Belgian workers celebrate of young people who by thousands were mobilized for the first time.
feminist, ecologist and
The new were in evidence pacifist currents
May Day for a month!
and all to the good! But they were by the powerful force caught up generated by such a demonstration of proletarian strength.
demonstration was utterly
The unified. It followed a two-week strike in the public sector, conducted in a disorganized
With fashion.
a sure
ON MAY 31 in Brussels a massive demonstration of 150,000 people instinct, the working class seized upon was the most recent in a series of strikes and mobilizations against the the call of its biggest mass organization, the trade-union federation
FGTB, to austerity measures proposed by the government. Three general strikes show its willingness to act "all togethhave been held since the beginning of May despite reluctance on the er," and it unified both public and part of some of the national union leaderships to really lead the private sectors on a broad interprofessional base. It avoided anything that resistance or to build united national action between the Socialist would have set Catholic against anticleric, Fleming against Walloon.
The demonstration was more militant than had been anticipated.
The
Socialist slogans for which the two
Workers Party (Belgian section of the
Fourth International) and other far- left tendencies had fought for two weeks - "Down with the Martens-Gol
Government" and "General Strike" -
Many contingents carried prevailed.
anticapitalist slogans. This demonstraconfirmed several tion that capitalist
European countries we are the old apparatus retain a seeing influence the predominant over working class, while at the same time is* their direct on the grip masses significantly weakening.
immense, combative,
To this fervent, intelligent throng, demanding the continuation of the struggle, the current leaders gave no battle cries, offered no perspectives.
Their freedom of action is severely limited by desire to enter the government their themselves in order to try their hands at managing the crisis.
•
Ernest Mandel
International Viewpoint 16 June 1986 and Christian trade unions. HILARY ELEANOR
The Belgian government, led by Prime Minister Wilfred Martens. is proposing an austerity plan aimed at saving 200,000 million Belgian francs (4,444 million US dollars) which would result in thousands of job losses. The working-class response to these proposals has been remarkable, not least because mobilizations against the austerity plan began before any official announcements had been made. Workers began to fight back when newspapers started to leak the outlines of the proposals.
At the beginning of April, 18,000 miners in Limbourg, Flanders, began to take action against the threat to 3,000 jobs. On April 21 they began all-out strike action to secure an agreement for no pit closures or job losses (see the report in International Viewpoint, No. 98, May 5, 1986). Public-sector workers also moved into action quickly when they realized that the austerity proposals would seriously threaten their jobs. •May 1: The Socialist federation of public sector unions • (CGSP) showered demonstrations with leaflets calling for a strike. This was only one of many actions nationally which prepared the 24-hour general strike on May 6.
• May 6: The strike was successful, with no trains, trams or buses running. Post, telecommunications, radio and television were also paralysed. The most important event was the esta-
blishment of a common front between the CGSP and the two Christian union organizations — the media and communication union (SCCC) which includes railway workers, and the federation of public sector unions (CCSP) which includes government employees. A real determination to fight
But united action had yet to be realized in the state education sector. Here, the CGSP left it up to the regions to decide whether or not to strike, with the result that only the teachers in the Antwerp region joined the May 6 strike. Other regions held information meetings and demonstrations, neither of which were followed was a real determination to fight. Railworkers at Charleroi organized a cross-sectoral meeting of the Socialist-led Belgian general workers federation (FGTB) which declared: "we won't wait for the end of the month to act". A national demonstration against the austerity measures was planned for May 31. Under pressure, the FGTB leadership decided to call a 48-hour strike in the week preceding May 31. • May 7: A demonstration of teachers in the private sector rallied 15,000 people in Brussels. This was a major blow to the polities of austerity, given that tradithis sector supports the
Socialist unions. That said, the austerity plan is very severe, and proposes abolishing 28,000 jobs. will affect mainly education, the civil service and social security and tions in pension, health and unemployment benefits. In the area of social security, more people will be expected the patients' which is extended to include treatsuch as X-rays and dental care that have been reimbursed in the past. Women in particular will be hit by the proposal to severely reduce - in some cases benefits for unemployed people who are cohabiting. The attacks on benefits sector, but these are less evident.
Following the publication of the plan, the Christian unions, as foreseen by Martens, backed down. On the railways, the SCCC withdrew their strike call and announced that it would no longer pay strike benefits. Consequently dynamic of of the railworkers - who constituted the most advanced section of the mass movement - dried up. Only the railworkers in the Henault where the Socialists lead the union, continued to strike. • May 31: The national demonstration in Brussels had been planned for two months by the FGTB and the Socialist parties. Even though the national leaderships left it up to regions and over 150,000 people turned out to show their opposition to the austerity plans.
national union official was reported as saying on May 31 that the demonstration would mark the end of the month of strikes and mobilizations as far as the Socialist unions are concerned. But the fightback has led to a radicalization in parties in Flanders and Wollonia, and in the FTB, and local strikes and stoppages will continue. On June 2, the Socialist FTB made a call for further national protests.
There are two major problems facing the mass movement against the austerity drive. One is the reluctance of the Christian unions to participate in united action, although they are now also demanding negotiations with the government on the problem has been the difficulties in mobilizing workers in the sector. So far there have been very few strikes in the private sector -at Cockerill Sambre, ACEC
The Belgian section of the Fourth Party (POS/SAP) predicts that unless there is a cross-sectoral call for action, the private sector won't be mobilized.
Even so, the dynamic of the mass movement in Belgium against the union leaderships or the Socialist parties to just turn off the tap when it context of a European situation where there are few major fightbacks against the austerity drive of the ruling classes, the development of the struggle in Belgium will be an important one to tionally government. Better still, the The Limbourg miners at the forefront of the fight against redundancies (DR) demonstration was supported by the
• May 12: After the bank holiday weekend, a 24-hour strike was called
16. This time, the CGSP teachers built for the strike across whole movement. Even though the Christian CCSP were still reluctant to build united actions, the strike was more successful than on May 6. • May 23: The 48-hour strike was sustained on May 23 and 24. In Wallonia (the French speaking part of Belgium) there was a total strike the public sector, but support in the private sector was weak. In Flanders (Flemish-speaking Belgium) a minority strike but militant. Massive pickets were held to stop members of the Christian unions from working, resulting in the police intervening in a number of cases. • May 24: The government finally made its austerity plans public. They have been careful not to adopt any measures likely to rub the Christian unions up the wrong way and push them towards united action with the st
BEERS
LOVE
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International Viewpoint 16 June 1986
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