Edward Anseele was a Belgian

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 socialist politician. Although his parents rather belonged to the lower middle class (his father was a shoemaker), Edward Anseele became active the early socialist movement. Anseele attended the Royal Athenaeum in Ghent until the age of 17.

Career

The socialist congress of 1877 in Ghent was the start of his socialist commitment. He became employed as a journalist of the magazine De Volkswil, later transformed into the socialist daily Vooruit (English: "Ahead"). He organized a cooperative bakery Vooruit which was founded in 1880. This was the start of a complete range of ventures which in the long term would create an industrial empire. This way, Anseele tried to create a counterweight to the capitalist

Capitalism

Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...

 ventures, and was able to provide support to workers' actions. During the economic crisis of the thirties this empire would be largely lost.

Anseele was for a long time municipality Council member and alderman

Alderman

An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...

 in Ghent, temporary burgomaster and a Member of Parliament. He was one of the founders of the socialist Belgische Werkliedenpartij

Belgian Labour Party

The Belgian Labour Party, called Belgische Werkliedenpartij in Dutch and Parti Ouvrier Belge in French, was the first socialist party in Belgium, founded in 1885.-History:...

. During World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 the Germans offered him the title of President of Belgium, which he declined. After the war, he was rewarded for this stance with several ministerial functions: from 1918 until 1921, he was the minister for Public Works and from 1925 until 1927 minister of Railroads and PTT (Mail Telegraph and Telephone). In 1930, he got the honorary title of Minister of State.

Source

• Edward Anseele
• Paul Kenis, Het leven van Edward Anseele, Publ. De Vlam