Communist Party of Belgium

Defunct communist party in Belgium

The Communist Party of Belgium (Kommunistische Partij van België, or KPB; , PCB) was a political party in Belgium from 1921 to 1989. The youth wing of KPB/PCB was known as the Communist Youth of Belgium. The party published a newspaper known as Le Drapeau Rouge in French and De Roode Vaan in Dutch.

The Communist Party of Belgium was formed at a congress in Anderlecht, Brussels on 3–4 September 1921. KPB/PCB was formed through the unification of two groups, the Communist Party led by War Van Overstraeten and the Belgian Communist Party led by Joseph Jacquemotte, following a split from the Belgian Workers Party. At the time of its foundation, KPB/PCB had around 500 members. KPB/PCB became the Belgian section of the Communist International. The party gained parliamentary presence in 1925, as both Van Overstraeten and Jacquemotte were elected to the Chamber of Representatives. By 1935 KPB/PCB had 9 deputies in the Chamber and 4 members in the Senate. In 1938 it had a membership of about 8,500. During the Second World War, the party had to go underground during German occupation. The party was also closely affiliated with the Partisans Armés, a resistance group during the occupation, however in 1943 much of the party leadership was arrested by German forces. After the end of the war, the party was strengthened and obtained 25% in the parliamentary elections. The party participated in a coalition government with the socialists and the liberals from 1946 to 1947. On 18 August 1950 the party chairman, Julien Lahaut, was assassinated. In the mid 1960s the U. S. State Department estimated the party membership to be approximately 9,890. KPB/PCB lost its parliamentary presence in 1985. In 1989 KPB/PCB was divided into two separate parties, Kommunistische Partij in Flanders and Parti Communiste in Wallonia. Several foreign communist parties, American, British, German, French and Dutch, had branches in Belgium.