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Fire and Ashes: The Fight for the Labour Plan in Belgium

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Book cover Hendrik de Man and Social Democracy

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in the History of Social Movements ((PSHSM))

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Abstract

This chapter deals with de Man’s drafting of the Belgian Labour Plan and his endeavours to spread planism, both in Belgium and abroad, between 1933 and mid-1935. It explores the difficulties and opposition that the campaign for the Belgian Labour Plan faced, both within and outside the Belgian Labour Party, and clarifies why de Man dropped the pledge of its integral implementation when the POB returned to power.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    De Man, Cavalier seul, 159–160.

  2. 2.

    See, for example, Henri de Man, “Les classes moyennes,” Le Peuple, October 7, 1933.

  3. 3.

    See, for example, Henri de Man, “L’anticapitalisme des classes moyennes,” Le Peuple, October 11, 1933; Henri de Man, “Pour une nouvelle stratégie socialiste,” Le Peuple, October 27, 1933.

  4. 4.

    Bertrand de Jouvenel, Un voyageur dans le siècle, 1903–1945, ed. Jeannie Malige (Paris: Laffont, 1979), 198.

  5. 5.

    Bertrand de Jouvenel, “Le pensée et l’action,” Les Nouvelles littéraires, artistiques et scientifiques 16, no. 732 (1936): 1.

  6. 6.

    See also Bertrand de Jouvenel, “Belgique: Patrie du Plan,” La République, September 15, 1934; Bertrand de Jouvenel, “Henri de Man l’homme du Plan,” L’Europe nouvelle, no. 878 (1934): 1216.

  7. 7.

    According to LSI figures released in 1931: see Fourth Congress of the Labour and Socialist International, 380–381; Rudolf Schlesinger, Central European Democracy and Its Background: Economic and Political Group Organization (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1953), 316–317.

  8. 8.

    On the internal paralysis of the POB during the early 1930s, see André Pletinckx, “Le Parti Ouvrier belge dans la première phase de la crise économique, 1930–1933,” Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Nieuwste Gieschiedenis, no. 3–4 (1976): 273–327 and no. 1–2 (1977): 237–289.

  9. 9.

    See Guy Vanthemsche, De werkloosheid in Belgie: 1929–1940 (Berchem: EPO, 1989), 113–124, 277; Isabelle Cassiers, Croissance, crise et régulation en économie ouverte: la Belgique entre les deux guerres (Brussels: De Boeck, 1989), 155–164; Martine Goossens, “The Belgian Labour Market during the Interwar Period,” in The Economic Development of Belgium since 1870, eds. Herman Van der Wee and Jan Blomme (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar 1997), 417–429. On the Borinage, see Jean Puissant, L’évolution du mouvement ouvrier socialiste dans le Borinage (Brussels: Académie Royale du Belgique, 1982).

  10. 10.

    See Louis Bertrand, “Démocratie et régime parlementaire,” Le Peuple, March 20, 1933.

  11. 11.

    See “A propos du Bureau d’Études sociales,” 275.

  12. 12.

    See the minutes of these meetings—fourteen in total—in AHDM/IISG/349A; ABSO/AMSAB/98.

  13. 13.

    Henri de Man, “Un Plan économique pour la Belgique,” Le Mouvement syndical belge, no. 11 (1933), 297. See also “Des voies nouvelles,” Le Mouvement syndical belge, no. 10 (1933): 261, highlighting the impact of de Man’s speech. On October 17, de Man wrote that his involvement into politics was “absolutely essential” to ensure the effectiveness of the BES [Letter from de Man to Jauniaux, 17 October 1933, AHDM/IISG/585].

  14. 14.

    See “En avant pour le Plan du Travail,” Le Mouvement syndical belge, 11 (1933): 291; “Note soumise par H. de Man au Bureau du C.G. du P.O.B. en vue de sa séance du 27 octobre 1933,” 23 October 1933, AHDM/IISG/422; “Le Conseil Général du P.O.B. et le Comité National de la Commission Syndicale ont examiné hier, le plan d’action de Henri de Man,” Le Peuple, November 16, 1933. On the origins of the name Plan du Travail, see Jef Rens, “Rectifions!,” Le Mouvement syndical belge, 11 (1936): 228–229.

  15. 15.

    See de Man, Après coup, 207; Henri de Man, “Préface,” in Max Buset, L’action pour le Plan (Brussels: L’Eglantine 1934), 3. De Man set out the essentials of the Plan in his Note of October 27 and Buset carried out most of the research on the banking sector by mid-November [see “Compte-rendu abrégé de la séance du séminaire d’études économiques et financières du 17 Novembre 1933,” AHDM/IISG/349A]. Jauniaux’s contribution is mentioned in Après Coup but remains undocumented.

  16. 16.

    See Rens, Rencontres, 30, 64–65.

  17. 17.

    As de Man put it, “by treating discussions that highlight the discontent of our troops as a matter of internal discipline, and therefore of individuals, one would put the cart before the horse […]. The true solution lies in steering this ardour in a less sterile and less dangerous direction than the one of romantic insurrectionism and of extremist critique, where it now gloats” [“Note soumise par H. de Man au Bureau du C.G. du P.O.B. en vue de sa séance du 27 octobre 1933,” 23 October 1933, AHDM/IISG/422].

  18. 18.

    Paul-Henri Spaak, “Que faire? III. Une révolution réaliste,” L’Action socialiste, no. 42 (1933): unpaged.

