The “Counterattack” of the Belgian Workers’ Party and Its Lessons

In 2019, the Belgian Workers’ Party (PTB/PVDA) became a “dark horse” emerging from the developmental difficulties of European radical left-wing parties. In the European Parliament elections held in May, the Workers’ Party’s support rate rapidly increased from 3.5% to 8.7%, securing a seat in the European Parliament for the first time in its history, a standout performance among European radical left-wing parties whose election results generally declined. In the Belgian regional elections held the same month, the Workers’ Party obtained 6.6%, 12%, and 13.5% support rates in Flanders, Brussels, and Wallonia respectively, along with 4, 11, and 10 seats. In the Belgian national parliamentary elections, the Workers’ Party unprecedentedly won 12 seats in the Federal Parliament and 4 seats in the Senate. Thus, the Workers’ Party’s number of seats rapidly rose from 8 in 2014 to 41, ranking fifth among the 12 parties with elected representatives nationwide. From the perspective of the development of Western communist parties in recent years, a rapid upward momentum like that of the Belgian Workers’ Party is absolutely unique. The Workers’ Party can be said to have staged a perfect “counterattack,” with some views even calling it an “important bright red breakthrough” and a “phenomenal social movement.”

2019年，比利时工人党（PTB/PVDA）成为从欧洲激进左翼政党发展困境中脱颖而出的“黑马”。在5月举行的欧洲议会选举中，工人党的支持率从3.5%快速增至8.7%，历史上第一次获得了欧洲议会席位，在此次选举成绩普遍下滑的欧洲激进左翼政党中表现抢眼。在同月举行的比利时地区议会选举中，工人党在弗拉芒、布鲁塞尔、瓦隆分别获得6.6%、12%、13.5%的支持率以及4个、11个、10个议席。在比利时全国议会选举中，工人党更是史无前例地在联邦议会获得12个议席，在参议院获得4个议席。这样，工人党的议席数从2014年的8席迅速上升至41席，在全国有当选代表的12个政党中位列第五。从近年西方共产党的发展看，如比利时工人党般快速上升的势头绝无仅有，工人党可谓上演了完美“逆袭”，有观点甚至称之为“重要的亮红色突破”和“现象级的社会运动”。

As the current “most dynamic force of the European left,” where does the strength of the Belgian Workers’ Party come from? How was it able to achieve such a huge increase in strength in such a short time? What thought-provoking insights does its rise experience bring to current Western and even world communist and socialist movements? This article will explain and analyze the above issues.

作为当前“欧洲左翼最具活力的力量”，比利时工人党力量从何而来？其何以能够在短时间内实现如此巨大的实力提升？其崛起经历给当前西方乃至世界共产党和社会主义运动带来了哪些具有启发性的思考？本文将围绕上述问题进行阐释和分析。

I. The Development Process and Stages of the Belgian Workers’ Party

一、比利时工人党的发展进程与阶段

The Belgian Workers’ Party was born in the climax of the student movement that swept the West in the late 1960s. It experienced a process of birth, slow advancement, crisis, split, reshaping, and revival, moving forward through twists and turns, mainly passing through the following stages of development.

比利时工人党诞生于20世纪60年代末蔓延西方的学生运动高潮之中，经历了初生、缓慢推进、危机、分裂、重塑与复兴的过程，在曲折中一路前行，主要经过了如下几个发展阶段。

The first stage was the party’s initial founding period from 1966 to 1979. In the late 1960s, amid the atmosphere of radicalization across Western society, the Belgian socialist movement surged. Marxist thought was widely disseminated in Belgium. Some students at the University of Leuven and Ghent University, deeply influenced by Marxism, took to the streets, shouting slogans like “Bourgeoisie, get out of campus” and “People’s university,” calling for the democratization of higher education. At the same time, the feminist movement opposing patriarchy and calling for equal pay for equal work, the peace movement opposing the US invasion of Vietnam, and the anti-racist movement supporting the liberation of Black Americans were also developing vigorously across Belgium.

第一阶段是1966~1979年党的初创时期。20世纪60年代末，在整个西方社会趋向激进化的氛围中，比利时社会主义运动风起云涌。马克思主义思想在比利时得到广泛传播，鲁汶大学和根特大学一些深受马克思主义影响的学生走上街头，高喊“资产阶级滚出校园”“人民的大学”等口号，呼吁实现高等教育的民主化。与此同时，反父权制、呼吁同工同酬的女权运动，反对美国入侵越南的和平运动，支持美国黑人解放的反种族主义运动，也在比利时各地如火如荼地发展起来。

It was precisely in such progressive movements that a new type of workers’ party was conceived and formed. On October 5, 1970, a newspaper titled *All Power to the Workers* (AMADA/TPO) was launched, and simultaneously a new party with the same name was established. In its early days, AMADA/TPO sought to unite with Marxists in the student movement, actively engaged in struggles to defend democratic rights, fight for the legitimate rights and interests of new immigrants, and oppose the establishment of a professional army, and was tempered by the successive Belgian strike struggles from 1970 to 1973. However, as a nascent party, its immaturity gradually revealed itself in the struggles, such as organizational chaos and disorder stemming from the student movement, hollow political propaganda detached from daily life realities, etc. Therefore, from 1976, AMADA/TPO began efforts to correct the party’s sectarianism and dogmatism, rectify mistaken understandings like the “uselessness” of traditional trade unions, engage in joint actions and build alliance fronts with trade unions on specific issues, pay attention to environmental protection, actively support urban ecologicalization, and seek practical breakthroughs with a spirit of self-criticism.

正是在这样一些进步运动中，新型工人政党孕育形成。1970年10月5日，一份名为《所有权力属于工人》（AMADA/TPO）的报纸创刊，同时一个同名新党建立。AMADA/TPO成立之初，努力寻求与学生运动中的马克思主义者联合起来，积极开展捍卫民主权利、为新移民争取合法权益、反对建立职业军队的斗争，经受了1970~1973年此起彼伏的比利时罢工斗争的洗礼。但作为新生政党其不成熟性也在斗争中逐渐暴露出来，比如源于学生运动的组织混乱、无序，政治宣传空洞、脱离日常生活实际等。因此，AMADA/TPO从1976年开始努力纠偏党的宗派主义和教条主义，改正传统工会“无用论”等错误认识，在具体问题上与工会开展共同行动、构建联盟阵线，关注环境保护，积极支持城市生态化，以一种自我批判精神寻求实践突破。

The second stage was the period of the party’s formal establishment and slow development from 1979 to 1989. On November 4, 1979, nearly ten years after the formation of AMADA/TPO, the First Congress was held, and the party was officially renamed the Belgian Workers’ Party (PTB/PVDA). The congress adopted the Workers’ Party’s first party program, emphasizing socialism as the development goal, while formulating a minimum program for achieving social progress, democracy, peace, and national independence. The Belgian Workers’ Party became a genuine political force within Belgium.

第二阶段是1979~1989年党的正式建立与缓慢发展时期。1979年11月4日，在AMADA/TPO组建近10年之后，召开了第一次代表大会，并正式更名为比利时工人党（PTB/PVDA）。大会通过了工人党首个党纲，强调以社会主义为发展目标，同时制定了实现社会进步、民主、和平和民族独立的最低纲领，比利时工人党成为比利时国内一支真正的政治力量。

After the 1970s, with the outbreak of the oil crisis, the “golden age” of rapid Western economic growth ended. Neoliberalism became the dominant economic policy and ideology, the labor movement was suppressed, the theory of “farewell to the working class” prevailed, and left-wing radicalism gradually receded. Against this backdrop, the open and inclusive policy process initiated by the Workers’ Party in the late 1970s somewhat contracted. At the party’s Second Congress in 1983, the Workers’ Party reaffirmed its political principles at the ideological and organizational levels, strengthened the organizational core, maintained the party’s image as a “cadre party,” and imposed stricter requirements on party membership.

