The general strike of 1893 ( French : grève générale de 1893 , Dutch : algemene staking van 1893 ) was a major general strike in Belgium in April 1893 called by the Belgian Labour Party (POB–BWP) to pressure the government of Auguste Beernaert to introduce universal male suffrage in elections. The general strike was the first called in Belgium and a decisive moment for the nascent socialist movement in Belgium. According to the historian Carl J. Strikwerda , it was the first true general strike in the history of Europe .
16-526: The general strike was called on the evening of 11 April 1893 after politicians of Catholic and Liberal parties joined to block a proposal to expand the suffrage. It lasted from 12–18 April. Conservatives, led by the Catholic Prime Minister Auguste Beernaert , feared a full revolution and clashes broke out between strikers and the military. According to Henri Pirenne , the strike was only called under pressure from
32-648: A period of nearly fifty years of Catholic political dominance. It was followed by a Second School War between 1950 and 1959. In the preceding centuries, education in Belgium had been dominated by the Catholic Church. In 1842, a new education law formalized religious education in primary schools, while also conceding the freedom of education guaranteed in Article 17 of the Constitution of 1831 : Under
48-496: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . First School War The First School War ( French : Première guerre scolaire , Dutch : Eerste schoolstrijd ) was a political crisis in Belgium over the issue of religion in education . The School War marks the high water mark of the conflict between the conservative Catholic Party , and the secular Liberal Party . The war lasted from 1879 to 1884 and resulted in
64-713: The Belgian Chamber of Representatives in 1884 from the Liberal Party in the wake of the schools dispute . The Catholic Party retained its absolute majority until 1918. In 1921, the party became the Catholic Union , and from 1936 the Catholic Bloc . At the end of World War II , on 18–19 August 1945 the party was succeeded by the PSC-CVP . This article about a Belgian political party
80-593: The country, attendance in private Catholic schools had actually risen from 13 percent to over 60 percent. After fresh elections in 1884 , a Catholic government under Jules Malou passed a new Education Law providing public support for religious schools and, in 1895, religious education became compulsory in all schools. The resistance to the Liberal anti-Catholic legislation revitalised the Catholic Party and led to its re-election under Malou in 1884 and marked
96-583: The interpretation of the law varied and, since the vast majority of the Belgian population was Catholic, the Church was allowed considerable influence in schools. The quality and spread of education remained poor and, though declining from 51 percent in 1843, 39 percent of the population were still illiterate by 1880. On 1 June 1879, a Liberal majority under Walthère Frère-Orban succeeded in passing an Education Act secularizing primary education. Frère-Orban, who
112-631: The miners of the Borinage and its rapid spread took the POB–BWP leadership, under Emile Vandervelde , by surprise. Between 13 and 20 strikers were killed. In total, approximately 200,000 workers participated in the strike. In the face of determined opposition, the Parliament caved to the Socialist demands and introduced the original reforms, increasing the franchise ten-fold. The first elections under
128-502: The opposition of Catholics to the education act: "It is pleasant for us to give special praise to your solicitude in encouraging by all the means possible a good education for the young, and in insuring to the children of the primary schools a religious education established on broad foundations." Rerum novarum issued in 1891 encouraged Catholics to embrace the Church's social mission and to increase its engagement in activities such as education, welfare, and trades unionism that affected
144-748: The party were the Catholic Cercles , of which the eldest had been founded in Bruges . The Malines Congresses in 1863, 1864, and 1867 brought together Ultramontanes or Confessionals and the Liberal-Catholics or Constitutionals . At the Congress of 1867, it was decided to create the League of Catholic Circles , which was founded on 22 October 1868. The Catholic Party, under the leadership of Charles Woeste , gained an absolute majority in
160-488: The promise of reform to the plural voting system, but this was halted by the outbreak of World War I and subsequent German occupation . Plural voting was finally abolished in 1919 and universal suffrage , giving the vote to all Belgian women, was only introduced in 1948. [REDACTED] Media related to 1893 General Strike (Belgium) at Wikimedia Commons Catholic Party (Belgium) The Catholic Party ( French : Parti catholique ; Dutch : Katholieke Partij )
176-509: The reformed franchise took place in October 1894 . It did not benefit the POB–BWP as much as expected. The rise of Social Catholicism , introduced by the Papal encyclical Rerum novarum in 1891, was one of the factors which prevented rapid socialist growth. The elections however brought socialist deputies into parliament for the first time and led to the beginning Liberals' decline from one of
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#1732791274933192-568: The start of a period of nearly unbroken government by the Catholic Party until 1917. Disputes over religion in education continued, extending to university education, where secular universities like the Free University of Brussels competed with Catholic universities like the Catholic University of Leuven . In an 1881 encyclical to Belgium, Licet Multa , issued before the resolution of the crisis, Pope Leo XIII praised
208-509: The terms of Article 6 of the Education Act of 1842: "Primary education includes by necessity the teaching of religion and morality... The instruction of religion and morality is placed under the direction of the officials of the religious faith that is professed by the majority of pupils at the school. Children who do not belong to the majority religious group in the school are exempt from participation in this instruction." In practice,
224-645: The two dominant parties in Belgian politics. Neal Ascherson argued that, after 1894, "the deepest preoccupation of politics was the determination of Catholic and Liberal to keep the Socialists out of power." The POB-BWP adopted a new manifesto, the Charter of Quaregnon , the same year which would remain the party's doctrine until 1979. The issue of electoral reform remained controversial until World War I and further general strikes on questions of franchise reform occurred in 1902 and 1913 . The 1913 strike lead to
240-910: Was a Belgian political party established in 1869 as the Confessional Catholic Party ( Dutch : Confessionele Katholieke Partij ). In 1852, a Union Constitutionnelle et Conservatrice was founded in Ghent , in Leuven (1854), and in Antwerp and Brussels in 1858, which were active only during elections. On 11 July 1864 the Federation of Catholic Circles and Conservative Associations was created ( French : Fédération des Cercles catholiques et des Associations conservatrices ; Dutch : Verbond van Katholieke Kringen en der Conservatieve Verenigingen ). The other group which contributed to
256-407: Was well known for his anti-clerical beliefs, was nicknamed the " Papist Biter" ( Papenvreter ). New "neutral" schools were to be established in all municipalities, funded by the local communes with assistance from national government, while Catholic schools were to receive no support at all. The Church encouraged a boycott of the new schools. By 1883, although 3,885 secular schools had opened across
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