LEFT SOCIALISTS IN
BELGIUM HOLD SECOND CONGRESS
Brussels
The second congress of the Belgian Socialist Workers Confederation, which is composed of the Walloon Workers party, the Flemish Socialist Movement and the Union of Left Socialists of Brussels, was held here December 11. It was attended by 130 delegates from the three organizations.
_In conformity with the federated structure of the SWC, the congress was. preceded by congresses of the three organizations during October and November. The. political decisions under consideration -at. the congress emerged from these gatherings. As a. result they were adopted unanimously, with only one or two delegates abstaining in some instances.
The presidium consisted of Pierre Le Grave, the Brussels left socialist. member of parliament, Jean Dessart, a railway workers leader of the La Louviére region and municipal councilman in the small township of Familleureux, and Willy Caluwaerts, a former Communist party provincial councilman of Antwerp, who has joined the new left socialist party.
The agenda included four points: the adoption of statutes for the SWC; a report on political developments .in Belgium centering around the offensive of the employers and the bourgeoisie and the development of a strategy to meet that offensive; an international report by Ernest Mandel, the editor of the weekly La Gauche; and a report on the economic and social problems facing the party in the coming months which was given by a woman comrade from Liége, Mathé Lambert.
Fraternal delegates from left socialist parties in France, Holland and Italy were present and took the floor. A delegation from the West German Socialist Students (SDS). were prevented at the last moment from attending and sent the congress a telegram of . greetings.
The congress elected a national leadership of 21 members, the majority of them workers.
The Flemish wing of the CSW has made considerable progress since its founding congress a year ago, nearly half the speakers at the congress being Flemish. In Novenber, at the first national conference held by the Flemish wing, 80 delegates were present, representing nearly all the main industries of the Flemish part of the country.
- The congress noted the importance of the growing collaboration between the three wings of the movement in the field of action. The first big achievement in the class struggle came in January -1966 when the militants of the Walloon Workers party in Liége organized the only strike that took place in the whole country in solidarity with the | striking Flemish mine workers of Zwartberg.
The speeches of many delegates clearly reflected the rising temper of the working class, especially in the Walloon area. The threat of a deep crisis, of massive layoffs and even shutdowns in the steel industry -- the key industry in Walloon -- is arousing the most militant sectors of the Belgian proletariat.
The response to the threat could be a new wave of working-class struggle of even bigger scope than the upsurge in 1960-61 provided the workers are presented with clear anticapitalist objectives and are given leadership able to progressively coordinate and broaden their spontaneous action.
The SWC is seeking to concentrate its efforts on these goals although it is, of course, well aware that it influences only a relatively small vanguard of the working class. It is significant, however, that the agitation begun by the SWC and the weekly La Gauche around the looming steel crisis, has already compelled the trade-union leadership to take steps in the direction of a broader struggle.
A joint call by the Social Democratic and Catholic trade unions for a demonstration against the economic decline in their region, brought out 35,000 workers in the streets of Charleroi on December 12. Under pressure of the SWC militants, the tradeunion leaders also organized a strike at the country's largest plant, the Cockerill- Ougrée works in Liége, as a demonstration of solidarity with the Charleroi workers.
Even more significant is the fact that in contrast to what happened during the general strike in 1950 and again in 1960-61, the trade-union and Social Democratic bureaucracy has lost the initiative and from the very beginning of the agitation has had to face massive opposition from the left.
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During the Charleroi demonstration, the workers from many factories refused to line up behind the ultrareformist, class-collaborationist slogans of the official tradeunion leadership. They made up their own banners and placards, hanging on to them despite heavy pressure and even physical violence from the bureaucrats and their goons.
The hundreds of workers of the Glaverbel glass plant in Charleroi came to the demonstration with the revolutionary-socialist slogans of. the CSW. This was reported by the press and carried on television. ;
Left militants from the largest Charleroi electrical equipment.plant, ACEC, heckled the top Charleroi union bureaucrat throughout the mass meeting that concluded the demonstration; and a big section of the crowd of workers ‘booed the speaker, particularly after attempts were made to silence the criticisnm,.
The general atmosphere in the country is, of course, not as favorable as in 1960- 1961, due in particular to the big shift to the right among the official Social Democratic and trade-union leadership and the many divisions in the left wing.
But the emergence of a left-wing alternative leadership, offering a comprehensive program of transitional demands to the workers, is unquestionably serving as a brake on betrayals by the leadership and as an inspiring factor in the rising class consciousness of the vanguard. . .
This is the conclusion to be drawn from the second congress of the SWC as well
as from the heartening indication of a new wave of mass struggle which the country saw the day after the congress.
HOW MUCH AID IS BEING SENT TO THE