PARTY FOUNDED IN BELGIUM
BRUSSELS, Feb. 25 -- After founding the Brussels section of the new Belgian Socialist Workers party on February 7, the Walloon section of the party was officially launched as the "Walloon Workers party" at a convention in Charleroi on February 21.
More than 300 delegates from the federations of Liége, Charleroil, Namur, La Louviére, Verviers and Huy-Waremine attended. Observers from Brussels were also present.
The independent Socialist member of parliament from Namur, Fernand Massart served as chairman. Among those present were Jacques Yerna, regional seuvretary of the trade-union federation of Lidge and Ernest Mandel, editor of the weekly La Gauche.
‘The main reports were given by Frangois Perin and Robert Nicolas. Perin, a professor at Liége University, discussed problems of domestic and international policies. He argued for a federal structure in Belgium and for the country quitting NATO.. While his report could be characterized as rather moderate, the report by Robert Nicolas, a Charleroi trade unionist, clearly adhered to the line of revolutionary socialism. He took up questions of social and economic policy.
The resolution, embodying the main ideas of both reports was adopted unanimously.
During the discussion, some twenty speakers took part, most of them factory shop stewards. The convention clearly showed the militant working-class basis of. the party which, after.a few weeks existence, already has solid groups ranging from twenty to two hundred member s in most of the important factories in the south. of Beieiuine
‘The convention was given extensive coverage by the press; radio and television. More than a half dozen daily papers gave considerable space to the convention, averaging two full columns.
The young party has swung into action with a campaign. against the forced closure of coal-mining pits in several regions and the unemployment threatening miners as a result.
A recruiting drive has been started in Liége, Brussels and Charleroi, Up to 175,000 leaflets have already been distributed in connection with this drive, A mass meeting is scheduled to be held in the largest auditorium in Brussels at the end of March,
Election tactics loom large among. the immediate problems now being discussed in the party. General elections are due May 23, barely three months after the party's foundation.
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