  19. 19.

    Paul-Henri Spaak, “Le Plan du Travail: II. Ses mérites,” L’Action socialiste, no. 48 (1933): unpaged; Paul-Henri Spaak, “Le Plan du Travail: III. Ses mérites,” L’Action socialiste, no. 49 (1933): unpaged.

  20. 20.

    When, in February 1934, Action socialiste published an article that enraged Vandervelde and the party leadership, de Man publicly reminded the attendees that “there was, between the two of us, an agreement, a kind of pact […] which Spaak was committed to, ensuring there would be no further conflicts” [“Séance du Bureau du Conseil Général du 27 février 1934 à 2 h,” ABWP/AMSAB]. Several pieces of evidence suggest that, still in September 1934, Spaak had reservations about specific points of the Plan, which he viewed as too moderate, but refrained from going public in order not to damage party unity: see, for example, Angelo Tasca, handwritten notes in “Sur le Plan de Man et sur l’économie dirigée,” 16 September 1934, Notebook 25, FAT/FGF.

  21. 21.

    See de Man, Après coup, 206, 236. For Spaak’s characterisation as enfant terrible, see Gaston Eyskens, De Memoires (Lannoo: Tielt, 1993), 47. In the summer of 1933, de Brouckère wrote extensively, and with growing anxiety, about the conflict between Léon Blum and the neo-socialists within the SFIO, which resulted in a split in November, less than two weeks before the first draft of the Labour Plan was discussed at the POB Council [see, e.g., Louis de Brouckère, “Scission en France!,” Le Peuple, November 7, 1933]. De Brouckère’s objections to the Plan are hinted at in “Séance du Bureau du 27 Octobre 1933 à 2 h,” ABWP/AMSAB. Within the SFIO, Pierre Renaudel predicted that events in France would have repercussions on the POB [see letter from Renaudel to Bertrand, 11 April 1933, FLB/IEV/I.395]. For other examples of influence, see Jexas (Josef Saxe), “Réflexions sur le Congrès socialiste français: mise au point et examen de conscience,” Le Peuple, July 26, 1933; Louis Piérard, Le socialisme à un tournant (Mons: Librairie Fédérale, 1933); Louis Piérard, “La médiation de l’Internationale,” Le Peuple, October 25, 1933.

  22. 22.

    De Man, Après coup, 229–230. It was de Man in the first place who declared himself available for the position of general secretary upon suggestion by Jauniaux [see letter from de Man to Jauniaux, 17 October 1933, AHDM/IISG/585]. Vandervelde opposed the idea of appointing de Man to an administrative role due to his obligations towards the BES [see “Séance du Bureau du Conseil Général du 3 novembre 1933–2 h,” ABWP/AMSAB].

  23. 23.

    See Joseph Van Roosbroeck, “Note sur la réorganisation du secrétariat,” s.d., AHDM/IISG/405.

  24. 24.

    See, for example, Vandervelde’s suggestion to put de Man in charge of developing the Plan [see “Réunion du Bureau du Conseil Général du 19 Octobre 1933,” ABWP/AMSAB]; de Man’s intention of finding an agreement with Vandervelde about the internal reorganisation of the party [see letter from de Man to Vandervelde, 9 November 1933, AHDM/IISG/620]; Vandervelde’s strong endorsement of the first draft of the Plan on November 15 [see “Séance du Conseil Général et du Comité National de la Commission Syndicale du 15 novembre 1933,” ABWP/AMSAB].

  25. 25.

    Writing on generational change within the POB in 1935, Vandervelde wished for a smooth and undramatic transition, animated by a “common concern for welding the pre-war and the post-war generations together in the best way possible” [Emile Vandervelde, “La cure de rajeunissement du socialisme,” La Dépêche de Toulouse, February 17, 1935].

  26. 26.

    Vandervelde’s comment on the Marxist character of the POB is in Vandervelde, Le cinquantenaire, 109. On his views about the relationship between Marxism and socialism, see also Vandervelde, L’alternative, 15–37. Vandervelde voiced his preoccupations about the situation of Belgium in his speech at the 47° POB Congress, held in May 1933, and these were echoed in the Congress’ final resolutions [see Conseil General, XXVIIème Congrès, Bruxelles. 27–28 mai 1933 (Brussels: L’Eglantine, 1933), 27–37, 76–78].

  27. 27.

    Conseil General, XXVIIIème Congrès, 12, 42. Vandervelde could link the Labour Plan to the 1931 Plan de Salut Public, a package of palliative reforms that the POB deemed urgent for the country. The Plan de Salut Public was far less clear, coherent, and ambitious than the Labour Plan but set a useful precedent. On this first Plan, see Ben-Serge Chlepner, Cent ans d’histoire sociale en Belgique (Brussels: Institut de Sociologie Solvay, 1956), 383.

  28. 28.

    Conseil General, XXVIIIème Congrès, 80, 143.

  29. 29.

    “La Résolution du Congrès de Noel,” in de Man, Le Plan du Travail, 17.

  30. 30.

    Ibidem.

  31. 31.

    Ibid., 19.

  32. 32.

    Ibidem.

  33. 33.

    Ibid., 20–21.

  34. 34.

    Ibid., 22.

  35. 35.

    Ibid., 22–23.

  36. 36.

    Ibid., 23.

  37. 37.

    Ibid., 24.

  38. 38.

