STRIKE SHUTS DOWN BELGIAN CP NEWSPAPER
BRUSSELS, Oct. 25 -- The editorial staff of Le Drapeau Rouge [Red Flag], the’ official daily newspaper of the Belgian Communist party, have been out on strike for the past week. The typographical workers decided to go out in solidarity with them,
The strike was all the more embarrassing to the Communist party leadership in view of the national congress which happened to have been scheduled for the same time. The congress thus remains unrepor= ted to the members and sympathizers of the Communist party.
The editorial staff is seeking the union wage level. The response of the CP leadership to this is that editorial staff members cannot be considered to be professional journalists. They are party professionals and therefore should receive the same pay as other fulltime workers for the party.
The argument would have been more convincing if (1) some of the party leaders did not obviously enjoy a much higher income than the editorial staff; (2) the editors of Le Drapeau Rouge had not appealed to the newspaper employers association -- to which they belong! «~ in order to bring pressure to bear against the strikers,
The strike was touched off by a decision of the editors «=. the political bureau of the Communist party, in fact -- to fire the secretary of the editorial board. He was guilty of organizing the campaign for higher wages. He is not a newcomer to the party, hav= ing worked on Le Drapeau_Rouge for fifteen years.