Partij van de Arbeid (Belgium)

Partij van de Arbeid van België Parti du Travail de Belgique Party of Labor of Belgium
Party leader	Peter Mertens
Secretary General	Boudewijn deckes
founding	1971 ( 1979 under today's name)
Place of foundation	Leuven
Headquarters	Maurice Lemonnierlaan 171 1000 Brussels
Youth organization	Pioneers (children and youth organization up to the age of 16) RedFox (youth organization) COMAC (student organization)
newspaper	Solidair (Dutch), Solidaire (French)
Alignment	Anti-capitalism communism marxism
Colours)	red
Belgian Chamber of Deputies	12/150
Belgian Senate	5/60
Walloon Parliament	10/75
Brussels Parliament	11/89
Flemish Parliament	4/124
Number of members	8,000
International connections	International meeting of communist and workers' parties
MEPs	1/21
EP Group	GUE / NGL
Website	www.pvda.be (ndl.) www.ptb.be (French)

The Partij van de Arbeid van België (PVDA), French Parti du Travail de Belgique (PTB), is a Marxist party in Belgium that advocates a socialist society in its country. Its chairman has been Peter Mertens since 2008 . The PVDA / PTB is one of the few parties in Belgium that is both Flemish and Francophone . The party hosts the International Communist Seminar , which unites communist parties from around the world.

history

Origin (1960s)

The party has its origins in the Belgian student movement ( Studentenvakbond - SVB), a progressive movement within the Catholic Flemish nationalist Katholiek Vlaams Hoogstudentenverbond at the Catholic University of Leuven . This student union criticized the then very conservative and narrow-minded view of the KHV. After a scandal over the association's magazine Ons Leven , in which Catholic clergy were accused of pedophilia, the university expelled the editor-in-chief and official of the SVB, Ludo Martens , from the university. The SVB then separated from the KHV.

Participation in an international congress of the German SDS in Berlin in the summer of 1967 brought Martens and some of his colleagues from the SVB in contact with supporters of the ideas of Karl Marx , Vladimir Lenin and Mao Zedong . After that, interest in scientific socialism and the orientation of the students on the world of the workers developed in the SVB . In the summer of 1968, under the influence of Martens, the SVB began studying the works of Lenin. Mertens continued his studies at the University of Ghent , organized the resistance of the students here as well and read Marxist classics with them. a. The capital .

All Power Aan De Arbeiders (1970s)

In January 1970 the core of the SVB went to the strike of the miners in the province of Limburg and became active there under the name Mijnwerkersmacht (miners' power). Almost at the same time, the strike at Ford in Genk resulted in a similar merger under the name of Arbeidersmacht . These two strikes were the first “wildcat strikes” in a series that paralyzed companies, large and small, in the first half of the 1970s, often without and repeatedly against the unions, which refused to recognize these strikes. These corporations spread and the various groups of the Third World movement received national coordination. These and other attempts to build bridges between the student and labor movements were “consolidated” in 1971 under the name AMADA ( Alle Macht Aan De Arbeiders ) against the background of building revolutionary workers' committees. This "movement" quickly saw itself as a communist party in the making , in which the student unions of Leuven and Ghent, the Third World movement, the local Limburg core of the miners 'power and other groups of workers ' power from other parts of Flanders were represented. A short time later, the newspaper Alle Macht Aan de Arbeiders appeared . Student leaders Ludo Martens and Kris Merckx led the new party. According to the views of the party leadership at the time, the students went to the factories to work.

At the same time, the first group practices of the Geneeskunde voor het Volk (GvhV - Medicine for the People) came into being in 1971 on the initiative of Kris Merckx and Michel Leyers, which led to resentment at the medical professional organization Orde van Geneesheren . Against their (also legal) resistance and by political opponents (such as the KPB ), the medical practices were often devalued as “proselytizing work”, especially in working-class neighborhoods (including Zelzate , Hoboken and Genk ). The card of Maoism (the Chinese socialism of Mao Zedong ) was played out more and more (publicly) and the viewpoints and analyzes of the CPC were shared . In addition, the works of Josef Stalin were promoted more and more during this time and used as instructions for practice.

