Metadata: Acquisition of Le Drapeau Rouge – De Rode Vaan
Collection
- Country:
- Belgium
- Holding institution:
- Amsab – Institute of Social History
- Holding institution (official language):
- Amsab - Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis
- Postal address:
- Bagattenstraat 174, 9000 Gent
- Phone number:
- +32 9 224 00 79
- Web address:
- www.amsab.be
- Email:
- info@amsab.be
- Reference number:
- AmsabISH-Ghent-S/1991/014
- Title:
- Acquisition of Le Drapeau Rouge – De Rode Vaan
- Title (official language):
- Aanwinst van Le Drapeau Rouge – De Rode Vaan
- Creator/accumulator:
- Kommunistische Partij van België; Parti communiste de Belgique
- Date(s):
- 1955/1990
- Extent:
- 16 boxes
- Scope and content:
- In box 7b we find an (at the time of writing) unnumbered file (dated ca. 1962-1971) regarding the situation of Jews in the Soviet Union. It mainly consists of articles and press releases, published in other newspapers and periodicals (often in the USSR), in which ‘Zionism’ is attacked. Box 8a contains a file concerning the World Conference of the Jewish Communities for the Jews in the Soviet Union, held in Brussels from 23 to 25 February 1971. It mainly consists of the press releases, texts of lectures, working documents, documentation, lists of participants etc. of the conference.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The Kommunistische Partij van België / Parti communiste de Belgique (Communist Party of Belgium)(KPB) originated in 1921 as a merger (imposed by the Comintern) of Les Amis de l’Exploité (around Joseph Jacquemotte) and a group around War Van Overstraeten. The KPB occupied a modest position in the political landscape before 1940. In 1928 the pro-Trotskyist faction (including Van Overstraeten) was expelled from the party. In the 1930s the KPB steadily grew from two (1925) to nine members of parliament (1936), notably as the result of its role in the miners’ strike of 1932, its anti-fascism, the “Popular Front” policy (1935-1939) and its support for the Spanish Republic. The pre-war KPB directed many secondary and front organisations, such as the International Red Aid. Specific non-Belgian sections (the so-called Main d’Œuvre immigrée, incl. Poles and Italians) existed within the party, as well as sections of Jewish communists. As the Belgian section of the Comintern, its ideology and at times sharply pivoting political line can largely be explained by the foreign policy and interests of Moscow. Following the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (1939) for example, the KPB was forced greatly to dilute its anti-fascism. During the Occupation (in particular since the German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941) the KPB was heavily involved in the resistance: it de facto controlled the Onafhankelijkheidsfront – Front de l’Indépendance (‘independence front’), the largest resistance organisation. Its resistance activity and the victories of the Soviet Union gave the KPB an enormous prestige immediately after the war. The party uninterruptedly formed part of the Belgian government between 1944 and 1947; it had 23 members of parliament in 1946. Following the outbreak of the Cold War, the KPB became increasingly isolated. Despite a minor resurgence due to its role in the strike against the Eenheidswet (1960-1961), the party has been in decline ever since. In 1964, a Maoist group led by Jacques Grippa split off. The KPB remained a unitary party until 1982, despite earlier regionalisation experiments (cfr. the Vlaamse Kommunistische Partij, 1937-1939) and the existence of Flemish and Walloon sections within its governing bodies. In Wallonia, the Parti Communiste still has some hold in certain municipalities. The Rode Vaan / Le Drapeau Rouge was the periodical of the KPB. It was a weekly in 1921-1944 and in 1958-1992, and appeared daily from 1944 until 1958. (“De Rode Vaan. (1921-1992) (periodiek)”, in ODIS - Database Intermediary Structures Flanders (accessible on http://www.odis.be); R. Hemmerijckx, “De communistische partijen”, in P. van den Eeckhout & G. Vanthemsche (ed.), Bronnen voor de studie van het hedendaagse België 19e – 21e eeuw. Tweede herziene en uitgebreide uitgave, Brussel, Koninklijke Commissie voor Geschiedenis / Commission Royale d’Histoire, 2009, pp. 799-808; R. van Doorslaer, Kinderen van het getto: Joodse revolutionairen in België, 1925-1940, Antwerpen, Amsab/Hadewijch, 1995.)
- Access points: locations:
- Brussels
- Yerusha Network member:
- State Archives of Belgium