20世纪70年代后，伴随石油危机爆发，西方经济高速增长的“黄金时代”终结，新自由主义成为主导性的经济政策和意识形态，劳工运动受到打压，“告别工人阶级”论盛行，左翼激进主义逐渐退潮。在这一背景下，工人党自70年代末开启的开放性、包容性政策进程有所收缩。1983年召开党的二大，工人党在意识形态和组织层面重申政治原则，强化组织核心，维护党的“干部党”形象，对党员身份的要求也更加严格。

Throughout the 1980s, the Workers’ Party actively participated in numerous protest movements, such as opposing the Belgian government’s austerity policies, factory closures, and corporate layoffs; supporting the 1985 strike of British coal miners against Margaret Thatcher’s closure of mines; and supporting liberation struggles in Southern countries like Nicaragua, South Africa, and El Salvador. This continuously increased the Workers’ Party’s influence within trade unions and social movements. In 1988, the Workers’ Party’s Third Congress summarized the party’s workers’ struggles in the 1980s, actively supported trade unionism, and called for trade union unity. However, overall, during this period, the Workers’ Party failed to convert its appeal in the labor movement into effective electoral support. Its support rate in national elections never exceeded 1%, and its influence at the institutional level was negligible.

在整个80年代，工人党积极参加了众多抗议运动，比如反对比利时政府的紧缩政策、工厂倒闭、企业裁员，支持1985年英国煤矿工人反对撒切尔夫人关闭矿场的罢工行动，支持尼加拉瓜、南非、萨尔瓦多等南方国家的解放斗争，等等，这使得工人党在工会和社会运动中的影响力不断攀升。1988年，工人党三大对党在20世纪80年代的工人斗争进行总结，积极支持工联主义，呼吁工会团结。但总体上看，这一时期工人党未能将其在劳工运动中的号召力转化为有效的选举支持，其在全国大选中支持率一直未能突破1%，在制度层面的影响力微乎其微。

The third stage was the period of the party’s low development from 1989 to 1999. Since its founding, the Belgian Workers’ Party had been a staunch critic of Soviet socialism, considering it corrupt and degenerate, a “most dangerous superpower.” However, during the critical moment of the drastic changes in Eastern Europe and the dissolution of the Soviet Union from 1989 to 1991, when voices within the Belgian Workers’ Party calling for self-dissolution were incessant, the Workers’ Party held its Fourth Congress in 1991. For the first time, it conducted an in-depth analysis of the drastic changes in socialist countries and the subsequent new world order, largely revising its negative evaluation of the Soviet Union, to the extent that for a long time afterward, the Workers’ Party was even called an “uncritical defender of Soviet history.” In 1995, the Workers’ Party’s Fifth Congress attempted to reflect on past policies, calling for greater responsibility among party cadres, more political and strategic efforts, and correcting the party’s bureaucratic tendencies to adapt to new social realities. However, in practice, these goals were not achieved. This congress focused more on the party itself, neither analyzing the political situation six years after the fall of the Berlin Wall nor conducting a critical reflection on the new situation. Instead, it continued to “cut and paste” past operational principles, failing to form a new program based on the people’s needs or to formulate a new strategy adapted to the new environment. The Workers’ Party’s self-assessment of this situation was that “thought had not yet matured enough to develop new methods.”

第三阶段是1989~1999年党的发展低迷时期。自创建之后，比利时工人党一直是苏联社会主义的坚定批评者，认为其腐化、堕落，是“最危险的超级大国”。但在1989~1991年面临东欧剧变、苏联解体，比利时工人党内部自我解散声音不绝于耳的关键时刻，工人党于1991年召开党的四大，首次对社会主义国家剧变及其后的新世界秩序进行了深入分析，很大程度上修正了对苏联的负面评价，以至于在此后很长一段时间工人党甚至被称为“不加批判的苏联史捍卫者”。1995年，工人党五大尝试对以往政策进行反思，呼吁党的干部要有更大的责任感，进行更多的政治和策略努力，纠偏党的官僚主义倾向以适应新的社会现实。但从实践看，这些目标并未实现。这次代表大会更多聚焦党自身，既未对柏林墙倒塌6年后的政治形势进行分析，也未对新形势进行批判性反思，而是继续“剪贴”过去的运作原则，没有在人民需要的基础上形成新纲领，也没有重新制定适应新环境的新战略。工人党对这一状况的自我评价是“思想尚未成熟到发展出新方法”。

In these ten years, in stark contrast to the lag in ideological theory, the Workers’ Party’s practical struggles advanced steadily. From opposing the Iraq War and a series of new aggressive wars, actively supporting the peace movement, to opposing racial violence, protesting the rise of neo-fascist organizations, and launching the “479,917 Signature Goal” petition campaign—lasting over two years—for automatic citizenship after five years of legal residence; from being the only domestic party opposing the restrictive clauses of the Maastricht Treaty and organizing the anti-euro movement, to actively practicing the idea of “going to the people,” participating in protests and demonstrations against the government’s neoliberal policies from all sectors, and supporting nationalist and revolutionary forces in Belgium’s former colonies, the Workers’ Party’s social prestige continuously rose. However, overall, during this period the Workers’ Party still struggled to break free from rigidity in handling relations with trade unions and other issues. At the Party’s Sixth Congress in 1998, the Workers’ Party continued to adhere to an inward-looking policy orientation, which led to a historic defeat in the 1999 general election nearly thirty years after its founding, with the Party’s support rate falling to just 0.6%, pushing the Workers’ Party to the brink of an internal crisis.

在这10年中，与思想理论滞后形成鲜明对照的，是工人党现实斗争的稳步推进。从反对伊拉克战争等系列新的侵略战争，积极支持和平运动，到反对种族暴力，抗议新法西斯主义组织兴起，发起合法居住5年后自然获得公民地位、持续了两年多的“479917个签名目标”的请愿运动；从作为国内唯一反对《马斯特里赫特条约》限制性条款的政党，组织反欧元运动，到积极实践“到人民中去”思想，参加各界的反政府新自由主义政策的抗议示威，支持比利时前殖民地的民族主义和革命力量，工人党的社会声望不断提升。但总体上，这一时期工人党在处理与工会的关系等问题上仍然难脱僵化。在1998年党的六大上，工人党继续坚持内顾型政策导向，从而导致在组建近30年之后，工人党在1999年大选中遭遇历史性挫败，党的支持率仅为0.6%，工人党因而处于内部危机爆发的边缘。

The fourth phase was the period of deepening crisis and strategic adjustment for the Workers’ Party from 1999 to 2008. Reflecting on the 1999 electoral defeat, the Party leadership conducted a profound self-examination, concluding that it was the result of accumulated erroneous strategies over the past decades. The Workers’ Party conducted extensive surveys among its supporters, which showed that the Party’s strengths lay in its fighting spirit, idealism, willingness to commit, and its distinct characteristics as a working-class party. However, sectarianism, ideological rigidity, dogmatism, sloganism, and a tendency to preach still largely constrained the Party’s development.

第四阶段是1999~2008年工人党危机深化与战略调整时期。围绕1999年选举失败，工人党领导层进行了深刻反思，认为这是过去几十年错误战略累积的结果。工人党在党的支持者中进行了广泛调研，结果显示党的优势在于拥有斗争精神、富有理想、勇于承诺、保持着工人阶级政党的鲜明特征，但宗派主义、思想僵化、教条主义、口号化、乐于说教也仍然在很大程度上束缚党的发展。

Entering the 21st century, internal debates within the Workers’ Party grew more intense. Influenced by post-Marxists such as Negri and Hardt, the Workers’ Party leaned toward struggles against U.S. aggression, organizing radical anti-war coalitions while paying little attention to everyday life issues. This strategy further plunged the Party into a developmental trough; in the 2003 general election, the Party’s support rate hit a new low. This situation also led to a severe crisis within the Party leadership. The majority of Party members opposing the development strategy sharply criticized the leadership for being “leftist,” dogmatic, and lacking attention to material issues. Under these circumstances, the Workers’ Party split, with some supporters of the traditional line being expelled and a new leadership composed mainly of young cadres being formed. Thereafter, the Party’s line gradually changed, shifting toward struggles centered on everyday needs, and the Party’s “renewal movement” was launched.