A hierarchical party organization based on the Leninist model emerged and AMADA saw itself as the vanguard of the working class. The historian Rudi Van Doorslaer compares AMADA's political line at this time with that of the Comintern in the period 1929–1934. Since the party leadership and the active members of those years were still very inexperienced and too impulsive, AMADA found it difficult to get in touch with the social democratic Algemeen Belgisch Vakverbond (ABVV - General Belgian Trade Union Confederation) and the Christian trade union ACV. This repeatedly led to anti-union standpoints: The union leadership was often accused of being in line with the management and works councils were called “employers' watchdogs”. This in turn led to incompatibility decisions with AMADA activists.

In 1974 party groups were founded in Liège and Charleroi under the name Tout le Pouvoir aux Ouvriers (TPO) (in German: All power to the workers). From 1975 dogmatism in the party slowly decreased and the attitude towards the unions became less hostile. Their attitude towards the competing left parties such as the CP of Belgium in the Trotskyist Revolutionary Workers' League (RAL) continued to be negative. The former they accused of being a revisionist party and of betraying Marxist-Leninist principles, the latter they called a movement of traitors in the service of imperialism .

The end of the Vietnam War in 1975 and Mao's death in 1976 as well as the policy of economic reforms in China under Deng Xiaoping led to a repositioning of the party and a new party name.

PVDA (1979-2000)

In 1979 the name Partij van de Arbeid van België (PVDA) was adopted at a party congress. During this period, the party's main concern was still not participating in parliamentary democracy, which was seen as bourgeois. Their goal was the proletarian revolution , elections were subordinate to this. This attitude was slowly softened during the 1990s. Martens stayed mainly in the DR Congo from 1997 and the party leadership was taken care of by Secretary General Nadine Rosa-Rosso .

A new course (since 2000)

In the municipal, district and provincial council elections in 2000, two seats were won in Zelzate ( East Flanders ) and two in Herstal ( Liège ). In Hoboken , where the party had once received its first council mandate, it was given a seat on the district council. For the parliamentary elections of 2003, the PVDA submitted a joint list under the name Resist with the Arab Europese League (AEL), an advocacy group for Belgian Muslims , Dyab Abou Jahjah and some independents. RESIST urged u. a. the establishment of several Islamic denominational schools , which the Belgian state should finance.

The voters had little to do with this combination of left- wing radicals and Islamists: Resist only got 17,604 votes, while the PVDA received 24,150 votes in the 1999 national elections alone. The PVDA achieved a comparable tendency in the election to the parliament in the same year. As a result of this election debacle, General Secretary Rosa-Rosso received much criticism from within the party and was dismissed. The cooperation with the AEL was terminated. The AEL founded the Muslim Democratic Party . Boudewijn Deckers succeeded Rosa-Rosso as General Secretary. In the EP elections held at the same time in 2004 and those for the Flemish regional parliament, the PVDA again received an average of one percent of the votes.

In the local elections of 2006, the PVDA in Zelzate jumped to 21.67% (+ 8.9%). The party received 6 of the 23 council seats. The PVDA also won in the city of Antwerp . The party won an additional seat in the Hoboken District Council (8.27% of the vote). This enabled the party to join a broad coalition and thus keep the government of Vlaams Belang out of the magistrate. In the city district, too, the PVDA did well with 4.43% and one seat. In Genk, too, the party returned to the council after a few legislative terms. In total, the PVDA achieved 16 seats nationwide, tripling the result of 2000. In the parliamentary elections of 2007, the party in Flanders received 0.9% for the Chamber and 0.8% for the Senate.

In March 2008, Peter Mertens was elected chairman at the 8th party congress. Almost at the same time, this began with the “widening” of the party in order to address a wider public. As the new chairman, Mertens publicly stated that the PVDA had to more or less omit the “instructive finger” and the “great theories”, announced that he intended to realign the party and distanced himself from Maoism and Stalinism . In this regard, the SP in the Netherlands was considered as a possible model, but above all the social democratization of this party was viewed very critically. In its party congress documents, the PVDA describes itself as the “communist party of this time” and emphasizes: “This party is part of the international communist movement”.

