After four weeks of bitter strikes, one man kept Belgium in turmoil almost singlehanded. Andre Renard, 49, deputy secretary-general of the General Workers Federation, held out against the government, against his own Socialist Party, even in apparent defiance of the parliamentary process itself.
A born union organizer, bony, greying Renard is a popular hero in the mold of the late Nye Bevan, and just as militant a Socialist. He grew up in the bitter, capitalist-hating 1930s, fought bravely against the Nazis in the World War II under ground. Now he clearly had much...
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