunie a workers party; but it is a fact we have to take into account. Our position is that while many of the striking workers support the Volksunie, and we are radically opposed to the Volksunie, nevertheless this must not stand in the way of supporting this strike which objectively favors the working class.
"In the same way, we support the Permanent Committee as the legitimate leadership of the strike, even though some of its members support the Volksunie. We feel we must be with the real movement itself, where we can best oppose the dangerous and rightist conceptions to be expected from the Volksunie. A legitimate strike committee is always representative of all tendencies existing among the strikers, and it is unavoidable that there should be a Volksunie tendency inside the committee.
"The Maoist-Spontanéists, on the other hand, have set up their own committee, called Force des Mineurs [Miners' Power], against the Permanent Committee. They first rejected the demand adopted by the workers themselves for the 15 percent wage increase, substituting their own demand for a considerably larger increase - trying to justify setting up this sectarian rival to the workers' own organization by upping the ante on the demand. Later they were forced to abandon this stand and accept the 15 percent demand.
"At the same time, they do not discuss general political problems, such as the union bureaucracy, the role of the government, etc., because of their 'serve the people' line, which they interpret in an economist way. They talk only about wages. So they are opportunist and sectarian at the same time."
The JGS first began its solidarity campaign in those areas where it had some strength. It worked to win student backing for the embattled miners on the university campuses and in the high schools.
"We believe that students around the world have shown themselves to be a social force with a new weight, and that they can intervene in struggles. This was our starting point. We organized meetings of solidarity at many universities and schools — in Antwerp,
Ghent, Brussels, Liège, Louvain, Hasselt, in the Borinage, etc. - giving the strike leaders the opportunity to speak to the students about the issues involved and to appeal for support. We helped bring out students. They joined the demonstrations and picket lines, distributed leaflets, and so on.
"There have been two demonstrations in support of the miners— one in Hasselt and the other in Genkwhich students helped to build. Actually, the students have been a key factor in spreading the strike and, according to the workers, in maintaining it in the Campine. The Maoists, with their superproletarian orientation, deny these facts- they hold that students can only 'serve the people' and are not an important force in their own right.
"One of the things we did first was to put out a pamphlet explaining the issues of the strike. This was a big success, and much appreciated by the workers, many of whom have for the first time begun to understand the structure of the industry, who controls the mines, etc.
"Our role in mobilizing student support for the strike helped us to win the confidence of the workers. While we still continue this activity, we were able at a certain point to work directly with the leadership of the strike. Of course, as we are a political organization, we are not inside the Permanent Committee, which is composed only of miners, but we support it.
"We have done a lot on the technical level, writing press releases, organizing cars for the demonstrations, organizing the demonstrations themselves. We have been putting out a leaflet to the workers every day, explaining the perspective for the day, raising such issues as the role of the government, the union bureaucracy, etc., in a concrete way. At least twice a week we have been putting out a leaflet directed to students all over the country. To do these things, we sent some of our leading cadres into the Campine to work directly with the miners.
"One of the concepts we have fought for is workers democracy. We helped in the organization of strike committees in each mine. This was another source of friction with the Maoist- Spontanéists, who are opposed to the spreading of the rank-and-file committees because they are opposed to workers democracy in general.
workers democracy in general.
"The situation is such that every day at each mine there is a general meeting of the workers, a strike committee meeting in fact, sometimes smaller, sometimes larger. The meetings discuss what has happened in the strike, and what to do next. Members of the JGS are usually among the speakers, and we try to also present ideas on workers control and democratization of the unions, etc."
The presence of the JGS has been key to the miners' taking certain actions. This includes the mass demonstrations of workers and students at Hasselt on January 17 and at Genk on January 24. These helped to dramatize the miners' case nationally, and to maintain the momentum of the strike.
Another action related to the endof-the-year bonuses. "The unions were afraid to oppose the workers on this," Vercammen said, "and sent a telegram to the government asking that the bonuses be paid. A government spokesman said he 'hadn't received' the message, and refused to pay. This was at eleven o'clock in the evening on January 22; an hour later barricades were built at Winterslag out of trees and old tires which were set on fire. There was a sharp clash between the miners and the gendarmes. JGS members supported the workers in this spontaneous action, then proposed that on the following day - on which the bonus payment was due* - the miners and their families stage a mass picket in Winterslag to demand payment from the mine bosses. This was done: for three hours the workers and their families occupied the mine. As a result, a few days later the government agreed to pay the bonus to all the strikers."
Rightist political forces have attempted to influence the strikers in antiunion direction. "We are an against the misleadership of the union bureaucracy," Vercammen said, "but not against the unions themselves. We have opposed either leaving the unions or setting up rival unions, which would only weaken the miners. Instead, we have put forward the idea of fighting within the unions against the bureaucracy, to form an opposition to transiorm the unions into democratic, fighting organizations of the miners. This perspective has been adopted, after long discussions, by the Permanent Committee."
(It is significant that while the Maoist-Spontanéists refuse to support the Permanent Strike Committee under the pretext that there are rightist tendencies in it, they carry on a straight antiunion propaganda-"Down with the unions" - along identical lines with the rightists.)
"Another means of countering the rightist Flemish nationalist forces," Vercammen added, "has been to push for class solidarity across the language lines in Belgium, and internationally. Thus we helped spread the strike to Wallonia, and establish connections between the Flemish and Walloon miners. We urged putting out press releases in support of the striking Spanish miners in Asturias. And we made an appeal to West German miners and railroad workers not to send coal to Belgium while the strike is going on. These things have helped create more class consciousness and internationalist consciousness, and have provided occasions for us to discuss these questions with the workers at the mines."
The role of the JGS in the strike is the subject of frequent comment in the daily press and on television. Out of this action, the JGS is growing throughout the country, especially among university and high-school students, including in the Limbourg region. This is another difference with the Maoist-Spontanéists, who, from their "spontanéist" side, are in principle against building revolutionarysocialist combat organizations. It is just such an organization that the JGS is working to construct.
American Tax Dollars at Work
"When bombing of North Vietnam was stopped in November, 1968, the American bombing campaign was switched almost intact into Laos," the Boston daily Christian Science Monitor said in its February 14-16 issue.
At present, the paper reported, "an estimated 90 percent of the Lao Government's air strikes are flown by Americans....
"There is little doubt here [Washington] that if Laos were to lose United States aid, the government would collapse almost immediately..."
Notes
* The bonuses for 1969 were scheduled to be paid to all miners February 15. Only strikebreakers were to get their money early, if they came back to work on January 23. - IP