(2 of 8)
Belgians have again & again come together to fight foreign oppressors—French, Spanish, Dutch, Austrian, German. This week, for instance, Belgium commemorates in its great national holiday (July n) the Battle of the Golden Spurs, fought victoriously in 1302 outside Courtrai by a rabble of Belgian artisans and peasants against the French nobility. Seven hundred golden spurs, from slain French knights, were carried from the battlefield to Courtrai Cathedral as a thank offering.
Such intermittent unity against oppressors, however, did not burgeon into nationhood. Belgium did not become an independent state until 1830, and then it was more as a result of British policy than because of internal cohesion. Today the Belgian population is divided into two very different parts: the Flemish-speaking people (51%) who live in the north, and the French-speaking Walloons (43%) in the south. The King of the Belgians is supposed to stand above the social-political, north-south tug. He is the constitutional mortar without which the two parts of the Belgian house might fall apart.
A Commonsensical Crisis. A calm, commonsensical people, the Belgians last week took their constitutional crisis in characteristic stride. In Brussels, the pro-Leopold Catholic, or Social Christian, party had failed to form a cabinet after a fortnight of dickering with the Liberals and Socialists.The two lesser parties would not accept the Catholic plan for a national advisory plebiscite on the King's return.
At week's end everybody agreed that the crisis could not be resolved immediately. So everybody sensibly packed up for a weekend out of town. Half a dozen top
Catholics and Liberals went to Paris for a holiday. Armed with overnight bags, Socialist leaders gulped down a quick Saturday morning breakfast of coffee and hot buns in the Patisserie du Peuple (a party cooperative restaurant, cafeteria-style), then hurried through an executive meeting. By noon they were off to the seaside. Regent Charles, who is acting King until the issue of elder brother Leopold is settled, drove to the Ardennes Forest.
A Healthy Economy. One reason for Belgian calm, even if there is no cabinet at the helm, is the relatively healthy state of the country's economy. True, the boom of 1945-48 has vanished. Some industry, notably leather goods, is falling off sharply. Yet total production is still 22.7% above the 1936-38 average.
Unemployment numbers 200,000, or about 14% of the total potential working force. But one of the world's most generous social-security systems cushions the jobless—in fact, even encourages them. A worker need be on the job only six weeks to qualify for up to 50% of pay benefits for an indefinite period. As a result, many women have been taking six-week jobs, then getting themselves fired to enjoy the benefits of unemployment. Some on the insurance rolls are known to have full-time jobs across the border in France.
In Brussels, that solid center of bourgeois comfort, a goodly number of Rolls-Royces, Bugattis and Delahayes swing up before the swank shops on the Rue Royale. Department stores are jammed. All classes eat hearty and live well. Workmen's wages buy almost as much as in 1939.