What does the PVDA, the Belgian Labour Party, stand for?

The Labour Party of Belgium - PVDA for short - is a far-left party. It is regularly called a communist party, but the PVDA itself prefers to speak of "Socialism 2.0”.

The PVDA, a unitary party that operates under the name PTB (Parti du Travail de Belgique) in Francophone Belgium - strongly advocates equality and redistribution. It goes a lot further in this than other left-wing parties like the socialist party Vooruit.

The PVDA believes that people and companies should primarily work for the common good rather than for profit. As a result, the rich should pay far more taxes, to benefit those in society who have a harder time.   

Government plays an incredibly important role in the society that the PVDA envisages. Government should take control and regulate many more things than today, instead of letting the free market take its course.

For example, the PVDA believes the government should intervene in the prices of some goods and services. The party wanted to block energy prices when they soared due to the war in Ukraine. The party backs public ownership for many businesses.

VRT News asked the Labour Party what its three main positions are ahead of the June 9 elections:

Dare to take the money where it is: a millionaire's tax of 2 percent for the richest 1 percent of the population. In addition, close tax loopholes for multinationals.  

Make life truly affordable: higher wages and 0 percent VAT on the shopping basket.

Stop the greed culture: abolish MPs' severance pay, fewer ministers and more unity.

nesA historical perspective

The history of the PVDA goes back to 1971, when AMADA or “All Power To The Workers” was founded. This was a political movement made up of various groups that had been working for better working conditions and organised wildcat strikes.

AMADA looked especially towards China - and especially towards its Communist Party - as the great example. The death of the Chinese leader Mao Zedong and the new economic policy in China meant that Belgium’s communist movement too had to renew itself. In 1979, the PVDA was founded, the political party we know today.

Under the leadership of Ludo Martens, the party made a strong commitment to workers. It opposed closure plans for the Limburg coal mines, participated in the peace movement and became well-known for its "Make the Rich Pay for the Crisis" campaign.

The party experienced only very limited electoral success. Here and there the party would win a local council seat, but for many years for the Flemish or federal parliament, the party picked up no more than 1 percent of the vote.  That’s well below the 5 percent electoral threshold that needs to be passed to pick up seats.

It would eventually take until 2014 before the party got its first elected members in the chamber of representatives, the lower house of parliament. At that time only French-speaking MPs were elected. Five years later, the party experienced a historic victory under the leadership of Peter Mertens and also gained seats in the Flemish Parliament for the first time.

In recent years the party's stance on Russia's war in Ukraine has been criticised. The party condemns Russia's actions, but this isn’t visible from parliamentary votes.  The PVDA says its positions should mainly be seen as criticism of NATO and U.S. foreign policy.

Rudi Kennes (64) is the PVDA’s lead candidate for the European elections.  He was one of the leading trade union representatives at the old Opel/GM plant up in Antwerp and serves on Willebroek local council.