The Belgian Democratic Union (''Union Démocratique Belge'', UDB; ''Belgische Democratische Unie'', BDU) was a short-lived

centre-left Centre-left politics is the range of left-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. Ideologies commonly associated with it include social democracy, social liberalism, progressivism, and green politics. Ideas commo ...

political party in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

which existed from 1944 to 1946. Aimed at uniting left-leaning

Christian Democrats Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well a ...

with moderate

socialists Socialism is an economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes the economic, political, and socia ...

and others, the movement adhered to a programme which it described as "labourism" (''travaillisme''). It failed to achieve an electoral breakthrough in Belgium's first postwar elections in 1946 and collapsed shortly afterwards.

History

Formation

The UDB was one of two post-war parties founded in Belgium appealing to Christian thought, the other being the Christian Social Party (PSC-CVP), heir to the prewar Catholic Party. The UDB's main founders were Pierre Clerdent and and the party essentially originated in the French-speaking Christian

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

s, being unable to gain major supporters from its Flemish counterpart. The UDB was essentially a "labourist" (''travailliste'') party which would now be placed on the centre-left which advocated the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

's disengagement from national politics (''déconfessionnalisation'') and an agenda based on

progressivism Progressivism is a Left-right political spectrum, left-leaning political philosophy and Reformism, reform political movement, movement that seeks to advance the human condition through social reform. Adherents hold that progressivism has unive ...

(''progressisme''). It had ambitions to be a nationwide party, but was mainly restricted to

Wallonia Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...

and the French-speakers in Brussels, making it short on influence in the capital's political circles. Its leaders came from the

Belgian resistance The Belgian Resistance (, ) collectively refers to the resistance movements opposed to the German occupation of Belgium during World War II, German occupation of Belgium during World War II. Within Belgium, resistance was fragmented between many ...

and the other parties hoped that the UDB and CVP would compete against and weaken each other by splitting the Christian Democrat vote. When the PSC-CVP refused to participate in the second government of Achiel Van Acker (2 August 1945 - 9 January 1946), two UDB members of parliament joined it - Marcel Gregoire for Justice and Jacques Basyn for Defence. Franz De Voghel (with UDB sympathies) was minister of finance.

Fall

UDB hopes were high at the

general elections A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

on 17 February 1946, but these were disappointed, with the party only gaining 51,095 votes (mainly in Brussels) and only managed to elect one person to the Chamber of Representatives (

Paul M. G. Lévy Paul Michel Gabriel, Baron Lévy (27 November 1910 – 16 August 2002) was a Belgian journalist and professor. He was born in Brussels and was a Holocaust survivor. He worked for many years as Director of Information at the Council of Europe ...

for the arrondissement of

Nivelles Nivelles (; ; ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant. The Nivelles municipality includes the former municipalities of Baulers, Bornival, Thines, and Monstreux. The Nivelles arrondissement ...

, though he resigned after only a few weeks and was replaced by Werner Marchand). It was clear that the party had several leaders but no members. In 1946 it had 2,637 members - 380 in Flanders, 904 in Brabant (Brussels) and 1,353 in Wallonia. This marked its end. Some of its leaders went over to the CVP, including Pierre Clerdent (governor of

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

and

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

and later a liberal senator), Alfred Califice (frequently a minister for the CVP) and Antoine Delfosse (for whom this meant a switch back to the CVP). Lévy,

Max Bastin Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (American dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (British dog), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of the OBE) * Max (gorilla) (1 ...

and Jacques Basyn became independents.

External links

Union Démocratique Belge
at Belgium-WWII (

Cegesoma The Study and Documentation Centre for War and Contemporary Society (; ), known by its combined French—Dutch acronym Cegesoma or CegeSoma, is a historical research institute and archive based in Anderlecht, Brussels in Belgium. It focusses on Wor ...

) {{Belgian political parties Defunct political parties in Belgium Belgian Resistance 1945 establishments in Belgium 1946 disestablishments in Belgium Political parties established in 1945 Political parties disestablished in 1946 Catholic political parties Christian socialist organizations

History

Formation

Fall

Further reading

External links