    Conseil General, XXVIIIème Congrès, 12–13.

  39. 39.

    See L’exécution du Plan du Travail par Henri de Man et l’Équipe du Bureau d’Études Sociales (Paris: Alcan, 1935), esp. 5–16, 431–437. See also “Note sur le Bureau d’études sociales,” AHDM/AMSAB/343; “Rapport sur l’exécution du Plan du Travail présenté au Conseil Général du POB par le Bureau d’Études Sociales (novembre 1934),” AHDM/IISG/428.

  40. 40.

    See “Séance des Quatre Bureaux du 4 janvier 1934,” ABWP/AMSAB; Emile Vandervelde, “Un appel: Pour le Plan du Travail,” Le Peuple, January 14, 1934; Georges Truffaut, “La propagande pour le plan doit devenir une obsession: toutes les forces vives du Parti doivent dorénavant être au service du Plan, nous dit Arthur Gailly, délégué de la propagande,” Le Peuple, December 25, 1934.

  41. 41.

    Buset, L’action pour le Plan, 68.

  42. 42.

    See “Séance du Bureau du Conseil Général du 16 mars 1934,” ABWP/AMSAB.

  43. 43.

    See, for example, “Pour le Plan du Travail: le rallye cycliste de la Fédération bruxelloise du P.O.B.” Le Peuple, September 10, 1934.

  44. 44.

    See, for example, Claire Rome, “La femme et le Plan du Travail,” Le Peuple, May 9, 1934. Isabelle Blume played a major role in uniting POB women behind the Plan: see Blum, Entretiens, 54–57.

  45. 45.

    See, for example, Maurice Hambursin, “Le P.O.B. lance un appel aux cultivateurs pour qu’ils se rallient au Plan du Travail,” Le Peuple, May 19, 1934; Herman Vos, Le Plan du Travail et l’Encyclique papale Quadragesimo Anno (Brussels: L’Eglantine, 1934); Arthur Wauters, Paysan! Réveille-toi (Brussels: Bureau National d’Action pour le Plan du Travail, 1935); Herman Vos, Les démocrates-chrétiens et le Plan du Travail (Brussels: Bureau National d’Action pour le Plan du Travail, n.d.); Oscar de Swaef, Plan van den Arbeid (Brussels: National Actiebureau voor het Plan, n.d.); Frédéric Denis, Travailleur chrétien, tu liras ceci …: tu comprendras … (Brussels: Bureau National d’Action pour le Plan du Travail, n.d.).

  46. 46.

    See, for example, Isi Delvigne, Tuons la crise par le Plan du Travail (Brussels: Éditions de la presse socialiste, 1935). Comic stripes appeared regularly on Plan, which Buset moulded on the French popular magazine Marianne: “12 pages, beaucoup d’images ou photos” [“Séance des secrétaires d’arrondissement wallons du 21 février à 2 1/2 h.,” ABWP/AMSAB].

  47. 47.

    See, for example, radio speeches in AHDM/IISG/365; Chœurs parlés (Brussels: Bureau National d’Action pour le Plan, 1935); Marcel Poot, “Marche du Plan” in AHDM/AMSAB/336; Georges Bohy-Denis and Hélène Bohy-Denis, Catéchisme du Plan du Travail (La Louvière: Imprimerie Coopérative, s.d). Other musical scores can be found in AHDM/AMSAB/338, AHDM/AMSAB/339, AHDM/AMSAB/340, AHDM/AMSAB/341. See also the guidelines for the demonstrations of January–February 1935 in AHDM/IISG/432.

  48. 48.

    For instance, the mainstream non-socialist newspaper Le Soir mentioned the Labour Plan, named Plan du Travail or Plan de Man, more than 150 times in 1934.

  49. 49.

    In Belgium, the campaign deliberately put de Man into the spotlight, to increase the impact of his message on ordinary militants [see Delattre, Souvenirs, 135].

  50. 50.

    See letter from Laurat to de Man, 8 November 1933, ABSO/AMSAB/82; Lucien Laurat, “Réflexions sur un programme: la fin d’une vieille dispute,” La Wallonie, November 21, 1933; Lucien Laurat, L’évolution doctrinale du socialisme (Brussels: L’Eglantine, 1934), 31–32. Laurat’s Economie dirigée et socialisation praised the “constructive socialism” animating the Belgian Labour Plan [Lucien Laurat, Economie dirigée et socialisation (Paris-Brussels: L’Eglantine, 1934), 250]. The book was enthusiastically reviewed by Arthur Wauters, the political editor of Le Peuple [see Arthur Wauters, “Economie dirigée et socialisation,” Le Peuple, August 28, 1934] and by the trade unionist press [see “Bibliographie,” Le Mouvement syndical belge, no. 10 (1934): 232]. On Delaisi, see “L’expérience américaine: une conférence de M. Delaisi,” Le Peuple, January 20, 1934. In April 1934, Plan announced that the Delaisi Plan was soon to be released in France. This Plan (not to be confused with the 1931 Delaisi Plan) was moulded on the Belgian Labour Plan but in fact was never published as a separate document and was probably absorbed into the CGT Plan [see Henri Lefort, “Le Plan Delaisi,” Plan 1, no. 6 (1934): 1–2].

  51. 51.

