BRUSSELS, FEBRUARY 26, 1948.

‘We want the right and we want it now!’ Spoke a woman at the top of her lungs, shaking a masterfully made placard with an art depicting a woman with a cross in one hand and a ballot at the other. It was a rally organized by the National Council of Belgian Women (CNFB/NVB). This rally was the third one this month alone. It seemed as if the question of voting rights could not be avoided any longer. Léonie La Fontaine, a notable suffragist that is in her old age, has published a letter called the La Fontaine Manifesto on February 25, calling for the government to implement, immediately, the female suffrage.

The CNFB, which was founded in 1905, had now risen again in 1948, taken by the furor of renewed debates. The organization had grown increasingly frustrated by the Spaak government’s hesitation in broadening the voting rights to women in the country, and the PSC/CVP had grown increasingly popular during this period amongst Belgian women. The government had been facing a conundrum – how to preserve the PSB/BSP in the 1949 elections and avoid a Christian landslide?

The response laid in a careful analysis of the leadership of the CNFB in 1948. It appeared that, although a large majority of women were Catholic feminists – many important leaders of the organization were liberal feminists. The Liberal Party was more left-leaning than the Christians and could be flexible allies, capable of contributing to the discourse while allowing more social democratic measures in the government. It was with these intentions that Prime Minister Spaak announced, on February 27, that the government would sponsor talks with the CNFB to occur in Brussels on March 4-5, 1948.

The Brussels Meeting of 1948.

On March 4, Prime Minister Spaak and his cabinet welcomed a large delegation of the CNFB. Fifteen women had been voted by the CNFB to participate in this conference, including Marthe Boël, Julliette Borboux and Maria Baers, a prominent Catholic feminist and an important leader of this meeting.

The conference began with a large seminar discussing the importance of the suffrage movement for liberal democracy in Belgium and other countries. The discussion included a series of debates between the cabinet members and the CNFB delegates which later helped shape a series of bills drafted by the Minister of Justice. The overall objective was to show that the government had good will and good intentions towards women’s suffrage. Prime Minister Spaak even pledged that, within the year, a bill would be presented – and voted – in parliament to address the issue of women’s suffrage, as well as workplace laws such as in the magistrature. The Prime Minister also pledged to implement new measures towards orphanages and support for impoverished families.

The Prime Minister later had a series of photographs taken with prominent liberal feminist women, discussing some issues of policy with the Liberal Party – which frustrated the PSC/CVP. The objective of the government was to allow the liberals to project further power by being the ones mainly associated with the feminist movement. It would allow them, not the PSC/CVP, to obtain large votes from the women in 1949. This would allow the PSB/BSP to survive the electoral onslaught and, perhaps, cling to the government once again.

The Female Suffrage Act of 1948

On the 27th of March, Law 27-08-1948, formally known as the Female Suffrage Act – but coined by Boël as the Marie Popelin Act, was almost unanimously approved, as seen by the table below:

To briefly break it down, the Marie Popelin Act granted all women in Belgium above the age of 21 the right to vote in all elections, such as parliamentary and council ones. Belgian women were also granted the right to run for all political offices, assuming they meet the age requirements. It is a fairly straightforward piece of legislation that received wide support from essentially all political groups in the country. It did not pass unanimously due to two dissenting votes from the PSB/BSP, who were dissatisfied with Spaak’s way of arguing that the election would still fare well for the socialists. This would prove harmful to the PSB/BSP, requiring ample rebranding.

The PSB/BSP’s Solution

Brussels, April 11, 1948.

Following the approval of the Marie Popelin Act, the Belgian government was still stuck wondering about what to do regarding the female vote. Prime Minister Spaak had a few ideas but none of them were concrete. It was only through a meeting with PSB/BSP president Max Buset. Buset was a confident and capable administrator and had a series of proposals on how to make the party become politically competitive in these areas. The general solution was going to be to find new female candidates to endorse, while maximizing campaigning in other areas of the country. Buset had been worried, for quite some time now, that the party was too restricted to Wallonia. He believed that robust campaigning and active chapters in the Flemish regions would increase the country’s competitivity and allow it to survive the 1949 elections with relatively intact results.

Therefore, it did not take long for a photograph to circulate of Spaak, with a timid smile, shaking the hand of Aimée Bologne-Lemaire, a prominent Belgian feminist, resistance member and Walloon activist. Of course, interacting with a Walloon activist rather than a Flemish one wasn’t exactly the idea, as Buset had emphasized, but it was important for the party to meet with women candidates, as the PSC/CVP had been doing with Maria Baers and the PL/LP with Marthe Boël.

A minor triumph for the Spaak government was a meeting with Alice Melin. Melin had been a prominent socialist for quite a while and was seen as more favorable by Buset. What came out of this meeting, which occurred on April 15 of the same year, was known as the ‘Buset Promise’.

The Buset Promise/The Belgian Socialist Special Congress of 1948

Liège, April 28-30, 1948.

The leadership of the Belgian Socialist Party had decided to go on the electoral offensive. In preparation for the 1949 elections, the PSB/BSP decided to launch a special congress in Liège, in the Flemish region of the country. The objective here was simple: to attract more Flemish voters; attract the female electorate; and review the national priorities. A national directive in early April encouraged women to apply for the party and to the delegation to be sent to Liège, in a way of maximizing the potential votes in the future election.

The result was that, out of 400 delegates to be sent to Liège, fourteen were women, including Aimée Bologne-Lemaire. It was a small victory, given the very recent female participation in politics, but it symbolized a minor triumph of the PSB/BSP.

At the congress itself, a series of questions were debated and affirmed. Max Buset was one of the main speakers and his pledges for the future of the country were known as the ‘Buset Promise’. He applauded the government’s efforts in expanding the social welfare state, calling for further reforms and adjustments to the national wage, trade union rights, and negotiations between workers and enterprises. In regards to Belgian women, Buset defended new legislation that would make women and men have equal salaries, as well as a readjustment of workplace laws, including the active participation of women in the magistrature. Adopting a formal request by Bologne-Lemaire, Buset requested that any future PSB/BSP government have at least one female minister.

At the conclusion of the congress, the Belgian Socialist Party Program of 1949 was presented. It was a comprehensive thirty-page document that defended their key positions in the 1949 election and onwards. It included:

• Proposals for the expansion of the national minimum wage;
• Nationalization of mining industries and new modernization campaigns for Belgian industry;
• Collaboration with trade unions and new legislation to expand their actions;
• Expansion of women participation in government through reforms to the executive;

Summary

• The Belgian government has approved Law 27-08-1948, which allows for universal suffrage in the Kingdom of Belgium – not the colonies – for males and females above the age of 21.

• The Belgian Socialist Party has launched a special congress to maintain its electoral competitivity, with a new policy paper and pledges to incorporate women into the overall governing structure.