Maoism in the Developed World

A U.S. State Department source commented that as a result of these splits, the CPBLM “seems to be on the verge of being reduced to a miniscule sect. … The sectarian Grippa party has no seats in the Belgian Parliament and is more vocal than visible on the Belgian political scene. … The Grippists mimic the Chinese on ideological questions. This militancy has had little appeal to the Belgian electorate, even within traditional areas of communist strength.”[135] By 1973, this same source commented that the PCBML was “a mere shadow of its former self.”[136]

However, in spite of these internal problems, the PCBML did continue to exist, and continued to be recognized by the Chinese. By the 1970s it was under the leadership of first secretary Fernand Lefebvre.

The PCBML held its Second Congress in January 1977. At that time, Lefebvre stressed that the Party’s task “was a political struggle to lead the popular masses in a united front against the hegemonism of the two superpowers, of which ‘Soviet social-imperialism’ is the most dangerous.”[137]

Events in China following the death of Mao Tse-tung apparently did not undermine the loyalty of the PCBML to the Chinese party and regime. Lefebvre led delegations to China in April 1977 and August 1978.[138]

In December 1978, the PCBML merged with another small Maoist group, Communist Struggle (Lutte Corninuniste-Leniniste).

However, the new group, whose periodical was La Voix Commu-niste, continued to call itself the Communist Party of Belgium (Marxist-Leninist) and continued to follow strictly the general line of Chinese policy. This was shown in its attack on the country’s other Maoist organization, the Party of Labor of Belgium, for participating in a December 1979 protest demonstration against the placing of new U.S. nuclear missiles in Europe.[139]

It was estimated that in 1978 the PCBML had “several hundred” members and that “it maintains an effective propaganda apparatus.”[140] However, by 1980, it was said that the party had “only a few dozen members.”[141]

All Power To The Workers—Party Of Labor Of Belgium

The second Maoist group to appear in Belgium, and one of greater significance than the PCBML, arose from the student unrest of the late 1960s. It was All Power to the Workers (AMADA), and was established in the 1970s by Flemish former students at the Catholic University of Louvain.[142] It sought support among the Flemish-speaking workers, and established some base among those of Antwerp, particularly among the dockers. It published two weeklies, Alle Machaan de Arbeiders in Flemish and Tout le Pouvenir sux Ouvriers in French.[143]

Unlike the PCBML in the 1970s, the AMADA participated in elections. In April 1977, it received about 24,000 votes, or 0.7 percent of the total,[144] and six months later in elections for the European parliament its vote rose modestly to 45,000, or 0.8 percent.

Apparently its relatively good performance at the polls encouraged AMADA to convert itself into a regular political party. This it did at a congress in November 1979, with 208 delegates in attendance. The Congress adopted a program and statutes running to 79 pages and including 183 articles. The new party was called the Party of Labor of Belgium (Parti du Travail de Belique/ Partij van de Arbeid van Belgie).

The new party proclaimed its objective to be to struggle “for the social and democratic rights, to maintain the employment and social conquests, against the capital and the bourgeoisie who protect it, and for the unity of all the workers of Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia.” The new party declared its opposition “to the imperialism of the superpowers, particularly the Soviet Union, where expansionism is the most recent and most complete.”

M. Martens, described as the “ideologue” of the new party announced, “We are against adventurism and violence, but the working class must use the same violence which is used against it to suppress it. When all other means have been exhausted, and there only remains violence, it will use it without hesitation.”[145]

Although the AMADA was described in 1978 as “disciplined, Maoist-Stalinist organization,”[146] it did not receive official recognition from the Chinese. This continued to be true even though in 1979 several of its leaders made trips to China.[147] By 1981, the PTB/PDVAB had still not been accepted by the Chinese party as a Belgian counterpart.[148]

Other Belgian Maoist Groups