进入21世纪后，工人党党内争论更趋激烈。受奈格里和哈特等后马克思主义者的影响，工人党倾向于进行反对美国侵略的斗争，致力于组织激进的反战联盟，而很少关注日常生活问题。这一战略使工人党进一步陷入发展低谷，在2003年大选中，党的支持率再创新低。这一状况也导致党的领导层面临严峻危机，反对党的发展战略的多数党员，激烈抨击党的领导层“左”倾、教条化，缺乏对物质议题的关注。在这种情况下，工人党发生分裂，一些传统路线的支持者被开除出党，以青年干部为主的新领导层组建起来。此后，党的路线逐渐发生改变，开始转向围绕日常生活需要的斗争，党的“更新运动”随即开启。

The internal crisis, combined with the neoliberal “rightward” turn of European social democracy during this period, made profound transformation of the Workers’ Party possible. In 2005, the Workers’ Party actively participated in a 100,000-person march in Belgium against pension reform, regaining prestige in the trade union movement, with hundreds of trade unionists joining the Party, greatly advancing the Party’s “renewal” movement. This was also seen as an important step in the Workers’ Party’s transition from a “cadre party” to a “membership party.” The change in line also brought some substantive gains for the Workers’ Party in the 2006 municipal elections, and calls for a “reorientation” of the Party grew louder within it. In 2008, the Workers’ Party convened a “Renewal Congress,” formulating a new development line combining “principledness” and “flexibility,” and the Workers’ Party began its path to rise.

党内危机加之这一时期欧洲社会民主主义的新自由主义“右”转，工人党的深刻变革成为可能。2005年，工人党积极参与比利时反对养老金改革的10万人游行示威，在工会运动中重获声望，数百名工联主义者入党，极大地推动了党的“更新”运动，这也被视为工人党从“干部党”向“成员党”转型迈出的重要一步。路线的改变也使工人党在2006年市政选举中取得了一些实质性进展，对党进行“重新定位”的呼声在党内越来越高。2008年，工人党召开“更新代表大会”，制定了“原则性”与“灵活性”相结合的全新发展路线，工人党开始走上崛起之路。

The fifth phase is the period of the Workers’ Party’s gradual rise from 2008 to the present. During the 2008 financial crisis and the subsequent European debt crisis, the Workers’ Party actively participated in anti-austerity street actions and launched a campaign to tax the rich. With the rise of right-wing populism and separatism, as Belgium’s only nationwide party, the Workers’ Party actively supported the “Save Unity” movement; in 2014, it launched a campaign against “expensive energy,” pushing the government to reduce the VAT on electricity; it launched the “Red is the New Green” movement, pushing climate issues onto the institutional agenda. Additionally, during the political turmoil in the Arab region after 2010, as the only Belgian party opposing Western intervention in Libya and Syria, the Workers’ Party launched large-scale solidarity movements to support refugees. These struggles and actions further expanded the Party’s social influence.

第五阶段是2008年至今工人党的渐进性崛起时期。在2008年金融危机及其后的欧债危机中，工人党积极参加反紧缩街头行动，发起向富人征税运动。伴随右翼民粹主义和分离主义的兴起，作为比利时唯一的全国性政党，工人党积极支持“拯救团结”运动；2014年发起反对“昂贵能源”运动，推动政府削减了电费增值税；发起“红即新绿”运动，推动气候问题成为体制性议题。此外，在2010年后阿拉伯地区的政治动荡中，工人党作为比利时唯一反对西方干涉利比亚和叙利亚的政党，发起了大规模支援难民的团结运动。这些斗争和行动进一步扩大了党的社会影响力。

Organizationally, the Workers’ Party’s size expanded rapidly during this period. At the end of 2007, the Party had 2,800 members; by 2015, this had grown to 8,500; by 2016, it reached 10,000; and by December 2019, it exceeded 19,000. The Party’s grassroots branches were further consolidated, regional and sectoral leadership underwent generational renewal, and the Party’s research departments developed anew. The Party also achieved substantive breakthroughs in parliamentary elections. In the 2014 national parliamentary elections, the Workers’ Party won two seats in the federal parliament for the first time in its history, also winning two seats in the Walloon regional parliament and four in the Brussels regional parliament, along with 52 local representative seats. By 2018, the Workers’ Party made rapid progress in local elections, with elected representatives across various regions increasing from 52 to 157. By 2019, the Workers’ Party achieved historic new breakthroughs at regional and national levels, developing into a significant political force with national influence.

从组织上看，这一时期工人党规模迅速扩大。2007年末，工人党拥有党员2800人，2015年时增至8500人，到2016年时达到1万人，2019年12月已超过19000人。党的基层支部更加巩固，地区和部门领导层实现新老交替，党的研究部门得到新的发展。党的议会选举也取得实质性突破。在2014年的全国议会选举中，工人党历史上第一次获得2个联邦议会席位，在瓦隆和布鲁塞尔地区议会选举中也分别获得2个和4个席位，并获得了52个地方代表席位。到2018年，工人党更是在地方选举中突飞猛进，各地当选代表也从52人增加到157人。到2019年，工人党在地区、全国各层面实现历史性新突破，工人党发展成为具有全国影响力的重要政治力量。

II. The Party’s Strategic Breakthrough: Combining “Principledness” and “Flexibility”

二、党的战略突破：“原则性”与“灵活性”相结合

The rise of the Belgian Workers’ Party began with its Eighth National Congress in 2008. This congress changed the Party’s entire line and development direction, shaping the Party’s development process over the following decade. The core theme of this congress was “building a party that unifies principledness and flexibility, building a party of the working class.” Emphasizing both “principledness” and “flexibility” has also become a hallmark strategic feature of the Belgian Workers’ Party in the current world socialist movement. From the Eighth Congress in 2008 to the Ninth Congress in 2015, themed “Unity,” the basic strategy of combining “principledness” and “flexibility” remained consistent, continuously enriched and improved, laying a solid ideological foundation for the Workers’ Party’s sudden rise.

比利时工人党的崛起，始于2008年党的第八次全国代表大会。这次大会改变了工人党的整个路线和发展方向，塑造了近十年间工人党的发展进程。这次党代会的核心主题是“建设一个原则性与灵活性相统一的党、建设工人阶级的党”。坚持“原则性”与“灵活性”并重，也成为比利时工人党在当前世界社会主义运动中具有标志性的战略特征。从2008年党的八大到2015年以“团结”为主题的党的九大，“原则性”与“灵活性”相结合的基本战略一以贯之，并不断充实和完善，为工人党的异军突起构筑了坚实的思想基石。

The Workers’ Party’s “principledness” includes two key points: adherence to Marxism and adherence to socialism, emphasizing that these are the “strong pillars” of the Workers’ Party in a rapidly changing world.

工人党的“原则性”包括两个关键点，即坚持马克思主义、坚持社会主义，强调这是工人党在飞速变化世界中的“坚强支柱”。

On the one hand, Marxism is the Party’s worldview and methodology. The Workers’ Party believes that the foundation of Marxism was laid by Marx, Engels, and Lenin, and mainly consists of five components: an objective and scientific attitude toward understanding the universe, the world, and humanity—dialectical materialism; historical materialism, which understands the laws of development of human society; the method of class analysis, which understands the process of human class struggle; Marxist political economy, which understands the laws of capitalist economic development; and an in-depth understanding of the history of socialism, which has seen both great achievements and serious setbacks. In the Workers’ Party’s view, with the full development of capitalism today, Marxism is even more relevant than it was 200 years ago. The 2008 crisis revealed the effectiveness of Marxist crisis analysis theory in explaining the causes and developmental processes of crises. The Workers’ Party uses Marxism as a framework for explaining capitalism, as a theoretical tool for constructing an alternative society, and as a guide for social action and goals for fundamental social change.

