Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0034/00346.txt

Text File | 1991-06-24 | 35KB | 553 lines

$Unique_ID{COW00346}
$Pretitle{370}
$Title{Belgium
Chapter 1E.   Postwar Domestic Politics}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Rita Moore-Robinson}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{flemish
language
french
political
movement
flanders
walloon
party
flemings
dutch}
$Date{1984}
$Log{}
Country:     Belgium
Book:        Belgium, A Country Study
Author:      Rita Moore-Robinson
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1984

Chapter 1E.   Postwar Domestic Politics

     After four years of occupation, the first priorities were to restore
political stability by re-creating the preexisting political structures and,
as after World War I, to restore social stability by enacting social
legislation to reform labor's position in the economy. The Social Christian
Party (CVP/PSC), founded in 1945, resurrected the Catholic Bloc, which had
dominated the political scene for many years and represented the first attempt
at formal organization of this electoral base. The practice of affiliated
membership, that is, automatic party membership along with membership in an
associated Catholic-run union or social organization, was replaced by
individual membership. In a related move, the party announced its
"deconfessionalization" - it was no longer limited to avowed Catholics and
welcomed all who shared its conservative political orientation. The result
of these changes was a unified, coherent, and disciplined party.

     The Belgian Workers Party, disbanded in 1940, was reconstituted in
1945 as the Belgian Socialist Party (BSP/PSB). It also became a mass party by
ending affiliated membership. It remained strongly anticlerical. The Liberal
Party retained its pre-war status until 1961 when it changed its name,
renounced anti-clericalism as a basic tenet, and emphasized its conservative,
middle-class nature. Renamed the Party of Liberty and Progress (PVV/PLP-known
as the Liberals), it retained the Liberal Party's traditional organizational
structure, which relied on local rather than national organization.

     The immediate postwar period (1945-47) was dominated by a
Socialist-Liberal coalition, followed by a Social Christian-Socialist
coalition from 1947 to 1949. The Social Christians, as a result of the effects
of the so-called Royal Question, won the first electoral sweep since the
introduction of universal suffrage and ruled alone from 1950 to 1954 (see The
Royal Question, this ch.). The Socialist-Liberal coalition was revived during
the 1954-58 period, based on the perennial question of religion and the
schools.

     Almost immediately after the war, the political parties, particularly
the Socialist Party under the leadership of Prime Minister Achille Van
Acker, sponsored social legislation commonly known as the Social Pact. The
"welfare state" - the system of state guarantees of a minimum standard of living
regardless of accident, illness, or old age-assured labor of some share in
the fruits of the economy, while promising labor peace to business. In
addition, the legislation mandated a partnership ("concertation") among labor,
business, and the state. The state was to manage the overall coordination of
economic development. These reforms were very much in keeping with
developments throughout Europe (see Education; Health and Social Security, ch.
2).

The Royal Question

     At the same time, the issue of Leopold III's wartime behavior simmered
and threatened to split the nation. The Royal Question disrupted political
life from 1944 to 1950. The main complaints against Leopold were the general
suspicion, warranted or not, that he had prematurely surrendered to the
Germans in 1940, thereby jeopardizing British and French troops, and had
somehow cooperated with the occupation authorities. Leopold had decided to
remain in Belgium with his army, but he appeared to enjoy unusual benefits for
a prisoner of war, including a wedding in 1941 (to a commoner, which provoked
some unhappiness) and a honeymoon in Nazi-occupied Austria. He met personally
with Hitler on occasion, apparently for humanitarian purposes. There was
little if any concrete evidence of misconduct, but during the war clandestine
newspapers in Wallonia, especially those sponsored by the Socialist and
Liberal parties, were full of virulent attacks against him.

     Leopold was perhaps a victim of his abrasive personality. In the 1930s
he had aroused anger among the political elite by being very active in foreign
policy and publicly chastising politicians for succumbing to their partisan
interests and failing to appreciate the seriousness of the international
situation. The problem could have brought about a constitutional crisis over
the monarchy itself, but the party leaders successfully limited the discussion
to Leopold's personal qualifications for the office.

     At the request of the government, Leopold remained in exile in Geneva
while the question was debated. His brother, Prince Albert, was named regent.
Although the issue itself had little to do with the language cleavage, public
opinion rapidly divided along linguistic lines; the Flemings overwhelmingly
supported the king, and the Walloons opposed his return. On March 12, 1950, a
referendum was held to decide whether Leopold would be asked to return.
Nationally, the king was vindicated with a vote of 57.7 percent in favor.
However, the regional breakdown was significant. Seventy-two percent of
Flemings voted in favor, but 58 percent of Walloons and 52 percent of the
residents of Brussels rejected the king. The referendum, far from settling
the issue, had merely underscored its divisiveness. The king, despite the
deep split, intended to resume his post. He reconsidered when the announcement
of his imminent return provoked mass demonstrations, strikes (involving as
many as 500,000 persons), and violence in Wallonia. Bowing to the situation,
in August 1950 Leopold appointed his son, Baudouin (Dutch, Boudeweijn), to
rule temporarily in his stead and finally abdicated on July 16, 1951.

The Second School Conflict, 1950-58

     The Royal Question at last settled, education again became a major
political issue. Although the 1884 compromise had adequately served
educational needs, the postwar baby boom necessitated significant expansion of
the school system, once again leaving open the question of state funding. The
Catholic-supported Social Christian government announced a new plan in 1952,
which would have given the "free" schools (almost exclusively Catholic)
substantial subsidies having few restrictions. Supporters of the state
schools, Socialists and Liberals, protested that the level and the method of
subsidization gave Catholic schools an unfair and overwhelming advantage over
the public school system. The elections of 1954 brought a Socialist-Liberal
coalition back to power, and its first act was to overturn the previous
educational policy, replacing it with a system that was decidedly favorable to
the state school system.

     The Catholics counterattacked with two national protest demonstrations
in 1955, the first attracting about 100,000 people, the second 250,000 people.
In addition, a petition demanding redress, signed by over 2.2 million people,
was presented to the king. The national elections of 1958 returned the Social
Christians to power, this time in coalition with the Liberals. Finally, in an
effort to settle the issue, the three parties decided to construct a new
compromise, resulting in the School Pact of 1958. Although a clear victory
for the Catholic forces, whose position had been vastly strengthened by their
ability to mobilize mass support in 1955 and again in the election of 1958,
the pact satisfied most Socialist demands by creating a free-market system in
education. Rather than compete directly for state support, the rival systems
would now compete for consumer (parental) patronage; the level of state aid
was indexed to enrollment (see Historical Background, ch. 2).

     The school issue regained salience in the 1950s for the Socialists, who
were dissatisfi