Émile Vandervelde
Émile Vandervelde
Chairman of the International Socialist Bureau who led the Second International and joined Belgium’s wartime government in 1914
At the 1919–20 Paris Peace Conference, he secured treaty clauses favouring labour, including an eight-hour day. As Belgium’s foreign minister, he helped negotiate the 1925 Pact of Locarno.
A leader of the Belgian Labour Party and a jurist, he chaired the International Socialist Bureau from 1900 and became the face of the Second International. When Germany invaded neutral Belgium in August 1914 he entered the government as minister of state and backed national defence, trying to hold the Bureau together against the Zimmerwald movement. After the war he served as justice and foreign minister, signing the Locarno treaties in 1925, and chaired the Labour and Socialist International from 1923.
Career timeline
- 1889Joined the Belgian Workers’ Party and became a party leader.
- 1894Entered parliament as a Socialist.
- 1914Named minister of state and served in the wartime cabinet.
- 1919–1920At the Paris Peace Conference treaty negotiations, secured labour clauses, including one advocating an eight-hour day.
- 1919As minister of justice, sponsored penal reforms.
- 1925–1927As foreign minister, helped negotiate the Pact of Locarno.
- 1936–1937Served as minister of public health.