一方面，马克思主义是党的世界观和方法论。工人党认为，马克思主义的基础是由马克思、恩格斯和列宁奠定的，主要包括五个组成部分，即认识宇宙、世界和人类的客观和科学态度——辩证唯物主义；认识人类社会发展规律的历史唯物主义；认识人类阶级斗争进程的阶级分析方法；认识资本主义经济发展规律的马克思主义政治经济学；对既拥有巨大成就也遭遇严重挫折的社会主义历史的深入理解。在工人党看来，随着今天资本主义的充分发展，马克思主义甚至比200年前更加具有相关性。2008年危机揭示了马克思主义危机分析理论在阐释危机原因及其发展进程方面的有效性。工人党将马克思主义作为资本主义的解释框架，同时也以之为构建替代社会的理论工具，以及进行基本社会变革的社会行动和目标指南。

In approaching Marxist theory, the Workers’ Party particularly emphasizes the need to guard against two dangerous tendencies: first, underestimating the importance of studying theory. It must be recognized that Marxism is not spontaneously realized; it requires in-depth study. Theory is very important for constructing principles, strategies, and tactics. Only with correct theoretical analysis can correct slogans, organizational forms, and action proposals be put forward in different environments. Second, separating study from practice. The Workers’ Party advocates that the purpose of study is to promote practice. Marxism is a living science, not a ready-made formula; it requires thoroughly mastering theory and creatively applying it to current conditions to make theory richer and more diverse. Only through extensive trial-and-error practice can social progress be promoted.

在对待马克思主义理论问题上，工人党尤其强调应该注意两种危险倾向：一是低估研究理论的重要性。要认识到马克思主义不是自发实现的，需进行深入研究。理论对于构建原则、战略和策略非常重要。只有能够进行正确的理论分析，才能在不同环境下提出正确的口号、组织形式和行动建议。二是将研究与实践割裂开来。工人党主张研究的目的是推动实践。马克思主义是活的科学，而非现成的公式，需要彻底掌握理论并创造性地应用于当前条件，才能使理论变得更加丰富和多样。也只有通过大量的试错实践，才能推动社会进步。

On the other hand, building socialism is the goal the Party is committed to achieving. The Workers’ Party proposes that its goal is to organize all people and seek to build a socialist society free from exploitation of humans by humans and capable of achieving ecological sustainable development. In its view, although capitalism once achieved historical successes, it can no longer ensure the future of humanity and nature. In the 21st century, human society faces profound economic, ecological, democratic, and cultural crises, and resolving these issues requires providing a global answer. This solution is by no means a piecemeal repair of a doomed system, but rather requires a new paradigm shift, an alternative way of understanding the world, humanity, and nature. To this end, the Workers’ Party has put forward the concept of building a “version 2.0 socialism for the 21st century,” arguing that such socialism is not only possible but necessary.

另一方面，建立社会主义是党致力于实现的目标。工人党提出，党的目标是将所有人组织起来，寻求建立一个没有人剥削人、能够实现生态可持续发展的社会主义社会。在其看来，资本主义尽管曾经取得过历史成就，但已不再能够确保人类与自然的未来。在21世纪，人类社会面临着深刻的经济、生态、民主和文化危机，解决这些问题需要提供一个全球性的答案。这一方案绝非是对一个注定失败的体系进行细枝末节的修补，而是需要一种新的范式转变，一种理解世界、人类和自然的替代方式。为此，工人党提出了构建“21世纪的2.0版社会主义”的构想，认为这种社会主义不仅可能而且必要。

The Workers’ Party outlines a beautiful blueprint for version 2.0 socialism, including a dignified life, high-quality social security, equal rights and opportunities, a safe environment, rich cultural development, a clean natural environment, the expansion of diversity, and the coordination of economic development with the protection of natural resources. Version 2.0 socialism is not the “dangerous illusion” that neoliberals claim; the Workers’ Party has designed for it a complete set of practical frameworks based on the theory of human sociality and human activity as the driving force of history. For example, it provides detailed and thorough explanations and arguments for the socialization of economic levers, planned development, a sustainable social model, the realization of active political participation, the guarantee of basic rights and freedoms, cultural development and prosperity, and even the possibility of realization at the international level. However, the Workers’ Party also points out that version 2.0 socialism is not the end of history, but the beginning of building a society without exploitation on a new foundation, with its ultimate goal being the construction of a classless society, or a truly collective society or communist society.

工人党描绘了2.0版社会主义的美好蓝图，包括有尊严的生活、高质量的社会保障、平等的权利和机会、安全的环境、丰富的文化发展、洁净的自然环境、多样性的拓展、经济发展与自然资源保护相协调等。2.0版社会主义并不是新自由主义者所谓“危险的虚幻”，工人党为之设计了建立在人的社会性以及人的活动作为历史推动力理论基础上的一整套实践框架，比如对经济杠杆的社会化、有计划的发展、可持续的社会模式、积极政治参与的实现、基本权利和自由的保障、文化发展和繁荣乃至在国际层面的实现可能性，都进行了细致而翔实的阐释和论证。但工人党也指出，2.0版社会主义不是历史的终结，而是在新基础上建立一个无剥削社会的开始，其最终目标是构建一个无阶级社会，抑或真正集体性社会或共产主义社会。

While adhering to “principledness,” the Workers’ Party emphasizes that the Party must also maintain “flexibility,” that is, the ability to adapt to the environment. The Workers’ Party proposes that the Party’s actions cannot be based on “fixed dogmas” and “unchanging blueprints,” but must be as flexible as an accordion player to respond to changes in today’s world. At the same time, the Workers’ Party also dialectically points out that a flexible party is not an unprincipled party. On the contrary, it is precisely necessary to better understand and grasp principles in order to enable the Party to respond to daily practical issues such as politics, organization, and action in a more flexible and creative manner. The Party’s most important task is to adhere to both principledness and flexibility, and it must organically combine the two. The Workers’ Party believes this is like how the human body needs both a strong spine and flexible limbs. A body without flesh and blood cannot survive. Similarly, if flexibility is lacking, adhering to principles becomes an empty skeleton.

在坚持“原则性”的前提下，工人党强调党也要保持“灵活性”，即适应环境的能力。工人党提出，党的行动不能依据“固定的教条”和“不变的蓝图”，而是要像手风琴演奏者那样灵活，才能应对当今世界的变化。与此同时，工人党也辩证地指出，灵活性的党不是无原则的党。相反，恰恰需要更好地理解和洞察原则，才能使党以更加灵活和创造性的方式来回应政治、组织和行动等日常实践问题。党最重要的任务就是既要坚持原则性，也要保持灵活性，必须将二者有机地结合起来。工人党认为，这就像人体既需要强壮的脊骨，也需要灵活的肢体一样。没有血肉的躯体难以存活。同样，如果缺乏灵活性，坚持原则就会变成空有骨架。

In the view of the Workers’ Party, strategy and tactics are like “conjoined twins.” Strategy determines the direction of development and long-term goals, while tactics mean finding the most suitable path and method for moving forward. Tactics serve strategy and must change according to the environment. The Workers’ Party believes that tactics are an art with their own rules and laws, and learning to apply tactics is particularly important for the Party’s development. To this end, the Workers’ Party has given all Party members 30 “good” tactical suggestions, mainly including: each tactical action must be based on correct analysis; build as broad a network of contacts as possible; make full use of contradictions among opponents; understand the twists and turns of the path and make appropriate compromises; focus on solving the daily life problems of the people; maintain close ties with the people and commit to solving practical problems; accumulate small victories to boost morale and steadily advance toward set goals; seek a positive media policy; use direct and concise language that the people can understand; let facts speak; constantly find organizational forms suitable for the environment; support the establishment of broad mass organizations; and so on. The Workers’ Party’s goal is to be able to simultaneously maximize the use of these 30 suggestions to build a modern communist party that is broad, transparent, good at listening, acting, and cooperating, and full of the spirit of the times.