In 2009, the Antwerp party group of the CP called for the election of Peter Mertens in order not to split up the “left progressive voices”. For both parties, this point of view was a break with the past, in which one had a rather tense relationship with one another. That year the party won 1% of the vote in both the Flemish regional elections and the EP elections (in the Dutch-speaking constituency). The PVDA managed to increase the total number by 40 percent compared to the regional elections of 2004. Wallonia also had some outstanding results: Herstal (7.8%), Seraing (4.2%), Liège (2.6%) and La Louvière (3.9%).

In the parliamentary elections of 2010, the PVDA also posted a slight increase of 0.4% (1.3%) for the Chamber and 0.5% (1.4%) for the Senate. The party grew, especially in the big cities. a. in the cantons of Antwerp (4.1%) and Liège (4.2%).

In the municipal, district and provincial elections on October 14, 2012, the PVDA ran in 42 municipalities and city districts. Compared to the local elections of 2006, this was 15 additional lists. In addition, the PVDA competed in all Belgian provinces. Mertens expressed the hope to be able to defend all seats and break through in three big cities: Antwerp, Liège , and Molenbeek . The PVDA succeeded: In Antwerp the list got PVDA + 4 seats, in Liège 2 seats and in the Brussels municipality Molenbeek 1 seat. Other municipalities also won and the PVDA rose from 15 elected representatives in 2006 to 52 elected in 2012 (31 Councilors, 4 provincial councils, and 17 municipal councilors).

The following parts of this article appear since 2014 is out of date to be : Recent Developments, etc. mandates missing
Please help with to the missing information research and insert .

structure

Chairperson

The current chairman is Peter Mertens and the general secretary is Boudewijn Deckers .

Chairman Commencement resignation Ludo Martens 1971 2008 Peter Mertens 2008 today

Secretary General Commencement resignation Nadine Rosa-Rosso 1971 2003 Boudewijn Deckers 2003 today

Party building

The national congress of the PVDA takes place at least every five years. On the Congres is Nationale Raad selected, the head of the party between party days. The National Council meets at least four times a year. For its part, the Nationale Raad elects the Partijbureau that leads the party between meetings of the Nationale Raad . The Partijbureau meets at least twice a month, its meetings are prepared by the Dagelijks Bestuur (management / secretariat).

The party bureau is headed by the party chairman Mertens. Next Members of Partijbureaus are Lydie NEUFCOURT, Raoul Hedebouw, Jef Bruynseels, Boudewijn Deckers, Jo Cottenier, Tom De Meester and David Pestieau represented. Raoul Hedebouw is the party's press spokesman.

According to its own information, the PVDA has 7,000 members and is active in 120 companies and administrations. Furthermore, it has activist cores ( militants ) in 30 cities and communities .

For children up to 14 there is the pioneers and for young people up to 30 years there is the juggling movement Comac .

Party media

The PVDA publishes the weekly newspaper Solidair and Solidaire (48 issues a year) in Dutch and French , Ruben Ramboer is the editor-in-chief.

The bimonthly published Marxist Studies (French: Etudes Marxistes ) serve as the theoretical organ .

All of the PVDA's print media are published by EPO ( Education prolétariennes / Proletäre opvoeding ). The publishing house was founded in 1975 and is based in Berchem (Antwerp). EPO has also published around 35 books in Dutch and French in the fields of politics, history and sociology.

Political mandates

The following parts of this article appear since 2019 is out of date to be : new mandates, particularly the European Parliament
Please help with to the missing information research and insert .

