THE Daily Worker of May 15 1935 highlighted one of the first acts the Belgian coalition government led by social democrats undertook.

The new premier, Emile Vandervelde, is today more known for his belief that “socialism was by definition a revolutionary doctrine, no matter how reformist the strategy advocated by its leaders,” often cited by continental social democrats as endorsement for the EU project.

Vandervelde was president of the Second International yet had, as leader of the coalition government, ordered armed gendarmes out on the streets against miners on strike at Tamine. The village, fatefully, would also be the site of one of the greatest mass atrocities by nazis in WWII due to its defiance of the occupation.

The coal-owners’ pay reductions had only been announced after the government made clear its support for them in an attempt to open the mines.

The gendarmes driven off, fighting went on all night, until the state forces opened fire.

In London, Hammersmith’s Labour group, the mayor of Bermondsey and other councillors were standing firm against all pressure to spend public money on the government’s “Jubilee stunt.”

In France, with communists supporting the best-placed socialists in the second round of elections, a majority was secured on the Lille council. In municipal councils outside the area of Paris the Communist Party held 33 and gained 52, “by far the most important gains,” according to the Manchester Guardian.

• You can read digitised pages from the Daily Worker (1930-45) and Morning Star (2000-present), as they appeared in print, at http://tinyurl.com/DWMSarchive. Ten days’ access costs just £5.99 and a whole year is £72.