在工人党看来，战略与策略就像一对“连体婴”。战略决定发展方向、长期目标，策略则意味着找到前进方向上最合适的道路和方法。策略服务于战略，必须依据环境而改变。工人党认为，策略是一门艺术，自有其规则和规律，学会运用策略对党的发展尤为重要。为此，工人党向全体党员给出了30个“好”策略建议，主要包括每一策略行动必须建立在正确的分析基础之上；尽可能构建广泛联系网；充分利用对手间的矛盾；理解道路的曲折性，并适当做出妥协；关注解决民众的日常生活问题；密切联系民众，致力于解决实际问题；积小胜鼓舞士气，不断向既定目标迈进；寻求积极的媒体政策；运用民众能够理解的直接而简练的语言；以事实说话；不断寻找适合环境的组织形式；支持建立广泛的群众性组织；等等。工人党的目标，是能够同时最大化地运用这30个建议，以构建一个具有广泛性、透明性，善于倾听、行动与合作，富于时代气息的现代共产党。

III. Main Characteristics of the Belgian Workers’ Party’s Political Practice

三、比利时工人党政治实践的主要特点

From a practical perspective, the process of the Workers’ Party’s rise over the past decade is precisely the concrete implementation process of the strategy combining “principledness” and “flexibility.” The overall characteristic of the Workers’ Party’s political practice, in the words of Party Chairman Mertens, is to strive to implement this strategy, adhere to “principles, courage, moral standards, and a desire to learn,” and build a strong communist party, a genuine left-wing party. Only by adhering to “principledness” can one dare to speak out, dare to face difficulties head-on, and not be bought off by lobbyists of big capital; only by being good at learning, constantly drawing lessons from the struggle to build a more just society, and maintaining the Party’s “flexibility,” can one keep pace with the times, break free from ideological rigidity, and always remain vibrant and dynamic. Over more than a decade of development, guided by the strategy of combining “principledness” and “flexibility,” the Workers’ Party has formulated and implemented a series of distinctive action tactics, which are specifically manifested in the following aspects.

从实践看，过去十年间工人党崛起的过程，就是“原则性”与“灵活性”相结合战略的具体落地过程。工人党政治实践的总特征，用党主席梅尔滕斯的话来说，就是努力践行这一战略，坚持“原则、勇气、道德准则和学习欲望”，建设一个强大的共产党，一个真正的左派政党。唯有坚持“原则性”，才能敢于发声、敢于迎难而上，不被大资本的游说者收买；唯有善于学习，不断从构建更为公正社会的斗争中汲取经验，保持党的“灵活性”，才能与时俱进、摆脱思想僵化，始终具有生机和活力。在十几年发展进程中，工人党以“原则性”与“灵活性”相结合战略为指导，制定实施了一系列富有特色的行动策略，具体表现在以下方面。

First, adhere to a radical political positioning and focus on “daily life” issues to determine action strategies. The Belgian Workers’ Party is a firm practitioner of a radical stance. Opposing neoliberalism, opposing the rule of big capital, opposing austerity and the undemocratic operating mechanisms of the EU, and defending the basic rights and interests of the people are the consistent goals of the Workers’ Party’s struggle. However, unlike some “slogan parties” or “banner parties” in political practice, the Workers’ Party behaves more pragmatically and down-to-earth, better able to combine the socialist transformation plan with concrete struggles and direct measures, transcending “grand narratives” and focusing on solving or improving “small” issues in “daily life” to determine the Party’s practical tasks of struggle and build its social foundation. As Workers’ Party Vice Chairman Pestiaux stated, at each different stage, the Workers’ Party tries to make themes concrete, rather than generalizing or proposing “big concepts.” The Workers’ Party invests a great deal of time consulting and understanding what the people are thinking and feeling, and uses this as a starting point to study how to carry out social actions and how to convey the Party’s message.

第一，坚持激进主义政治定位，聚焦“日常生活”问题确定行动方略。比利时工人党是激进主义立场的坚定践行者。反对新自由主义，反对大资本统治，反紧缩、反欧盟的非民主运作机制，捍卫民众基本权益，是工人党始终如一的斗争目标。但与政治实践中的一些“口号党”“标语党”不同，工人党表现得更加务实和脚踏实地，更能够将社会主义变革计划与具体斗争和直接措施结合起来，超越“宏大叙事”，着眼“日常生活”中“小”问题的解决或改善，来确定党的现实斗争任务、建构党的社会基础。正如工人党副主席佩斯蒂奥所言，在每一不同阶段，工人党都在试图使主题具体化，而不是泛化或提出“大概念”。工人党投入大量时间去咨询、了解民众的所思所想，并以此为出发点，研究如何开展社会行动以及如何传递党的信息。

It is precisely based on this understanding that, since 2008, the Workers’ Party has launched a large number of political actions reflecting public opinion and people’s livelihood needs. In addition to the actions mentioned above, the “Medicine for the People” campaign is particularly noteworthy. This campaign originally originated from the 11 community health centers established at the founding of the Workers’ Party in the 1970s, dedicated to providing free, high-quality medical services to society. Over the past decade, the Workers’ Party has successively launched the “Kiwi Model” [7]7 The “Kiwi Model” (modèle kiwi) refers to a system of public tenders for prescription drugs, named after the kiwi fruit, used as a symbol for the campaign to lower drug prices through collective purchasing and generic competition. based on promoting public tenders to reduce prescription drug prices, as well as the “Free General Practitioner Consultation” action, which has promoted the improvement of the Belgian medical system, enabling 250,000 people nationwide to enjoy free medical care by joining community health centers, of which 25,000 directly benefit from the 11 medical centers operated by the Workers’ Party. Furthermore, the campaign launched by the Workers’ Party on the parliamentary election platform since May 2019 to fight for a minimum pension of 1,500 euros has also significantly demonstrated the Party’s influence. The Workers’ Party’s goal is to propose a citizens’ initiative law on this issue, but according to Belgian law, the bill must be voted on in parliament, and it can only be submitted to the Chamber of Representatives after collecting 25,000 signatures. Thanks to the active mobilization of the Workers’ Party, it attracted over 100,000 signatures in just a few months. Actions such as these, tailored to the actual needs of the people, have had a broad social impact and are widely regarded as “a genuine left-wing plan on the right-wing-dominated Belgian political stage.” These actions have also given the Workers’ Party a positive image distinct from other political parties, winning it the support of many anti-establishment figures. Even some analytical viewpoints with an anti-communist stance have had to admit that the reason for the Workers’ Party’s rise lies in the close connection between its practical policies and the expectations of the people.

正是基于这一认识，2008年以来，工人党发起了大量反映民意和民生需求的政治行动。除了上文提及的行动外，尤其值得一提的是“为人民提供药物”运动。该运动最早源于20世纪70年代工人党建党之初建立的11个社区医疗中心，致力于为社会提供免费的高质量医疗服务。近十年来，工人党相继发起了基于推广公开招标以降低处方药价格的“猕猴桃模式”以及“免费全科医生咨询”行动等，促进了比利时医疗制度的完善，使全国25万人能够通过加入社区医疗中心享受免费医疗，而其中2.5万人正是直接受益于工人党运作的11个医疗中心。此外，工人党自2019年5月以来在议会选举平台上发起的争取最低1500欧元退休金运动，也在很大程度上彰显了党的影响力。工人党的目标是围绕该议题提出一项公民倡议法，但根据比利时法律，该法案必须在议会中表决，而只有征集到2.5万个签名才能提交众议院。在工人党的积极动员下，仅仅几个月间就吸引了10万多人签名。诸如此类的行动，贴合民众实际需要，产生了广泛社会影响，被普遍视为“右翼占主导的比利时政治舞台上的真正的左翼计划”。这些行动也赋予了工人党迥异于其他政党的积极形象，使其赢得了大量反建制者的支持。即使是一些持反共态度的分析观点也不得不承认，工人党的兴起原因在于其现实政策与民众期待息息相关。

Second, defending the Party’s identity characteristics and striving to construct an anti-establishment discourse system adapted to the environment. Contrary to the current trend among some Western left-wing parties toward ideological moderation and ambiguity, the Workers’ Party does not evade or conceal its identity characteristics in political practice. Some important Marxist concepts and principles abandoned by social democratic parties and even some Western communist parties—such as Leninism, socialism, democratic centralism, class and class struggle, and the working-class party—remain prominent identity markers of the Workers’ Party. For example, the Workers’ Party defends the important value of Lenin’s thought for Marxism, maintaining that Lenin laid the ideological foundation of Marxism; it emphasizes that democratic centralism is the Party’s basic organizational principle, requiring the whole Party to apply democratic centralism creatively; it stresses that class struggle is the driving force of world history, a political struggle aimed at seizing social power, by no means a takeover of the existing system but the abolition of old forms to establish a new state and society; it insists on the method of class analysis, emphasizing that the Workers’ Party remains the party of the working class, and that this choice is even more important than before, and so on.