European, national and regional level

The PVDA and its predecessor AMADA were never represented in the European Parliament or in the Senate or in the Flemish Parliament, and until 2014 not even in the Chamber of Deputies, the Walloon Parliament or the Parliament of the Brussels Capital Region. At the “ManiFiesta” on September 21, 2013 , party chairman Peter Mertens announced an election target of four MPs for the 2014 parliamentary elections , two in the national parliament and one each in the Flemish and Walloon parliament. Since the parliamentary elections on May 25, 2014 , the PVDA has been represented in the Chamber of Deputies with two seats: Raoul Hedebouw was elected in the Province of Liège, Marco Van Hees from the Province of Hainaut. In the Flemish parliament, party chairman Peter Mertens and his party just missed the five percent hurdle with 4.5%. At the regional level, the PVDA has four representatives in the Parliament of the Brussels Capital Region and two in the Walloon Parliament.

Mandate holder :

• National Parliament
  • Raoul Hedebouw (constituency of Liège, 16,586 votes)
  • Marco Van Hees (constituency of Hainaut, 5,488 votes)
• Walloon Parliament
  • Frédéric Gillot (constituency of Liège, 12,884 votes)
  • Ruddy Warnier (constituency Huy-Waremme, 1,413 votes)
• Parliament of the Brussels Capital Region
  • Michaël Verbauwhede (2,928 votes)
  • Youssef Handichi (1,782 votes)
  • Mathilde El Bakri (1,549 votes)
  • Claire Geraets (1,406 votes)

Provincial level

Flemish Provinces (PVDA +)
province	Proc.	be right	Seats
Antwerp	3.38%	37,380
Limburg	2.15%	11,650
East Flanders	1.73%	16,757
Vlaams-Brabant	1.22%	8,370
West Flanders	1.30%	10,288

Walloon Provinces (PTB +)
province	Proc.	be right	Seats
Hainaut	2.52%	17,873
Liège	4.71%	27,970
Luxembourg	0.60%	984
Namur	2.10%	6,077
Brabant Wallon	0.89%	2,028

Municipal level

Flemish municipalities
advice	Seats
PVDA MPs in the local councils
PVDA MPs in the city district councils

Municipalities or districts with PVDA delegates:

• City of Antwerp : 3 seats
  • Antwerp district : 3 seats
  • Berchem district : 1 seat
  • Borgerhout district : 4 seats
  • Deurne district : 3 seats
  • Hoboken District : 4 seats
  • Merksem district : 1 seat
  • Wilrijk district : 1 seat
• Mons : 1 seat
• Charleroi : 1 seat
• Flémalle : 1 seat
• Genk : 3 seats
• Herstal : 4 seats
• La Louvière : 1 seat
• Lommel : 1 seat (AKTIEF)
• Liège : 2 seats
• Schaerbeek (Brussels region): 1 seat
• Seraing : 5 seats
• Molenbeek-Saint-Jean (Brussels region): 1 seat
• Zelzate : 6 seats

program

According to its program decided on at the 8th party congress (2008), the renewed PVDA wants to be “both principled and flexible in the coming period.” Its “Marxist analysis” and “commitment to socialism determine the identity” of the party. At the same time, the PVDA needs "flexibility and openness in order to get connected to the reality of the people, to awaken people's awareness, to mobilize and organize them ... and to transform the party into the party of working people."

The PVDA expressly wants to be “not a classical or traditional party”. Rather, it builds on "a new type of party concept ". Characteristic for this are "our goal, our analysis, our tasks and our working principles".

The aim of the PVDA is to "collect everyone who has a socialist society around a goal ... We organize ourselves to achieve this goal."

One of its tasks is the PVDA, "to implement the longing of the working population effectively in struggle, organization and awareness, to collect the best experiences and to generalize them."

The most important demands from the current election manifesto are:

• Dismissal freeze in profitable companies
• Lowering the VAT from 21% to 6% for energy prices
• Introduction of the millionaire levy
• Establishing a public bank
• Medicines 50% to 90% cheaper thanks to public tendering (kiwi model)
• Additional jobs in care, education and public service
• Better relationship between the language communities (Flanders and Wallonia) in Belgium
• Affordable housing
• Right to early retirement and work for young people
• Maximum prices for food

ManiFiesta

The PVDA, their weekly newspaper Solidair / Solidaire and their affiliated health organization Gezondheid voor het Volk have been organizing the “Manifiesta”, a festival of solidarity between the language communities and the left in the country, at the end of September every year since 2010. The first “ManiFiesta”, which took place on September 25, 2010 and the others in Bredene on the North Sea, drew 6,000 visitors from all parts of Belgium, 7,500 for the second festival and 8,000 for the third, significantly larger festival. Around 10,000 visitors came to the fourth ManiFiesta around September 21, 2013, while the fifth ManiFiesta on September 19 and 20, 2014 attracted 11,000 visitors.

