Since the beginning of
this year Belgium has witnessed a wave of wildcat strikes reminiscent of the
1970s. The movement has spread spontaneously from one sector to another.
Significantly it has rekindled class unity across the language divide at the
same time as the bourgeois attempt to divide the working class along national
lines.
The recent internal
leadership elections in the Flemish Socialist Party revealed a very militant
mood in the ranks of the party. The two left candidates Erik De Bruyn and Elke
Heirman received an amazing 33.6% of the votes, preparing the ground for the
re-emergence of s strong left wing in the party.
The Belgian Socialist
Party has been dominated by a right-wing bureaucracy for some time now, but
something has been brewing in the ranks lately. This has now suddenly erupted
and come to the surface with the Antwerp branch nominating Erik De Bruyn, a
known Marxist and promoter of the left of the Party, “SP.a Rood”. An apparently
small incident has provoked an earthquake within the party.