第二，捍卫党的身份特征，努力构建与环境相适应的反建制话语体系。与当前西方一些左翼政党在意识形态上的温和化、模糊化倾向相反，工人党在政治实践中不回避、不掩饰党的身份特征。被社会民主党甚至部分西方共产党所抛弃的一些马克思主义重要概念和原则，如列宁主义、社会主义、民主集中制、阶级和阶级斗争、工人阶级政党等，仍然是工人党显著的身份标识。比如，工人党捍卫列宁思想对马克思主义的重要价值，主张列宁奠定了马克思主义的思想基础；强调民主集中制是党的基本组织原则，要求全党创造性地运用民主集中制；强调阶级斗争是世界历史的发展动力，是以夺取社会权力为目的的政治斗争，绝非接管现有制度，而是废除旧形式以建立新的国家和社会；坚持阶级分析方法，强调工人党仍然是工人阶级的政党，而且这一选择较以往更为重要，等等。

However, while adhering to the basic principles of Marxism, the Workers’ Party is also able to flexibly apply and develop Marxist theory in light of changes in the times and social environment, constructing a discourse system that corresponds to the actual development of society, can reflect its own value perceptions, and wins the broadest support. A representative example is its understanding and interpretation of the working class and its class consciousness. On this issue, the Workers’ Party adheres to the classic Marxist definition of the working class—namely, wage laborers who sell their labor power for a living—but, based on a value perception of unity rather than division, the Workers’ Party emphasizes that the working class refers not only to factory workers but also to broad social strata such as white-collar workers, civil servants, the unemployed, youth, intellectuals, and the self-employed. Therefore, it believes that the Belgian working class has, in a sense, not shrunk but expanded; however, compared with the past, the working class has undergone some new changes—for example, it has become more diverse and dispersed, and the contradiction between labor and capital still exists but has become more hidden and less concentrated, and the working class has failed to realize that as a class it has the capacity to change society, and so on. In this situation, the important task of the Workers’ Party is to instill class consciousness into the dispersed working class. In the Party’s view, this is a process of recapturing, enhancing consciousness, mobilizing, and organizing the working class, and therefore requires the use of discourse that is easy to understand and directly targets the core of this contradiction. To this end, the Workers’ Party has put forward slogans such as “People first, not profit first,” while emphasizing that this does not mean the disappearance of class into the so-called concept of “the people,” but rather an effort to recapture the cultural hegemony of some important concepts and words. In addition, innovative discourses such as the “social climate revolution,” which combines anti-austerity, the pursuit of social justice and fairness with the struggle against climate change; “We are one,” which opposes right-wing nationalism and separatism and advocates national unity and solidarity; and the “left-wing opposition to big capital in Europe,” which criticizes the political “revolving door” of European officials and their high salaries, along with their practice, have also greatly expanded the Party’s space for action and social recognition.

但在坚持马克思主义基本原则的基础上，工人党也能够从时代与社会环境变化出发，灵活运用和发展马克思主义理论，构建与社会发展实际相适应、能够体现自身价值认知、争取最广泛支持者的话语体系。具有代表性的是其对工人阶级及其阶级意识的认识和解读。在这个问题上，工人党坚持马克思主义关于工人阶级的经典定义，即以出卖劳动力为生的雇佣劳动者，但基于团结而非分裂的价值认知，工人党强调工人阶级不仅指工厂工人，还包括白领、公务员、失业者、青年、知识分子、自雇者等广泛社会阶层。因此，它认为比利时工人阶级在某种意义上不是萎缩而是扩大了；不过，较之以往工人阶级出现了一些新的变化，比如工人阶级变得更加多样和分散，劳资矛盾仍然存在，却变得更加隐蔽、更不集中，工人阶级未能意识到自己作为一个阶级具有改变社会的能力，等等。在这一形势下，工人党的重要任务就是向分散化的工人阶级灌输阶级意识。在工人党看来，这是一个重新捕获、增强意识、动员和组织工人阶级的过程，因而需要运用一些通俗易懂、直指这一矛盾核心的话语。为此，工人党提出了“以人为本，而非以利润为本”等口号，同时强调这并非表明阶级消失于所谓的“人民”（people）概念之中，而是重新夺回一些重要概念和词语的文化霸权的努力。此外，反紧缩、追求社会公平正义与应对气候变化斗争相结合的“社会气候革命”（social climate revolution），反对右翼民族主义和分裂主义、主张国家团结与统一的“我们是一体”（Wij zijn één），以及诟病欧洲官员的政治“旋转门”及其高薪酬的“左翼反对大资本的欧洲”等创新性话语的提出及其实践，也在很大程度上拓展了党的行动空间和社会认同度。

Third, dialectically understanding the relationship between parliamentary struggle and social movements, as well as the possibility of holding power. Like most Western communist parties today, the Workers’ Party is a communist party that follows the parliamentary road, but comparatively speaking, the Workers’ Party has a clearer understanding of the logical relationship between struggles inside and outside parliament. The combination of a significant parliamentary presence and sustained street struggle has been the Workers’ Party’s unique mode of political action for over a decade. On the one hand, it acknowledges the importance of parliamentary struggle, believing that only by participating in parliament can it introduce its own bills and voice support for social struggles in parliament; on the other hand, it fully recognizes the limitations of parliamentary struggle, emphasizing that participation in parliament itself is not the ultimate goal of the Workers’ Party, and that the work of its deputies is only one link in the Party’s liberation cause, not the final stage of political struggle. The Workers’ Party resolutely opposes “parliamentarism,” opposes putting all work into parliament, and emphasizes that social struggle is the Party’s gene, that the driving force for change lies in street activities and mass movements, that “the actual dynamics of the people are the Party’s lifeline and source of strength,” and that extra-parliamentary initiatives and actions have priority in the Party’s work. The Workers’ Party clearly stipulates that the Party’s work principle is “street-parliament-street,” requiring its deputies to devote more energy to communities, factories, and people’s associations, to conduct detailed analysis of the people’s demands, and to transmit their voices back to political institutions. The Workers’ Party strongly agrees with the view put forward by Rosa Luxemburg over 100 years ago: “Although special political circumstances may temporarily cause workers’ parties in various countries to focus more on achieving certain goals, taking political struggle as the foundation remains the eternal basis of our program.”