    See Georges Lefranc, Pierre Boivin and Maurice Deixonne, Révolution constructive (Paris: Valois, 1932); “Préface par le groupe de Révolution Constructive,” in Henri de Man, Le socialisme devant la crise (Asnières: Cahiers de Révolution Constructive, 1935), 1–4. At least two of the founders of Révolution constructive, Lefranc and Claude Levi-Strauss, established contacts with de Man in 1927, after having read Au-delà du marxisme [see letter from Lefranc to de Man, 23 July 1927 and letter from Levi-Strauss to de Man, 17 October 1927, AHDM/IISG/253; Georges Lefranc, “Rétrospectives: à travers un demi-siècle de mouvement ouvrier, 1920–1970. Vol. I: Comment, dans les années 1920, on devient socialiste,” Cahier & Revue de l’Ours, no. 116 (1981): 55]. On Révolution Constructive, see Stéphane Clouet, De la rénovation à l’utopie socialistes: Révolution constructive, un groupe d’intellectuels socialistes des années 1930 (Nancy: Presses Universitaires de Nancy, 1991).

  52. 52.

    See “Ein Plan der Arbeit,” Arbeiter-Zeitung, December 29, 1933; O. P. [Oskar Pollak], “Die Gewinnung der Mittelschichten,” Arbeiter-Zeitung, December 31, 1933; Max Klinger, “Sozialistische Erneuerung: Das Beispiel der Belgischen Arbeiterpartei,” Neuer Vorwärts, no. 30 (1934): 1.

  53. 53.

    See, for example, “De Man oogstte veel succes: Zijn ‘Plan van den Arbeid’ door Congres aanwaard,” Het Volk, December 27, 1933; Meyer Sluyser, “Het Plan van de Arbeid van dr. Hendrik de Man,” Het Volk, December 28, 1933; L.J. Kleijn, “Wat het Belgische vijfjarenplan van prof. Hendrik de Man wil,” Het Volk, January 4, 1934; Johan Wilhelm Albarda, “‘Fiasco’ van Het Plan-De Man,” Het Volk, January 16, 1934. See also various contributions to “Het Plan van de Arbeid: Nieuwe Wegen,” De sociaal-democraat: weekblad van de Sociaal Democratische Arbeiderspartij in Nederland, no. 7 (1934).

  54. 54.

    See Alf Ahlberg, “Socialismen På Offensiv. Hendrik de Man Framlågger ett Socialiseringsprogram,” Fackföreningsrörelsen: organ för Landsorganisationen i Sverge, no. 2 (1933): 588–593, 620–626.

  55. 55.

    See L’Osservatore [Giuseppe Favarelli], “‘Il Piano del Lavoro’ del Partito operaio belga,” Quaderni di Giustizia e Libertà, no. 10 (1934): 94–103.

  56. 56.

    See Le Plan du Travail pour une économie suisse dirigée (La Chaux-de-Fonds: Imprimerie des coopératives réunies, 1934); Der Plan der Arbeit: Ein Ausweg aus Krise und Not (Zürich: Verlag PDA, 1935). See also the correspondence in ABSO/AMSAB/94. For an overview on Swiss planism, see Michel Brélaz, “Le Plan du Travail suisse,” Bulletin de l’association pour l’étude de l’œuvre d’Henri de Man, no. 12 (1984): 45–66.

  57. 57.

    See Meyer Sluyser, Planmatige socialistische politiek: het Plan van den Arbeid (Amsterdam: Arbeiderspers, 1934). See also Hendrik de Man, “Voorrede,” ibid., 2.

  58. 58.

    See Het Plan van de Arbeid. Rapport van de commissie uit N.V.V. en S.D.A.P. (Amsterdam: Arbeiderspers, 1935). Evidence of the BES’ influence on the SDAP Plan can be found in ABSO/AMSAB/87. For an overview of Dutch planism, see Gerard M. Nederhorst, “Het Plan van de Arbeid,” Het eerste Jaarboek voor het Democratisch Socialisme, eds, Jan Blank, Martin Ros and Bart Tromp (Amsterdam: Arbeiderspers, 1979), 109–135; R. Abma, “The Labour Plan and the Social Democratic Workers’ Party,” The Low Countries History Yearbook, no. 14 (Den Haag: Martinus Nijhoff, 1981): 154–181; Freddy Verbruggen, “Terug naar het Plan van den Arbeid” and Hendrik Brugmans, “Le Plan de Man et le Pays Bays,” Bulletin de l’association pour l’étude de l’œuvre d’Henri de Man, no. 12 (1984): 3–29 and 30–36 respectively.

  59. 59.

    “Everything points to the fact that the de Man Plan will very soon be imitated in all the other parties of the Second International” [Eugen Varga, “The De Man Plan is a Fraud on the Workers (Part I),” Communist International 11, no. 12 (1934): 485].

  60. 60.

    Ibid., 482, 486, 487.

  61. 61.

    Eugen Varga, “The De Man Plan is a Fraud on the Workers (Part II),” Communist International 11, no. 13 (1934): 523.

  62. 62.

    Ibid., 524. Varga expanded his views in a tract written upon request of the Belgian Communist Party: see Eugen Varga, Le “Plan” (Brussels: C.D.L., 1934). The tract appeared in France as Eugen Varga, Henri de Man et son Plan (Paris: Bureau d’Éditions, 1934).

  63. 63.

