Strike Hits Communist Newspaper

from a Brussells correspondent The editorial staff of Le Drapeau Rouge (Red Flag), the official daily newspaper of the Belgian Communist Party, have been out on strike since the 3rd week in October. The typographical workers decided to go out in solidarity with them. The strike was all the more embarrassing to the C.P. leadership in view of the national congress which happened to have been scheduled for the same time. The congress thus semains unreported to the members and sympathisers of the Communist Party. The editorial staff is seeking the union wage level. The response of the C.P. 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 full-time workers for the pzrty. 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 organising the campaign for higher wages. He is not a newcomer to the party, having worked on Le Drapeau Rouge for 15 years.