第三，辩证认识议会斗争与社会运动的关系以及执政的可能性。与当今多数西方共产党一样，工人党也是走议会道路的共产党，但比较而言，工人党对议会内外斗争的逻辑关系持有更为清醒的理解。显著的议会存在与持续性的街头斗争相结合，是十几年来工人党独特的政治行动方式。一方面，它承认议会斗争的重要性，认为只有参与议会，才能提出党的议案，在议会中发声支持社会抗争；另一方面，它也充分认识到议会斗争的局限性，强调参与议会本身并不是工人党的最终目标，议员工作只是工人党解放事业的一个环节，而不是政治斗争的最后阶段。工人党坚决反对“议会主义”，反对将所有工作都诉诸议会，强调社会斗争是党的基因，变革的动力在于街头活动和群众运动，“民众的实际动态是党的生命线和力量源泉”，主张议会外倡议和行动在党的工作中具有优先权。工人党明确规定党的工作原则是“街道-议会-街道”，要求党的议员把更多精力放在社区、工厂、人民协会，对民众诉求进行细致分析，并将其声音传递回政治机构。工人党非常赞同罗莎·卢森堡在100多年前提出的观点：“尽管特殊的政治形势可能会暂时地使各国工人党更多地专注于实现某些目标，但以政治斗争为基础仍然是我们纲领的永恒基础。”

The Workers’ Party also has a clear understanding of the Party’s possible governance and the problems it may face at the current stage, reflecting the Party’s pragmatic attitude and style. The Workers’ Party does not oppose participation in power and decision-making, and actively participates in governing coalitions at the local level, but it also clearly states that it will not seek to govern at the federal level at present. Because in its view, the necessary conditions for governance are currently lacking; even if it were to govern, it could not control political decisions and would inevitably be in a state of “governing but without power,” as described by François Mitterrand, the former leader of the French Socialist Party. In the current capitalist society, governments have no real power; a large number of lobbying groups from multinational corporations influence decision-making, and some cabinet officials are even directly representatives of big capital. At the same time, at the entire European level, it is currently impossible to break the dominance of neoliberalism. In this regard, the experience of the Greek SYRIZA government has provided particularly useful lessons and insights for the Workers’ Party. The Workers’ Party believes that the experience of the SYRIZA government—which won the election and came to power with a relatively radical anti-austerity plan but chose to “govern without touching the real power holders,” ultimately succumbing to neoliberal policies—shows that to find a strategy to solve the problems of the times, one must question the entire ruling power, and to shake that power, one must possess a strong opposition force. This opposition force requires not only winning elections but also possessing a social movement and organization, and the ability to influence a certain ideological hegemony. As a social force, the Workers’ Party needs time to grow, and also needs time to form countermeasures that can achieve a balance of power. For the Workers’ Party, this is a clearer and more pragmatic strategy.

工人党对于当前阶段党执政及可能面临的问题也有着清晰的认知，体现了该党的务实态度和作风。工人党不反对参与权力和决策，并在地方层面积极参与执政联盟，但也明确提出当前不会寻求在联邦层面执政。因为在其看来，现在缺乏必要的执政条件，即使执政，也不可能左右政治决定，必将处于法国社会党前领导人密特朗所谓“执政但没权”的状态。在当前资本主义社会，政府没有真正的权力，大量跨国集团的游说团体影响决策，一些内阁官员甚至直接就是大资本的代表。同时，在整个欧洲层面，目前也无法打破新自由主义的统治地位。在这方面，希腊激进左翼联盟政府的经历尤其给工人党提供了有益的教训和启示。工人党认为，激进左翼联盟政府胜选执政，拥有相对激进的反紧缩计划，但选择了“在不触动真正当权者的情况下执政”，从而最终屈服于新自由主义政策的实践表明，要找到解决时代问题的战略，必须质疑整个统治权力，而若要动摇这一权力，则必须拥有强大的反对力量。这种反对力量除了赢得选举，更需要拥有一个社会运动和组织，拥有影响某种意识形态霸权的能力。工人党作为一支社会力量，需要时间成长，也需要时间形成能够实现力量平衡的对策。对工人党而言，这才是更清晰、更务实的策略。

Fourth, adopting the “ordinary worker wage system” to prevent the alienation of Party leaders and ensure the Party’s healthy operation and independence. A widely known practice of the Workers’ Party is to put into practice the important principle of the Paris Commune, the “ordinary worker wage system,” stipulating that Party leaders and deputies can only receive income equivalent to the average wage, and guaranteeing that they do not use their positions to obtain other benefits. The Workers’ Party’s logic is based on the following understanding: “If you do not live according to your own ideas, you will eventually think according to your own life.” To represent workers and the people, one must live like ordinary people—living in working-class neighborhoods and receiving the wages of ordinary workers—in order to deeply understand the concerns of the people. And if one earns a high salary of 6,000–10,000 euros per month (the salary standard for deputies and ministers), one will lose contact with real society. To this end, the Workers’ Party stipulates that, based on Belgium’s current salary standards, Party leaders and their deputies can only receive a monthly salary of 1,600–1,900 euros, with the remainder turned over as Party dues. This practice has established a new image of integrity and clean governance for the Workers’ Party, has also given the Party a certain degree of financial independence, and has ensured the Party’s healthy operation.

第四，采用“普通工人工资制”，以防止党的领导者异化，保证党的健康运作和独立性。工人党广为人知的一个做法，是将巴黎公社的重要原则“普通工人工资制”付诸实践，规定党的领导人和议员只能拿相当于平均工资的收入，并保证不利用其职位获得其他收益。工人党的逻辑基于这样一种认识：“如果你不按照自己的想法生活，那么你最终会从你的生活出发进行思考。”要作为工人和人民的代表，就必须像普通人一样生活，住在工人阶级社区、拿普通工人的工资，才能深刻了解民众关切。而如果每个月赚取6000~10000欧元的高薪（这是议员和部长的薪资标准），就会丧失与现实社会的联系。为此，工人党规定，以比利时目前的薪资标准，党的领导人及其议员每月只能拿到1600~1900欧元的工资，剩余部分上缴党费。这一做法树立了工人党清正廉洁的新形象，也使党在财政上具有了一定独立性，保证了党的健康运作。

Fifth, adhere to a workers’ movement orientation, and adopt a more open and inclusive attitude toward trade unions and other social movements and groups. As a political party of the working class, defending workers’ rights and promoting the development of the workers’ movement are the responsibility and mission of the Workers’ Party. In recent years, the Workers’ Party has participated in almost all major strikes and protest actions in Belgium. Whether opposing the federal government’s austerity policies or sectoral strikes by railway workers, bus drivers, cleaners, and medical personnel, the Workers’ Party has actively played a leading role or participated in them. At the same time, the Workers’ Party also advocates opening its doors wide, strengthening cooperation with progressive social organizations and groups, uniting all domestic resistance actions and organizations to jointly carry out the anti-hegemony struggle, and emphasizes that this common struggle is a substantive factor in achieving socialism. In 2015, the Workers’ Party adjusted its party logo; in addition to the basic red flag pattern, it added multi-colored flags to express close ties with different social movements.

第五，坚持工人运动导向，以更具开放性、包容性态度对待工会以及其他社会运动和团体。作为工人阶级政党，捍卫工人权利，推动工人运动发展，是工人党的责任和使命。近年来，工人党参加了比利时几乎所有重要的罢工和抗议行动，无论是反对联邦政府的紧缩政策，还是铁路工人、公交司机、清洁工、医疗人员的部门罢工，工人党都积极发挥领导作用或参与其中。而与此同时，工人党也主张广开大门，加强与进步社会组织和人群合作，将国内所有反抗行动和组织团结起来，共同开展反霸斗争，并强调这种共同斗争是实现社会主义的实质性因素。2015年，工人党调整党标，除基本的红旗图案外，还添加了多色彩旗，以表达与不同社会运动间的密切联系。

Over the years, the Workers’ Party has also developed a whole set of movements, organizations, and initiatives around specific fields, target populations, and concrete issues, such as the Pioneers (youth vanguard), Redfox (youth), COMAC for high school and university students, and other youth movements; the Marianne women’s movement against gender discrimination, for gender equality, and against domestic violence; and the “Friendship Without Borders” organization to aid refugees. Among these, the “Manifiesta” festival, which began in 2010, has now spanned a decade, with thousands of workers, trade union members, and progressive individuals from Belgium and other countries participating each year, and it has become Belgium’s largest solidarity festival. Furthermore, the Workers’ Party’s attitude toward the trade union movement is particularly noteworthy. Unlike the clear sectarian stance of some communist parties, the Workers’ Party emphasizes that trade unions should achieve maximum unity, arguing that dividing into competing unions harms workers and leads to unnecessary conflict and division, and advocates that all trade unions should strengthen cooperation in a constructive manner. Regardless of the “color” of the trade union, as long as it is to defend and promote the realization of workers’ rights and demands, the Workers’ Party will engage in joint struggle with it in major social struggles, thereby demonstrating the basic spirit of openness, inclusiveness, interaction, and cooperation.

