BORENBOND. —
I. ORIGINS
It is a Belgian agricultural organization founded in Louvain in 1890, at the initiative of Abbot Mellaerts, who was its creator and steadfast promoter. Its earliest origins can be traced to a modest committee of seven farmers established in Goor during a meeting of the Conference of St Vincent de Paul, with the aim of organizing an association for the collective purchase of fertilizers. This association was called Boerengild, a farmers’ cooperative, and had as its patron Saint Isidore.Abbot Mellaerts, through his articles on agricultural organization published in *Het Land*, came to know Professor Helleputte, a professor at the Catholic University of Louvain, who organized a large meeting in that city at the headquarters of the unions and trades. At this meeting, with the intention of remedying the acute agricultural crisis facing farmers, it was recognized as opportune that they organize associations for collective purchasing and selling to assist their small and medium-sized farms. To this end, the assembly resolved in favor of the establishment, in every rural commune of Belgium, of farmers’ associations called Boerengilden, modeled on the one already instituted and operating in Goor. The necessity of a national league grouping all local associations was then proclaimed. Thus the B. was founded, with Professor Helleputte as president and Abbot Mellaerts as secretary.
II. ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS
The B. set out to replace the isolation of individuals with organized solidarity, with the aim of giving stability to the farming class and the status it deserved. Article 2, unchanged to this day, stated: “The B. has the general purpose of working for the religious, intellectual, and social advancement of its members and of safeguarding their material interests; in a word, it aims to make of our farming populations a strong, educated, and Christian class.”The organizing initiative, animated by the zeal of its founders, spread from the center to the periphery, and soon local Guilds were organized in the majority of rural communes. The method followed by the promoters was to impress upon all local organizations the same unity of action and life, and the results were positive. Locally, success was ensured by the support of the clergy, who, living with the daily problems of farmers, found ways to assist them concretely through a social movement founded on the corporate union of workers and owners, woven through with the spirit of Christian charity.
III. MEMBERS AND STRUCTURE
Membership in the B. is open to all who accept the principles of religion, property, and the family as the basic cell of society. The one who enrolls is properly the head of the household, while the family is considered as affiliated; this stands in contrast to the individualism introduced by the French Revolution. The members of a commune are grouped into a Guild, which, to address specialized interests, has established distinct sections: a purchasing and sales section; savings and credit bank; mutual insurance; study section; section for young men; circles of rural households and young women; cooperative dairy; beet growers’ union; livestock breeding union; horticultural federation, etc. All these works find a center of coordination in the local Guild, which is directed by a committee. The Guild is assisted by a chaplain who fulfills the role of spiritual direction and instruction in Christian social doctrine. He ensures that the organized members uphold the spirit of Christian justice and charity. The interests of the local Guilds are represented before the administrative districts of the various regions by regional federations. At the center is the general secretary, under whom function the technical service, the inspection service, the central office for purchasing and sales, the league of rural households and youth, the federation of young farmers, the inspection service, the central credit bank, and the insurance society. All these central services or sections promote, coordinate, and assist the activity of the corresponding sections of the local Guilds. Over the entire organization preside a working council and a board of directors.IV. FUNCTIONING
The general secretary is like the heart of the entire organization. He promotes and oversees: the organization and practice of social life; religious and moral life; general education and professional training; agricultural and horticultural techniques; and the defense of agricultural interests in general. He oversees the publication of the organization’s press organs, organizes conferences, study days, and inspection visits. He follows the action of each section or central service in order to ensure the observance of the principles of the Christian social school.The inspection service is the one that most strongly supports the action of the general secretary. Inspection extends to the central credit bank, the central office for purchasing and sales, and the various sections of the local Guilds: the horticultural federation, the livestock breeding union, the cooperative dairy, the savings and credit bank, and the study section. The sections for youth and rural households are also linked to the inspection service.
This service is carried out by priests, agronomists, agricultural chemists, and accountants, and serves to provide technical and economic assistance, to impress unity and discipline of movement, to oversee the implementation of the directives of the general secretary, and in general to establish continuous communication between the center and the periphery. Particular care is devoted to the moral, religious, social, and technical training of young men and women and of rural households. 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 mills, experimental stations, fertilizer factories, and livestock breeding facilities. The period of the recent war clearly marked a significant reduction in the volume of activities. But already by 1945 the services had resumed their normal functioning, and new offices were established to meet the exigencies of the post-war period, such as local action committees for assistance to the victims of war, tax services, etc.
The press organs of the B. are: *De Boer*, *Le Paysan*, *Onze Ploeg* (*Notre Chambre*), *De Boerin*, and *Onze Gids* (*Notre Guide*).