Known members

Mie Branders Boudewijn Deckers Jonas Geirnaert Raoul Hedebouw

Staf Hendrickx Ludo Martens Kris Merckx Peter Mertens

Colette Moulaert Zohra Othman David Pestieau Dirk Tuypens

Dirk Van Duppen Tine Van Rompuy

Web links

• Dutch-language website of the Party of Labor of Belgium
• French-language website of the Party of Labor of Belgium

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from January 7, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ^ Interview with Peter Mertens (PVDA) in Knack. PVDA website, February 11, 2009
3. ↑ Jan Buelinckx: Radicaal-links in Belgium en de val van de muur .
4. ↑ (M.) Leyers, (K.) Merckx: De dokter als kameraad . Antwerp 1972.
5. ^ (R.) Van Doorslaer: Oorsprong en consolidatie van AMADA . In: Amsab-tijdingen , 2de jg., 1983-1984, p. 66.
6. ↑ Kris Merckx on seeding PVDA and AEL in Resist . In: Gazet van Antwerpen , April 14, 2003
7. ↑ Klein-links en AEL vinden elkaar met lijst Resist . In: De Standaard , February 8, 2003
8. ↑ PVDA and AEL divorce . In: De Standaard , July 3, 2003
9. ↑ Uiterst links en de Verkiezingen: Zoveelste uitgestelde doorbraak of politiek faillissement?  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Vonk; June 16, 2003  
10. ↑ De Morgen: 'PVDA doesn't last longer than extreme left party'. ( Memento of the original from November 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. PVDA, February 22, 2008 
11. ↑ Congresteksten van het 8e congres van de PVDA ( Memento of the original from September 19, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 846 kB) 
12. ↑ Opinie: Communistische eenheid . ( Memento of the original from July 28, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Website PVDA; May 4, 2009 
13. ↑ gemeente-, districts- en provincieraadsverkiezingen
14. ↑ De drie prioriteiten van de PVDF +: Antwerp: Vergeet Patrick & beard! Stem Peter . ( Memento of the original from July 28, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. PVDA, September 5, 2012 
15. ↑ De drie prioriteiten van de PVDF + (2) :: Luik: "Sorry Willy, deze keer ik stem left". ( Memento of the original from July 28, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. PVDA, September 5, 2012 
16. ↑ De drie prioriteiten van de PVDA + (3) :: Molenbeek: “Onze prioriteiten eerst!” ( Memento of the original from July 28, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. PVDA, September 5, 2012 
17. ↑ Ruben Ramboer nieuwe hoofdredacteur Solidair . PVDA, September 4, 2012
18. ↑ PVDA mikt op vier verkozenen in 2014. In: Knack.be , September 22, 2013 (Dutch).
19. ↑ Vlaamse Regering places aantal mandates local Verkiezingen vast . Vlaanderenkiest 2012, March 16, 2012
20. ↑ 8e congres van de PVDA: Een beginselvaste partij, een soepele partij, een partij van de werkende mensen ( Memento of the original dated August 30, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
21. ↑ Programma PVDA ( Memento of the original from December 9th, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. PVDA website 
22. ^ Elections 2010: The program in 35 points. ( Memento of the original from July 22, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 428 kB) PVDA 
23. ↑ manifiesta.be
24. ↑ Met 8,000 op ManiFiesta 2012 DeWereldMorgen.be, 23 September 2012
25. ↑ Tienduizend aanwezigen op 'feest van de solidariteit' Manifiesta DeWereldMorgen.be, 22 September 2013
26. ↑ manifiesta.be ( Memento of the original from October 25, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.