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The Belgian Workers Party is also sometimes used as the name of the Belgian Labour Party that existed prior to World War II (when it was re-founded as the Belgian Socialist Party) and that after the foundation of the Comintern was faced with a dissident faction out of which arose the Communist Party of Belgium. Neither should this party be confused with the social-democratic Partij van de Arbeid in the Netherlands.
The Workers Party of Belgium (WPB) (Dutch: Partij van de Arbeid, French: Parti du Travail de Belgique) is a Belgian communist party. It is one of the few parties that operates as a single Belgian party. Most other Belgian parties are either Flemish or Francophone.
The WPB hosts the International Communist Seminar, which in recent years has become the one of the main worldwide gatherings of communist parties.
History
The Workers Party of Belgium originated in the student movement at the end of the 1960s. Radicalized students (organized in the student union SVB - Studenten VakBeweging), mainly from the Catholic University of Leuven, turned towards the working-class movement. They considered the politics of the existing Communist Party of Belgium revisionist, i.e. too much turned toward the social-democratic politics (represented in Belgium by the Belgian Socialist Party). They were influenced by the ideas of the Communist Party of China, guerrilla movements in Latin America, the movement against the Vietnam War, and the Leuven-Vlaams movement, all perceived as aspects of a worldwide struggle against colonial or neocolonial oppression and for civil or workers' rights.
Their support and participation in an important strike in the coalmines turned the movement into a political party. They founded a periodical, AMADA (Alle Macht Aan De Arbeiders - all power to the workers), which became the first name of their party. In 1979 the first congress was held, which adopted a Maoist programme and changed the name into PVDA-PTB. Ludo Martens became the first president, and is still considered the most important ideologist of the party. A notable observer at the first congress of the WPB was Laurent Kabila, who later took power in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, naming himself president.
In recent years, the Communist Party of Belgium has virtually disappeared, leaving the Workers' Party of Belgium as the biggest communist party in Belgium. Under its new president, Peter Mertens, elected in his position in 2008, it tries to appeal to a bigger public by abandoning some of the revolutionary rhetoric and focusing more on the day-to-day problems of the people. The weekly paper "Solidair / Solidaire" has some influence in the trade-union movement in Belgium.
Elections
In the municipal elections of 2006 the WPB won the best score in Zelzate, where it obtained 21,67 % of the vote and 6 out of 23 seats in the municipal council. Also in seven other municipalities or city districts the party is now represented in the council: Hoboken, Herstal, Deurne, Genk, La Louvière, Lommel and Seraing.
The general elections of 2007 saw the PWB obtaining 0.88 % in the Flemish electoral district and 0.81 % in Wallonia.
In the regional elections in 2009 the WPB gained 1.04 % of the vote in Flanders (+ 0.48) and 1.24 % of the vote in Wallonia (+ 0.62). For the European elections on the same day the results were: 0.98 % in the Dutch-speaking electoral college (+ 0.37) and 1.16 % in the French-speaking electoral college (+ 0.35).
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