    Henri de Man, “Un défenseur communiste du réformisme,” Le Peuple, October 31, 1934. See also Lucien Laurat, “Le Plan du Travail vu de Moscou,” Le Mouvement syndical belge, 10 (1934): 214–219. Laurat’s and de Man’s rejoinders were also circulated as short tracts [Lucien Laurat, Le Plan de Travail vu de Moscou (Brussels: Bureau d’Action pour le Plan, 1935); Henri de Man, Le Plan du Travail et les communistes (Paris-Brussels: Labor, 1935)]. De Man claimed he responded to Varga only because the tract was widely circulated by Belgian communists with the purpose of disorienting younger POB militants [see Henri de Man, “Le Plan et les communistes,” Le Peuple, October 10, 1934].

  64. 64.

    Desjardins , who had been deeply impressed by Au-delà du marxisme, hosted de Man in 1929 and invited him again in 1932 [see Desjardins’ diary entries quoted in Rolph Nordling and Georges Lefranc, “L’activité sociale de Paul Desjardins,” in Paul Desjardins et les décades de Pontigny: études, témoignages et documents inédits, ed. Anne Heurgon-Desjardins (Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1964), 215–222, 301–302, 303–304; letter from Desjardins to de Man, 12 May 1929, AHDM/IISG/279; letter from Philip to de Man, 8 January 1932, AHDM/IISG/338; letter from Desjardins to de Man, 17 April 1932, AHDM/IISG/338]. Early discussions between Desjardins and de Man about a conference on the Plan dated back to November 1933 [see letter from de Man to Desjardin, 6 December 1933, ABSO/AMSAB/82].

  65. 65.

    Two further International Plan Conferences were held, the first in Geneva in April 1936 and the second again in Pontigny in October 1937, but de Man did not manage to attend. For further discussion, see Georges Lefranc, “Les conférences internationales des plans et la commission internationale des plans,” Revue éuropeenne des sciences sociales: Cahiers Vilfredo Pareto 12, no. 31 (1974): 189–196; Gerd-Rainer Horn, “From Radical to Realistic: Hendrik de Man and the International Plan Conferences at Pontigny and Geneva, 1934–1937,” Contemporary European History 10, no. 2 (2001): 239–265.

  66. 66.

    For the full list of participants, see Konferenz zur Besprechung der Probleme der Panwirtschaft, 14. Bis 16 September 1934: Abbaye de Pontigny (Frankreich) (Zürich: VPOD, 1934), 76–77. Further details on the Belgian delegation can be found in “Séance du Bureau du 4 septembre 1934,” ABWP/AMSAB.

  67. 67.

    See Konferenz zur Besprechung, 10–38. The only French Plan discussed at Pontigny was the CGT Plan. Pahl, who spoke in German and was referred to as “Mr. X” in the Swiss proceedings, informed the audience he had been contacted at the last minute and was not speaking on behalf of Cripps and Cole [see Konferenz zur Besprechung, 29]. Pahl was indicated with his real name on the French record: see “Conférence consultative, à l’abbaye de Pontigny, sur les problèmes relatifs à l’économie planée,” L’Information sociale 17, no. 553 (1934): 15. Originally, de Man had hoped to host G.D.H. Cole, Richard Tawney, or Stafford Cripps [see letter from de Man to Déat, 25 January 1934, ABSO/AMSAB/82].

  68. 68.

    Ibid., 4–6. See also “Les thèses de Pontigny,” Plan 1, no. 27 (1934): unpaged.

  69. 69.

    See de Man, Socialisme et planisme, 13–14.

  70. 70.

    A slightly modified version of the fourteenth thesis, including the motto “Rien que le Plan, tout le Plan” was published in the French edition of Die Sozialistische Ideen: see Henri de Man, L’idée socialiste (Paris: Grasset, 1935), 534.

  71. 71.

    See de Man, Socialisme et planisme, 3–9.

  72. 72.

    In the words of Joseph Van Roosbroeck: “even if he [de Man] signs his articles, public opinion and the rival press cite and interpret these ides as if they were those of our party” [“Séance du Conseil Général du 25 mai 1934,” ABWP/AMSAB].

  73. 73.

    See “Séance du Bureau du Conseil Général du 16 avril 1934,” ABWP/AMSAB.

  74. 74.

    In early 1934, De Man distanced himself from Déat, who had launched the idea of an international one-week seminar devoted to the Labour Plan, due to his expulsion from the SFIO and support to the Doumergue cabinet. In doing so, de Man openly referred to Vandervelde’s concerns and role within the LSI [see letter from Déat to de Man, 6 January 1934; letter from de Man to Déat, 10 January 1934; letter from de Man to Déat, 17 January 1934; letter from de Man to Desjardins, 27 February 1934, all in ABSO/AMSAB/82]. It is worth stressing that Déat was not invited to the First International Plan Conference.

  75. 75.

    “Séance du Conseil général du 12 décembre 1934,” ABWP/AMSAB. Beyond Déat, Vandervelde hinted also at militants of right-wing organisations who developed an interest in de Man’s ideas.

  76. 76.

    See letter from Vandervelde to Lefranc, 14 January 1935, in Georges Lefranc, “Les conférences internationales,” 195–196; Emile Vandervelde, “Retour à Marx et analyses marxistes,” Le Peuple, February 17, 1935.

  77. 77.

    “Séance du Bureau du Conseil Général du 12 juillet 1934,” ABWP/AMSAB.

  78. 78.

    See “Séance du Conseil général du 12 décembre 1934,” ABWP/AMSAB.

