Boerenbond

BOERENBOND. - I. ORIGINS. - It is a Belgian agricultural organization founded at Louvain in 1890, on the initiative of Abbot Mellaerts, who was its originator and its convinced and tenacious driving force. Its first origin is found in a modest committee of seven peasants promoted at Goor during a meeting of the Conference of St. Vincent de Paul, with the aim of organizing an association for the purchase of fertilizers. This association was called Boerengild, a peasants' cooperative, and had St. Isidore as its patron.

Abbot Mellaerts, through his articles on agricultural organization published in Het Land, had occasion to make the acquaintance of Prof. Helleputte, a lecturer at the Catholic University of Louvain, who promoted a large meeting in that city, at the headquarters of the trade unions and guilds. At this meeting, with the aim of remedying the acute agricultural crisis of the farmers, it was recognized that it would be advisable for them to organize associations for purchases and sales, in support of their small and medium-sized holdings. To this end the assembly came out in favor of the founding, in all the rural communes of Belgium, of peasants' associations called Boerengilden, on the model of the one already established and operating at Goor. The need was then proclaimed for a national league grouping together all the local associations. Thus the B. was founded, with Prof. Helleputte as president and Abbot Mellaerts as secretary.

II. ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS

The B. set out to counter the isolation of individuals with organizational solidarity, in order to give stability to the peasant class and the rank that is its due. In art. 2, which has remained unchanged to this day, it was stated: "The B. has the general purpose of working for the religious, intellectual and social progress of its members and of taking their material interests to heart; it proposes, in a word, to make of our agricultural populations a strong, educated and Christian class."

The organizing initiative, animated by the zeal of the founders, moved from the center to the periphery, and before long the local Guilds were organized in the generality of rural communes. The criterion of imparting to all the local organizations the same unity of action and of life was the method followed by the promoters, and the results were positive. Locally, success was ensured by the support of the clergy, who, living the daily problems of the peasants, found a way to help them concretely with a social movement founded on the corporate union of workers and owners, woven through with a spirit of Christian love.

III. MEMBERS AND STRUCTURE

All those who accept the principles of religion, of property and of the family as the basic cell of society may be part of the B. The person who joins is properly the head of the family, while the family is considered as affiliated; and this is against the individualism brought by the French Revolution. The members of a municipality are grouped by the Gilde which, in order to look after specialized interests, has established distinct sections: purchasing and sales section; savings and credit bank; mutual insurance society; studies section; young men's section; circles of rural housewives and of young women; cooperative dairy; sugar beet syndicate; livestock breeding syndicate; horticultural federation, etc. All these works find a center of coordination in the local Gilde, which is directed by a committee. The Gilde is assisted by a chaplain who fulfills the task of spiritual direction and of teaching Christian social doctrine. He sees to it that the organized members respect the spirit of justice and Christian charity. The interests of the municipal Gilde are represented before the administrative districts of the various regions by regional federations. At the center there is the general secretary, at whose office operate the technical service, the inspection service, the central purchasing and sales office, the league of rural housewives and of young women, the federation of young farmers, the inspection service, the central credit bank, the insurance society. All these central services or sections promote, coordinate and assist the activity of the corresponding sections of the local Gilde. A supreme council and a directing committee preside over the entire organization.

IV. FUNCTIONING

The general secretary is like the heart of the whole organization. He promotes and oversees: the organization and practice of social life; religious and moral life; general education and professional training; agricultural and horticultural technique; the defense of agricultural interests of a general nature. He sees to the editing of the press organs, organizes conferences, study days, inspection visits. He oversees the action of each central section or service in order to check compliance with the principles of the Christian social school.

The inspection service is then the one that most supports the action of the general secretary. The inspection extends to the central credit fund, to the central purchasing and sales office, to the various sections of the local Guilds: horticultural federation, livestock breeding syndicate, cooperative dairy, savings and credit fund, study section. The youth and rural housewives' sections are also connected to the inspection service.

This service is carried out by priests, agronomists, agricultural chemists, accountants, and serves to provide technical-economic assistance, to impart unity and discipline to the movement, to supervise the implementation of the general secretary's directives, and generally to establish a continuous link between center and periphery. Particular care is devoted to the moral, religious, social and technical formative activity of male and female youth and of rural housewives. The professional training courses include lessons in Christian sociology and religion, so that the B. succeeds in forming in its members a living religious-social synthesis. The B. owns mills, oil presses, experimental stations, fertilizer factories, and livestock breeding facilities. The war period that has passed has evidently marked a noticeable reduction in the volume of activities. But already in 1945 the services resumed their normal functioning and new offices were established to meet post-war needs, such as local action committees for assistance to the displaced, tax service, etc.

The press organs of the B. are: De Boer, Le Poynan, Onze Ploeg (Notre Charrue), De Boerin, Onze Gids (Notre Guide).

Attilio Parlagreco