Articles

Demonstration Europe for Peace and Solidarity on the call of the peace movement, the two big trade unions FGTB/ABVV and CSC/ACV and 93 organizations.

The war was started by Vladimir Putin. There is no excuse for it. Russian troops must leave Ukraine. Period. Moreover, it is urgent to have a debate on how to move towards de-escalation and guarantee security in Europe.

10,000 people demonstrated last Sunday 27 February in Brussels at the "Basta!" march organised by the PTB/PVD, under the slogan: "Protect the people, not the powerful. Basta! Enough of unpayable energy bills!”

On Saturday 5 February, some 200 peace activists gathered in Brussels, in response to a call from the Belgian peace movement, under the banner 'No war for Ukraine! No money for NATO’s wars'.

General practitioner, perfectly bilingual, field worker and federal deputy since 2019, Sofie Merckx succeeds Raoul Hedebouw as chair of the PTB group in the Federal Parliament. "My commitment began as a student alongside the workers of Renault Vilvoorde and of the Forges de Clabecq and, since then, I have continued to be involved, whether for housing and health care rights or against the power of Big Pharma," explains Sofie Merckx. "I am proud to be able to continue all these struggles today as group leader with the whole party collective."

New Year's speech by Raoul Hedebouw, president of the PTB-PVDA 2022 will be a year of resistance. We are going to fight to make it better. Better than 2021, which was not an easy year. We, the workers, the young people, the grassroots, the Workers’ Party of Belgium (PTB-PVDA), are going to give all to make 2022 different.

Set to win 18 seats in parliament, the Workers’ Party of Belgium is the fastest-growing force on the European left. Newly elected leader Raoul Hedebouw tells Jacobin how his comrades built an explicitly Marxist party with mass appeal.

The same concern is on everyone's lips: "When our non-vaccinated colleagues are dismissed, who will take care of the patients?" Anger is everywhere, because they know what it costs them to do their job in such difficult conditions.

The PTB was present at the beautiful demonstration in the trade union front on 6 December 2021.

On Sunday 5 December, Raoul Hedebouw was elected president of the PTB-PVDA at the closing session of our Unity Congress. Here is his speech at the closing session.

The delegates of the PTB-PVDA Unity Congress have elected Raoul Hedebouw as the party's new president by a large majority. Hedebouw, who received 94.1% of the vote, is taking over from Peter Mertens. The announcement was made during the closing session of the congress, which - due to compulsory health measures - had to be held online.

An extraordinary story lies behind the emergence of the PTB from a small party to a major political player. The announcement that Peter Mertens is will not run again for president is an opportunity to look back at the renewal movement that began in 2004. We have traced this history through quotes from the mainstream press.