Ludo Martens

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Ludo Martens
President of the Workers' Party of Belgium
In office
4 November 1979 – 2 March 2008
Preceded byOffice created
Succeeded byPeter Mertens
Personal details
Born
Ludo Martens

(1946-03-12)12 March 1946
Torhout, Belgium
Died5 June 2011(2011-06-05) (aged 65)
Occupation
  • Activist
  • historian
  • author

Ludo Martens (12 March 1946 – 5 June 2011) was a Belgian activist and historian who founded and served as the first leader of the Workers' Party of Belgium. He wrote several works on the political history of Central Africa and the Soviet Union.[1]

In 1968, Martens founded the group Alle macht aan de arbeiders (All Power to the Workers), which became the Workers' Party of Belgium in 1979. He served as president of the Workers' Party until 2008. Martens was the last foreigner to meet North Korean president Kim Il-sung before his death on 8 July 1994. According to a press release by the Workers' Party, Martens died on the morning of 5 June 2011 after a long illness.[2]

Another View of Stalin[]

In 1994, Martens published Another View of Stalin (Un autre regard sur Staline), a work that challenges in particular the commonly accepted view of collectivisation in the Soviet Union and the Great Purge under Joseph Stalin. He explained his motivation for writing the book in the introduction: "Defending Stalin's work, essentially defending Marxism-Leninism, is an important, urgent task in preparing ourselves for class struggle under the New World Order."[3] The leadership of the Workers' Party of Belgium, particularly president Peter Mertens in 2016, distanced from Martens' vision on Stalin, whom they call "a dictator."[4]

Works[]

  • Pierre Mulele, ou, La seconde vie de Patrice Lumumba (Antwerp: Éditions EPO, 1985). OCLC 23219832.
  • Sankara, Compaoré, et la révolution burkinabé (EPO, 1989). ISBN 2-87262-033-8.
  • Abo: une femme du Congo (EPO, 1992). ISBN 2-87262-103-2.
  • L'U.R.S.S. et la contre-révolution de velours (USSR: The Velvet Counter Revolution) (EPO, 1991). ISBN 2-87262-057-5.
  • Un autre regard sur Staline (Another View of Stalin) (EPO, 1994). ISBN 2-87262-081-8.
  • Kabila et la révolution congolaise: panafricanisme ou néocolonialisme? (EPO, 2002). ISBN 2-87262-191-1.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Vanoost, Lode (11 March 2018). "Spreken over kolonisatie: niet langer zonder de Congolezen" [Talking about colonization: no longer without the Congolese]. DeWereldMorgen.be (in Dutch). Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  2. ^ "En mémoire de Ludo Martens (1946-2011)". Archived 9 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Workers' Party of Belgium (in French). 6 June 2011. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  3. ^ Martens, Ludo (1994). Another View of Stalin. Archived 26 April 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Antwerp: Éditions EPO. Complete and free PDF of the text of the book in English. Un autre regard sur Staline. Archived 14 November 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Complete and free PDF of the text of the book in the original French. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  4. ^ Mertens, Peter (31 December 2016). "'Zijn regeringspartijen zo bang van PVDA dat feiten niet langer van tel zijn?'" [Are government parties so afraid of PVDA that facts no longer count?]. Site-Knack-NL (in Dutch). Retrieved 13 August 2021.

External links[]

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