Marcel Lorent (1921-1983)
PEC,2 rue Richard Lenoir, 93108 Montreuil, France a job than women, immigrants or young for example by the introduction people, of part-time work directed specifically at women, or the use of the 'head of family' notion in the allocation of jobs or benefits. There have been cuts in social ser- Our comrade Marcel Lorent is no longer. He died on December 22, 1983 folvices, forcing women back to the home, alongside a propaganda campaign aimed plant in Ougree. He was an active member of the FGTB (Socialist-led trade-union at the same objective. Gains previously tederation), who joined the Parti Wallon des Travailleurs [ PWT — Walloon Workwon, in the field of contraception and ers Party - Wallonia is the name for the French speaking part of Belgium] with abortion for example, are also under the team around Louis Goire, the trade-union vanguard of the Liege steel industry. attack; justified by both economic and In 1971 Marcel participated in the foundation of the Ligue Revolutionnaire moral argumentation. des Travailleurs [Revolutionary Workers League, Belgian section of the Fourth
The aim of the Tribunal is to demon- Interantional] from the fusion of the PWT and the Jeune Garde Socialiste [these strate how these attacks on women are two organisations had resulted from splits and expulsions in the Socialist Party taking place, with individual experiences and its youth organisation]. With a dozen other workers in Cockerill he worked as well as information from official and patiently to build the LRT. Above and beyond his union work he would sell up unofficial sources being presented. The to 100 copies of La Gauche every Saturday morning in a door to door sale with Tribunal will thus demonstrate the in- another comrade in his working-class neighbourhood in Ougree. adequacies of governmental or European In 1973 Marcel had to confont the most difficult political and trade union policies, even when they are implement- event in his active life. In that year the union team built around Louis Goire, ed, and that women have to fight to de- of which Marcel had been a part for so many years, was hit by bureaucratic and fend their interests. employers repression. In fact, the FGTB union fulltimers of the Liege metal-
The meeting was attended by the Wo- workers had decided to break up the union vanguard in steel. In the middle of men Against the Crisis co-ordination in a strike the bureaucracy decided to suspend 30 delegates [shop stewards]. These Belgium which includes both the major 30 delegates continued to lead the strike that more than 80 per cent of the worktrade-union federations, the Socialist ers in their sector wished to continue, according to a secret ballot held by the FGTB and the Catholic CSC, as well as women's movement groups, the national The bureaucracy itself had ordered a return to work. La Wallonie, the FGTB women's secretariat of the Socialist trade daily paper, in Liege, falsified the facts, thus on this occasion joining its colleagues union in the Netherlands the FNV, the of the rightwing press. One read that it was only a handful of leftists led by the women's movement and the women's LRT preventing a return to work at the Thomas and LD steelworks. union bodies in Luxembourg. A repre- ill management took advantage of the withdrawal of union protection to sack 7 sentative of the CGT (Communist Party-led union federation) from Portugal was Louis Goire, Henri Dams and Henri Fischbach. present, as also were women from the was not a direct victim of the repression because he did not hold any union post. women's movement in France, the Na- But he was very affected by this betrayal. tional Abortion Campaign in Britain and Of the Cockerill workers who were members of the LRT, Marcel remained the the Greenham Common women and most inclined to continue fighting. He was very active in the committee for the other women's peace groups in Britain. We remember particularly his contribution to Women from the Women Against the the Central Committee of the LRT at the end of 1973 when it discussed how to Crisis' co-ordination in Turin, formed after the conference was held there, also Marcel took early retirement in 1976 but remained active in his local area. In attended. The Comisiones Obreros (Com- 1981 he once more headed the joint LRT-PLS list of candidates for the Senate. munist Party-led unions) from the Span- We remember him with great feeling. ish State and the Madrid Abortion Co- great modesty to his course as an unremitting fighter for workers emancipation. ordinating Commission sent letters indicating their support and interest.
The meeting agreed to hold the Tribunal in March 1985 and to build up to it through a press conference March 8 this year and some public activlowing a short but incurable illness.
bureaucracy.
reintegration of the 7 delegates.
wage this campaign.
There are (too) few like him.
Marcel was a steelworker at the Cockerill
Their comrade Marcel Lorent
He held tenaciously but always with
La Gauche
January 13, 1984.
will take on responsibility for co-ordin- and its effects on women.
ity around the time of the European elec-
In the meantime, it is planned that coordinating networks will be established in the different countries to win further sup port from the women's movement and the trade unions and workers parties, as well as helping to gather information for agreed in principle to work around the themes of equality at work, including taking up the question of part-time work, ating the preparation of information on a specific theme for the Tribunal, particularly where one of the themes is of articular importance for them, as fo xample the Spanish women volunteere to do on abortion, or the British women are considering doing on the arms race
After this initial meeting the next international meeting is planned for June 2/3, again in Brussels. formation, contact the Belgian co-ordinating group: Anne Grauwels, l rue des Oeillets, 1000 Brussels, Belgium.
SUBSCRIBE TO and a shorter working week for all; economic independence for women through the right to work as well as equality of
INTERNATIONAL VIEWPOINT treatment in allocation of benefits, etc.; the particular situation of immigrant women; the decriminalisation of abortion, and the contradiction between the vast amounts spent by governments on defence and the continual cuts in social services justified on the ground that there is 'no money to pay for them'.
It is hoped that different countries International Viewpoint 30 January 1984
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WYWIAD Z CZLONKIEM ROMO artykuty: J. KULERSKIEGO - L.