Metadata: Belgian section of the Fourth International
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-45
- Title:
- Belgian section of the Fourth International
- Title (official language):
- Belgische afdeling van de IVde Internationale
- Creator/accumulator:
- Socialistische Arbeiderspartij; Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire
- Date(s):
- 1936/1980
- Extent:
- 138 boxes and 2 binders
- Scope and content:
- In this fonds we mainly point out the correspondence, circulars, minutes of meetings, notes, working documents, articles, etc. by Ernest Mandel regarding various subjects such as the internal operation of the party and related organisations, demonstrations and other events, training activities, contacts with other leftist organisations, international cooperation with the United Secretariat and other sections of the Fourth International, etc. See, among others, the files nos. 44, 124, 171, 172, 177, 1124 and 1137. They are dated 1965-1980. File no. 286 contains a note by Abram Wajnsztok, concerning “the tasks of the Fourth International in Europe” (dated 1942). In file no. 5 we find texts on Israel, Zionism and the class struggle, and on the national question (1964, 1967). Lastly we mention (in file no. 95) leaflets of the Derde Front (from the Netherlands) denouncing the ‘hunt on Jews’ (dated 1940-1944).
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The Belgian section of the (Trotskyist) Fourth International, known by various names, has its roots in the leftist opposition within the Belgian communist party, expelled in 1928. This faction shared the criticism of Trotsky on the Stalinist regime in the USSR and within the Comintern. Since the 1930s several left-oppositional, ‘Trotskyist’ groups have existed alongside each other, due to disagreements (notably) about the need to establish a new International, theory, strategy, tactics (e.g. ‘entryism’), international issues, etc. The immediate predecessor was the Revolutionair Socialistische Partij – Parti Socialiste Révolutionnaire (founded in 1936), the official Belgian section of the Fourth International (created in 1938). During the Occupation, the party (known as Parti Communiste Révolutionnaire since 1941) entered the resistance from the start. In 1946 its name was changed to Parti Communiste Internationaliste. From 1950 until 1964, the party embarked on a second period of ‘entryism’, which meant that the Trotskyists (clandestinely) became active within the Belgian Socialist Party; see e.g. the takeover of the leadership of the Jeunes Gardes Socialistes, their activity within the ABVV-FGTB and the periodical La Gauche. Eventually, in 1971, the Revolutionaire Arbeidersliga – Ligue Révolutionnaire des Travailleurs (RAL-LRT) was founded (with the Socialistische Jonge Wacht as its youth movement). The party experienced some success within universities, in the peace movement, the cultural sector and the feminist movement. In 1984 the RAL transformed into the Socialistische Arbeiderspartij – Parti Ouvrier Socialiste. In 2006 its name was changed to Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire in French-speaking Belgium, in reference to the French LCR of Olivier Besancenot. Electorally, the Belgian section of the Fourth International never scored high. Since the 1990s the party usually decides against autonomous participation in elections, and generally takes part in various left unity initiatives. One of the best known leaders of the Belgian party and the Fourth International was the economist Ernest Mandel (1923-1995), himself of Jewish origin. The Jewish PCR-leader Abram Wajnsztok (‘Léon’, 1918-1944) wrote a remarkable Marxist analysis of the ‘Jewish question’ – cfr. (the posthumously published) La conception matérialiste de la question juive (1942). (N. de Beule, Het Belgisch Trotskisme. De geschiedenis van een groep oppositionele kommunisten. 1925-1940, Gent, Masereelfonds, 1980; R. de Coninck, Inventaris van het archief van de Belgische afdeling van de Vierde Internationale, AMSAB Werkinstrumenten 6, Gent, AMSAB-ISG, 1997.)
- Access points: locations:
- Israel
- Netherlands
- Access points: persons/families:
- Mandel, Ernest
- Wajnsztok, Abram
- Finding aids:
- R. de Coninck, Inventaris van het archief van de Belgische afdeling van de Vierde Internationale, AMSAB Werkinstrumenten 6, Gent, AMSAB-ISG, 1997.
- Yerusha Network member:
- State Archives of Belgium
