LESSONS OF THE BELGIAN STRIKE

Of course, a ministerial promise (like any other promise "from above") is something that can by no means be taken seriously. One could not even speak of a partial victory, if the general political situation did not bear witness to a certain breach made by the general strike in the old, die-hard, unyielding and stubborn clerical (i.e., reactionary and obscurantist) "order".

The achievement of the strike is not so much this fragment of a victory over the government as the success of the organisation, discipline, fighting spirit and enthusiasm for the struggle displayed by the mass of the Belgian working class. The working class of Belgium has proved that it is capable of steadfast struggle at the call of its Socialist Party. "We shall repeat the strike once again, if necessary!" This was said by a workers' leader during the strike and is an expression of the fact that the masses are aware of holding their weapons firmly in their hands, and of being ready to make use of them once again. The strike proved to the Belgian capitalists that it inflicts vast losses on them, and that concessions are essential, if Belgian capital is not to fall hopelessly behind German capital, etc.

In Belgium, stable constitutional practices have long since been established, and political liberty is an old achievement of the people. Given political liberty, the workers have a broad and open road before them.

Why, in that case, has the strike had such little success? There are two main reasons.

The first is the domination of opportunism and reformism in a section of the Belgian Socialists, especially those in parliament. Being accustomed to move in alliance with the Liberals, these members of parliament feel, themselves dependent on the Liberals in all their activity. As a result, there was hesitation in calling the strike, and hesitation could not but limit the success, strength and scope of the whole proletarian struggle.

The first lesson of the Belgian strike is: look less to the Liberals, trust them less, and have more confidence in the independent and whole-hearted struggle of the proletariat.

The second cause of its partial failure is the weakness of the workers' organisations and the weakness of the party in Belgium. The Workers' Party in Belgium is an alliance of politically organised workers with politically unorganised workers, "pure and simple" co-operators, trade unionists, etc. This is a big drawback of Belgium's labour movement, which Mr. Yegorov in Kievskaya Mysl and the liquidators in Luch have done wrong to ignore.

The second lesson of the Belgian strike is: pay more attention to socialist propaganda, work more to build up a strong, highly principled and strictly party organisation which is true to socialism.