多年来，工人党还围绕特定领域、目标人群和具体议题发展了一整套运动、组织、倡议，比如少儿先锋队（Pioneers）、青年红狐（Redfox）、高中生和大学生的COMAC等青年运动，反对性别歧视、追求性别平等和反对家暴等问题的妇女运动（Marianne），援助难民的“无边界友谊”组织，等等。其中，自2010年开始举办的“Manifiesta”节，迄今已经走过十年历程，每年都有数千名来自比利时以及其他国家的工人、工会成员、进步人士参加，现已成为比利时最大的团结节日。此外，尤其值得一提的是工人党对工会运动的态度。与一些共产党明显的宗派主义立场不同，工人党强调工会应实现最大限度的团结，认为划分成相互竞争的工会对工人不利，会导致不必要的冲突和分裂，主张各工会应该以一种建设性的方式加强合作。不管是何种“颜色”的工会，只要是为了捍卫和促进实现工人权利与要求，工人党在重要社会斗争中都将与之进行联合斗争，从而展现了开放、包容、互动、合作的基本精神。

IV. Reflections and Lessons

四、思考与启示

As an “exception” that has risen against the trend, the rise of the Belgian Workers’ Party merits our in-depth study and reflection. Why, under broadly similar external circumstances, and despite being far inferior to many traditional major parties in the Western communist movement in terms of historical heritage, organizational scale, and social base, has the Belgian Workers’ Party been able to achieve a sudden rise in a short period? From the review above, we can see that the proposal and practice of the strategy of combining “principledness” and “flexibility” have been decisive in promoting the Workers’ Party’s historic leap in recent years. For Western communist parties still mired in developmental difficulties and strategic confusion, the Workers’ Party’s path to success clearly offers important reference and inspiration.

作为逆势崛起的一个“例外”，比利时工人党的兴起值得我们深入研究和反思。为什么在当前面临的外部环境大同小异，且在历史传承、组织规模、社会基础等方面远不及西方共产主义运动中的诸多传统大党的情况下，比利时工人党却能够在短时间内实现异军突起？通过上面的梳理我们可以看到，“原则性”与“灵活性”相结合战略的提出及其实践，对推动工人党近年来的历史性飞跃具有决定性意义。对仍然处于发展困境和战略选择迷茫中的西方共产党来说，工人党的成功之路显然也具有重要参考和启示价值。

Taking the evolution of theory and strategy as a clue, Western communist parties over the past 30 years can be broadly divided into two distinct development paths: “traditional” and “modernized.” The former, represented by some relatively radical communist parties, inherits more from traditional socialist theory, has a strong ideological hue, and is prominently characterized as the “left of the left”; the latter has more new developments in ideology and theory, a greater scope of transformation, and a more significant degree of transition. However, looking at the practice of the past 30 years, these two development paths have shown increasing problems, with a growing trend toward “polarization.” For example, the “traditional” type has become increasingly rigid, dogmatic, and formulaic in thought, equating “adherence” to principles with “rigid adherence,” clinging to traditional definitions and becoming divorced from reality, and failing to make corresponding adjustments and changes in response to changes in the era’s environment on important issues concerning the Party’s developmental prospects. Another example: the “modernized” type is overly flexible in strategy and tactics, overemphasizes the practicality of theory, compromises too much during strategic adjustments, and fails to maintain sufficient distinctive characteristics, leading to a progressive weakening of some of the Party’s original distinctive features. Looking at the developmental outcomes of the two paths, the relevant parties either find it difficult to break through the “ceiling” of support rates, or suffer a serious loss of traditional voters, with their strength and influence increasingly shrinking, and their space for survival in regional and national politics becoming ever narrower and more marginalized. For Western communist parties to escape their predicament and achieve something, they must engage in new explorations and strive for new breakthroughs in theory and strategy.

以理论战略的演进为线索，近30年来西方共产党基本上可以划分为“传统”与“现代化”两种截然不同的发展路径。前者以一些相对激进的共产党为代表，对社会主义传统理论继承得比较多，意识形态色彩浓厚，作为“左翼之左翼”的身份特点突出；后者在意识形态和理论上的新发展比较多、变革幅度比较大，转型程度较为显著。但从30年来的实践看，这两种发展路径呈现的问题越来越多，且走向“极化”的趋势越来越突出。比如，“传统”类型在思想上越来越僵化、教条化、程式化，将对原则的“坚守”等同于“固守”，拘泥于传统界定、脱离实际，在一些事关党的发展前途的重要问题上不能结合时代环境变化做出相应调整和改变。再比如，“现代化”类型在战略策略上过于灵活，过分强调理论的实用性，在战略调整时妥协过多，自身特色保持不足，导致党的原有的一些鲜明特征越来越弱化。从两条路径的发展结果看，目前相关党或者难以打破支持率“天花板”，或者传统选民流失严重，党的力量和影响越来越萎缩，在地区、国家政治中的生存空间愈益狭窄和边缘化。西方共产党要摆脱困境、有所作为，在理论战略上必须进行新探索、努力实现新突破。

The practice of the Belgian Workers’ Party in recent years provides a new model for Western communist parties to reference in theory and strategy. The combination of “principledness” and “flexibility” is not itself a new proposition; it has had concrete practice and successful application at different periods and stages in the history of the international communist movement and world socialism. The important significance of the Workers’ Party’s theory and practice lies in having forged a “new” path out of the current dilemma of strategic choice characterized by the “polarization” of the Western communist movement. This “new” path is based on a profound summation of the Party’s own experiences and lessons, creatively interpreting “principledness” and “flexibility” from the perspective of a changing social environment. By formulating a series of effective strategies, it effectively avoids the two extreme tendencies of the current Western communist movement, achieving a dynamic balance between adhering to principles and flexibly applying tactics. This “new” path also provides “answers” to some important theoretical issues that have long plagued the Western communist movement, such as: how exactly to combine intra-parliamentary struggle with extra-parliamentary movements in concrete action; how to correctly handle the relationship between the Party’s specific political action tactics and its long-term development strategy; how to correctly handle the relationship between maintaining the Party’s unique identity and independent action and expanding social connections and support; and so on. Using it as a mirror is conducive for communist parties in various countries to engage in deep reflection, actively correct and improve their own strategies and tactics, and explore development directions more suited to their respective national and party conditions. This “new” path might be called the “third way” of the current Western communist movement, and it may become the path for Western communist parties to break free from developmental shackles and achieve a breakthrough against the odds.

比利时工人党近年来的实践，在理论战略上为西方共产党提供了一个可资参考的新范本。“原则性”与“灵活性”相结合本身并非什么新主张，在国际共产主义和世界社会主义发展史的不同时期、不同阶段，都有过具体实践和成功运用。工人党理论和实践的重要意义，是在当前西方共产主义运动“两极化”的战略选择困境中走出了一条“新”路。这条“新”路以深刻总结自身发展的经验教训为基础，从变化的社会环境出发对“原则性”与“灵活性”进行创造性阐释，通过制定一系列行之有效的策略，有效避免了当前西方共产主义运动的两种极端倾向，在坚持原则与灵活运用策略之间实现了一种动态的平衡。这条“新”路也为长期困扰西方共产主义运动的一些重要理论问题提供了“答案”，比如到底应该如何在实际行动中将议会内斗争与议会外运动结合起来；如何正确处理党的具体政治行动策略和党的长远发展战略之间的关系；如何正确处理保持党的独特身份和独立行动与扩大社会联系和支持之间的关系；等等。以之为镜，有利于各国共产党进行深入反思，积极修正和完善自身的战略策略，探索更加适合各自国情党情的发展方向。这条“新”路或可以称为当前西方共产主义运动的“第三条道路”，或许会成为西方共产党摆脱发展桎梏、实现逆境突围之路。

(Author: Researcher at the Academy of Marxism, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

（作者：中国社会科学院马克思主义研究院研究员）

Online Editor: Zhang Jian

网络编辑：张剑