  79. 79.

    See “Séance du Bureau du Conseil général du 16 mars 1934,” ABWP/AMSAB; “Séance du Bureau du Conseil Général du 8 juin 1934,” ABWP/AMSAB; “Séance du C.G. du 8 novembre 1934,” ABWP/AMSAB. De Man criticised an article by Vandervelde in which Le Patron speculated whether the POB might be more lenient towards a future government which, without implementing the Labour Plan, would at least abandon deflationary policies [see Emile Vandervelde, “Prochainement sans doute la crise ministérielle: mais après?,” Le Peuple, October 21, 1934]. The BBT was a Belgian cooperative bank badly hurt by the economic crisis which eventually went bankrupt. The fact that the BBT was involved in short-term, speculative investments damaged the reputation of the POB as the bank’s president, Edouard Anseele, was also a well-known and powerful party member. For a contemporary account, see “La crise de la Banque Belge du Travail,” Revue d’économie politique 48, no. 4 (1934): 1212–1222.

  80. 80.

    See, for example, “Le Congrès socialiste et l’utopie du plan de Man,” Le Vingtième siècle, December 28, 1933; Tamias [Max-Léo Gérard], “Comment on trompe le peuple,” L’Independence Belge, January 17, 1934; Tamias [Max-Léo Gérard], “Comment le Plan du Travail est incompatible avec les libertés publiques,” L’Independence belge, April 12, 1934; Fernand Deschamps, “Le truc du Plan,” Le Vingtième siècle, January 19, 1934; “Une lettre de M. Henri Lambert sur l’économie libre: il faut découvrir la cause de la monopolisation graduelle ou de son danger,” L’Etoile belge, April 29, 1934; Jules Coelst, “Réformes et plans de façade,” La Libre Belgique, May 10, 1934; Pierre des Sables, “Les dangereuses suggestions du Parti socialiste,” L’Independence Belge, June 9, 1934; Pierre des Sables, “La dictature et les socialistes,” L’Independence Belge, August 6, 1934; Marc Delforge, “La panacée de M. de Man: serait-ce un remède homéopathique?” Vers l’Avenir, December 12, 1934.

  81. 81.

    See, for example, Cyrille Van Overbergh, “Socialisme,” Le Soir, January 12, 1934; Maurice Masoin, “Que vaut le Plan de Man?,” Vers l’Avenir, March 6, 1935.

  82. 82.

    Robert Poulet, “Que penser du ‘Plan de Man’?,” La Nation belge, November 23, 1933. Poulet’s vision of a national and corporatist revolution was outlined in Robert Poulet, La révolution est à droite (Paris: Denoël et Steele, 1934), esp. 186–223. More centrist Catholics were equally unconvinced by de Man’s proposals: see, for example, Fernand Baudhuin, “Le Plan du Travail: comment il apparait à la lecture des textes,” La Libre Belgique, March 17, 1935.

  83. 83.

    Louis Colens, “Le ‘Plan’ et les démocrates chrétiens: réponse de ceux-ci aux socialistes,” La Libre Belgique, January 4, 1934; “La Confédération des Syndicats Chrétiens devant le Plan de Man,” Le Vingtième Siècle, February 11, 1934; “A la fédération des cercles catholiques,” Le Soir, March 12, 1934; “La Ligue des Travailleurs et le Plan socialiste,” La Vie Nouvelle, April 22, 1934. The CSC was especially severe: see C.S.C., “Le Plan de Man,” Le Progrès syndical, no. 30 (1934): 1–2 and C.S.C., “Voulez-vous suicider?,” Le Progrès syndical, no. 42 (1935): 1. For other rejections from prominent Catholics, see Albert Muller, “Le Plan du Travail et la morale catholique,” and Joseph Arendt, “Le valeur économique du Plan de Man,” La Terre Wallonne 15, no. 174 (1934): 313–330 and 331–344 respectively. For the POB’s reaction, see Auguste Dewinne, “Les dirigeants de la démocratie chrétienne ne veulent pas du plan: pourquoi?,” Le Peuple, January 11, 1934; Auguste Dewinne, “Ou est la manouvre?,” Le Peuple, January 18, 1934. The most comprehensive critique of the Labour Plan from a Catholic perspective can be found in a special issue of La Cité Chrétienne, published in February 1935, that featured articles by Jacques Leclercq, Marcel Grégoire, Léon Renard, Joseph Arendt, and others.

  84. 84.

    On the origins of this phenomenon, see Pascal Delwit, La vie politique en Belgique de 1830 à nos jours (Brussels: Editions de l’Université de Bruxelles, 2012), 70–79.

  85. 85.

    Most of these elements were acknowledged by POB activists: see “Les démocrates-chrétiens et le Plan du Travail,” Le Peuple, February 17, 1934; Jef Rens, “Les chrétiens et le Plan,” Le Mouvement syndical belge, no. 3 (1934): 54–58; “Correspondance échangée entre la Commission Syndicale et la Confédération des Syndicats chrétiens,” Le Mouvement syndical belge, 1 (1935): 16–19. Sympathies for corporatism were strong even among young Catholics, a prime target for the campaign for the Labour Plan: see, for example, “Les jeunesses catholiques en marche vers le corporatisme,” La Wallonie, January 29, 1934; “Le deuxième Congrès de la Centrale Politique de la Jeunesse Catholique,” La Libre Belgique, January 29, 1934. On the backlash, see the letter in which a Catholic trade unionist complained with de Man that the “slogans of infiltration loudly issued by certain socialist cadres aimed at turning the members of catholic trade unionists against their leaders” [Signed letter to de Man, 5 December 1934, IISG/429]. On Catholic counterpropaganda, see Emmanuel Gerard, De Katholieke Partij in crisis: partijpolitiek leven in België (1918–1940) (Leuven: Kritak, 1985), 357–360.

