BELGIAN LEFT-~WING SOCIALISTS MOVE AHEAD
BRUSSELS -- In the weeks following the decision of the December 12-13 congress banning participation in the leadership of the Walloon Popular Movement or in the publication of the weekly La Gauche and Links, the crisis in the Belgian Socialist party went through several abrupt turns.
Some 600 left-socialist militants, meeting in Liége December 27, decided to lay the basis of a new party, provisionally named the "Parti Socialiste de Travailleurs" [Socialist Workers party]. This decision was made in reply to the motion railroaded through the congress by the right wing, suppressing the right to form tendencies inside the Socialist party.
The Liége decision was met with a most favorable response in plants and factories throughout Belgium, a fact that was reflected in the play given to the development in the daily press.
Startled and rather frightened. by this response, the rightwing leadership of the Socialist party suddenly shifted tactics, They drew back from implementing the decisions of the December 12-13 congress and granted some minor concessions to the left wing. oo
Glinne and Hurez, two left-wing members of parliament, as well as a few figures connected with the Flemish weekly Links, buckled under the combination of pressure and blandishments and signed a declaration submitted to them by the right-wing leadership, The declaration, while formally recognizing the right of tendencies in the Socialist party, restricted the right so severely as to make the concession virtually meaningless.
Two other leaders of the left wing, Yerna, secretary of the Liége trade unions, and Mandel, editor of the weekly La Gauche, stood firm. Yerna demonstratively resigned from the Socialist party; while Mandel rejected the demand that he add his signature to the declaration. Massart, a left-wing member of parliament, joined in this firm position against the right-wing witch-hunters,.
For a few days the public display of differences among lead~ ers of the left wing inevitably caused some confusion. However, the situation was rapidly corrected when the leading bodies of both La Gauche and Links publicly reaffirmed their stands, stating that they would continue to refuse to sign any declaration whatsoever limiting the right to defend the platforms on which they stood, The decision of La Gauche was taken unanimously; Links by a two-thirds majority.
A new turn then occurred. Glinne indicated that he was reconsidering the meaning of the declaration he had signed. This brought him under fresh heavy fire from the Socialist party leadership.
Without paying much attention to these inevitable waverings in the face of a basic decision of the greatest importance to the political future of the Belgian working class, the key left-wing leaders moved rapidly ahead to launch the new party. On January 18, in an even larger meeting than the previous one, the Liége local adopted a draft program and proposed statutes.
In the Charleroi region an enthusiastic meeting of some 400 workers called for implementation of the Liége December 27 resolution. ;
In Brussels, 200 activists, meeting on invitation, laid plans for a membership drive in anticipation of a founding conference projected for February 7.
An indication of the possibilities in Brussels as well as in the rest of Belgium was provided by the impressive success of a rally called to protest against the Belgian paratroop landings in the Congo at the end of November,
The meeting was sponsored by the Brussels Teachers union and the Gas and Electric Workers union on January 15. The main speaker was Pierre Le Grave, chairman of the Teachers union and one of the main initiators of the Parti Socialist de Travailleurs in Brussels. Despite the chauvinistic atmosphere which the Spaak government has sought to whip up in the predominantly petty-bourgeois Belgian capital, despite the strong opposition of all the political parties (only the Communist party gave lukewarm support to the rally), and despite a complete conspiracy of silence about the meeting in the daily press, more than 1,000 people jammed into the halls
The place was so crowded that not even standing room was left and many could not get inside,
A grouping of profascist students announced a "counter demonstration" in which they planned to hail the colonialist aggression in the Congo.. This turned out to be a complete fiasco. The:"counter demonstrators" could not get a single one of their adherents inside the packed hall. They gave up in disgust and went home while the demonstrators against the imperialist role of the Belgian government registered their anger against the intervention in the Congo and their solidarity with the Congolese people,