  86. 86.

    The most notable endorsements of the Labour Plan from the Catholic milieu came from Elie Boussart, editor of Terre Wallonie, and Raymond de Becker, who led a faction of dissident young Catholics based at the University of Leuven: see “M. Elie Baussart en faveur de la constitution du Front du Travail,” Le Peuple, February 6, 1934; Auguste Dewinne, “Les catholiques et le Plan,” Le Peuple, December 27, 1934; Jules Parfait, “Les jeunes catholiques belges et le plan de Man,” Esprit, no. 30 (1935): 951–959. De Becker, who had penned one of first detailed commentaries on the Plan for the French journal Esprit in January 1934, had a public exchange of letters with de Man on Le Peuple between December 1934 and January 1935.

  87. 87.

    Already in July 1934, de Man explained that the Labour Plan could not “wait for the next elections of 1936. It is a programme to be enacted in 1934, or not be enacted at all” [Henri de Man, “La résorption du chômage et le Plan du Travail,” Le Mouvement syndical belge, no. 7 (1934): 155]. See also “Séance du Bureau du C.G. du 6 juillet 1934,” ABWP/AMSAB; Henri de Man, “Le Plan au Pouvoir! L’appel au Parlement avant l’appel aux électeurs,” Le Peuple, July 18, 1934.

  88. 88.

    De Man later claimed he reached that conclusion in autumn 1934 when he became persuaded that not even a stunning electoral victory by the POB would lead to a full implementation of the Labour Plan: “I learned too much about the weaknesses of my own party to fool myself about the role that it could play by governing alone” [De Man, Après coup, 241]. If that were true, it would be hard to explain why de Man articulated his fourteenth thesis in December. Presumably de Man’s change of mind did not occur until January 1935.

  89. 89.

    In some notes dated June 13, de Man called it “inévitable à la longue” [AHDM/IISG/425]. But already in the first half of May he had given a speech and drafted an article in favour of a “limited and controlled” devaluation [Letter from Wauters to the Conseil Général du POB, 12 May 1934, AHDM/IISG/425].

  90. 90.

    See, for example, “Séance du Conseil Général du 25 mai 1934,” ABWP/AMSAB; “Amendement de Vandervelde à la résolution proposée par H. de Man au Conseil Général du 16 juin 1934,” AHDM/IISG/425.

  91. 91.

    “Séance du Conseil Général du 16 juin 1934,” ABWP/AMSAB.

  92. 92.

    See “Projet de résolution proposée au Conseil Général, le 16 juin 1934, par Henri de Man,” AHDM/IISG/425.

  93. 93.

    See de Man, Après coup, 242. De Man had previously been a contributor to the bulletin of the Belgian National Bank, which Van Zeeland directed: see letter from Van Zeeland to de Man, 30 June 1932, AHDM/IISG/623.

  94. 94.

    Paul Van Zeeland, Réflexions sur le Plan quinquennal (Brussels: Éditions de la Revue Générale, 1931), 100.

  95. 95.

    See Paul Van Zeeland, Regards sur l’Europe: 1932 (Brussels: Office de Publicité, 1933), 172–185. For a full statement of Van Zeeland’s political philosophy, see Paul Van Zeeland, Révision de valeurs: essai de synthèse sur certains problèmes fondamentaux de l’économie contemporaine et leurs réactions politiques (Paris: Albert, 1937), 253–314.

  96. 96.

    Finance Minister Camille Gutt would subsequently claim that Van Zeeland and de Man devised a plan for devaluing the Belgian Franc well before 1935, implying that Van Zeeland had been disloyal to the Theunis government [see Jean F. Crombois, Camille Gutt and Postwar International Finance (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011, 24–25]. This is probably an exaggeration, although it is true that Van Zeeland and de Man remained in touch: on March 25, 1935, de Man mentioned the fact that he had been talking to Van Zeeland “for a long time” about the regulation of the banking sector [“Séance du 25 mars 1935–après midi,” ABWP/AMSAB].

  97. 97.

    Van Zeeland, Regards, 166.

  98. 98.

    See de Man, Après coup, 243.

  99. 99.

    See Horn, European Socialists Respond to Fascism, 89–90, citing de Man’s article “Impressions du Bornage: Il est moins cinq,” Le Peuple, January 20, 1935 as well as interviews with Léo Moulin and Jan de Man, one of Hendrik de Man’s sons. See also Delattre, Souvenirs, 135–136.

  100. 100.

    See, for example, Henri de Man, “L’heure du Plan doit venir avant l’heure de la grève générale,” Le Peuple, January 23, 1935; Henri de Man, “Nous avons fait l’économie d’une grève générale. Faites, Messieurs, l’économie d’une dissolution!,” Le Peuple, February 27, 1935. However, de Man’s opposition to a general strike predated his visit to Quaregnon: see “Séance du Bureau du C.G. du 9 janvier 1935,” ABWP/AMSAB.

  101. 101.

    De Man, Cavalier seul, 167.

  102. 102.

    See “Le nouveau gouvernement n’est pas aux mains des banquiers,” Le Peuple, March 27, 1935. On intra-party negotiations, see Bregt Henkens, “De vorming van de eerste regering-van Zeeland (maart 1935). Een studie van het proces van kabinetsformatie,” Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Nieuwste Geschiedenis 26, no. 1–2 (1996), 209–261; Carl-Hendrik Höjer, Le régime parlementaire belge de 1918 à 1940 (Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksells Boktryckeri, 1946), 236–245.

  103. 103.

    Critics of the Labour Plan celebrated its demise: see “Le plan lâché,” La Libre Belgique, March 24, 1935; “Et le Plan … reste en plan,” La Gazette de Charleroi, March 25, 1935.

  104. 104.

    Among the few enthusiasts, see Louis Piérard, La Belgique, terre de compromis: les socialistes belges et le gouvernement Van Zeeland (Brussels: Les Éditions de Belgique, 1935). Another senior POB politician, Jules Destrée, compared Belgium to a burning house and praised the “wisdom” of the POB in accepting governmental responsibility [Jules Destrée, “Quand la maison brûle …,” Le Soir, March 30, 1935]. Vandervelde claimed that the economic crisis forced the POB to act in order to prevent an authoritarian coup d’état and concluded: “We had to do it” [Compte rendu du Congrès extraordinaire du P.O.B. des 30 et 31 mars 1935 (Brussels: L’Eglantine, 1935), 42]. Somewhat similarly, de Man contended that an “impasse” had been reached and the reactionaries in parliament could try to make the next round of elections “impossible” [Ibid., 161].

  105. 105.

    De Man was initially designed Minister of Economic Affairs but opposition from Catholics and Liberals forced Van Zeeland to desist [see “Séance du 25 mars 1935–après midi,” ABWP/AMSAB]. For Gérard’s comprehensive and highly critical assessment of the Labour Plan, see Compte rendus des travaux de la Société d’Economie politique de Belgique, no. 96 (1934): 12–17.

  106. 106.

    It is indicative that the BNAP was shut down in April and converted into a generic Office de Propagande [see Arthur Gailly, “Communiqué du Bureau National d’Action,” Le Peuple, April 13, 1935].

  107. 107.

    See, for example, Eugen Varga, Le Plan trahi. Réponse à Henri de Man, Ministre de la bourgeoisie belge (Brussels: C.D.L., 1936); Dossier du Plan de Man: trahison et coup de massue, 1934–1935 (N.I.). See also Rens, Rencontres, 53.

  108. 108.

    See, for example, Emile Vandervelde, “Nos J.G.S. et le ‘Plan Révolutionnaire,’” Le Peuple, October 6, 1934; Emile Vandervelde, “‘L’Action Socialiste’ et le réformisme,” Le Peuple, October 7, 1934.

  109. 109.

    “Séance du Bureau du C.G. du 6 juillet 1934,” ABWP/AMSAB.

  110. 110.

    Martin Conway, The Sorrows of Belgium: Liberation and Political Reconstruction, 1944–1947 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), 188.

  111. 111.

    See, for example, Henri de Man, “L’Action pour le Plan: la troisième vague,” Le Peuple, December 26, 1934; de Man, Cavalier seul, 166.

  112. 112.

    As acknowledged even by most critics and/or political opponents of de Man: see, for example, Pierre Daye, La jeunesse et l’avènement de Léopold III (Paris: Grasset, 1934), 113; Delattre, Souvenirs, 136; Camille Gutt, Pourquoi le Franc belge est tombé (Bruxelles: Nouvelle Société d’Editions, 1935), 14–15; Philip Van Isacker, Tussen Staat en Volk: Nagelaten memoires (Antwerp: Sheed & Ward, 1953), 186; Eyskens, De Memoires, 40–41. See also Carl Strikwerda, “The Belgian Working Class and the Crisis of the 1930’s,” in Chance und Illusion: Labor in Retreat, eds. Wolfgang Maderthaner and Helmut Gruber (Vienna-Zürich, Europaverlag, 1988), esp. 286–287.

  113. 113.

    Vandervelde, who had long battled with Action socialiste, insisted on Spaak’s appointment to preserve the “most complete union within the party” [“Séance du Bureau du 25 mars 1935,” ABWP/AMSAB].

  114. 114.

    So argued a leading expert in the field: Carl Landauer, “Recent Literature on Planning,” Social Research 2, no. 4 (1935): 507.

  115. 115.

    Even Liberals who backed Van Zeeland, such as Paul Hymans, had to be reassured that the programme of National Renovation would stop short of nationalising credit: see Hymans, Mémoires. Vol. II, 736–737.

  116. 116.

    An examination of the discussions within the POB Council in March–April 1935 leaves no doubt that, at the time, de Man pinned high hopes on Van Zeeland and believed at least sections of the Plan would be put into effect, despite the hostility of the other parties. Most notably, on March 25, he went so far to contend that Van Zeeland was willing to do “what the Plan proposes” and set up “an economic commission” which would tackle “the reduction of unemployment and the statutes of banks” [“Séance du Bureau du 25 mars 1935,” ABWP/AMSAB].

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Milani, T. (2020). Fire and Ashes: The Fight for the Labour Plan in Belgium. In: Hendrik de Man and Social Democracy. Palgrave Studies in the History of Social Movements. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42534-0_6

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