EncyclopediaVandervelde, Émile
Vandervelde, Émile (āmēl' vändervel'du) [key], 1866–1938, Belgian statesman and Socialist leader. He entered parliament in 1894, and served in many cabinets, notably as minister of justice (1918–21), foreign minister (1925–27), and vice premier and minister of public health (1936–37). He resigned in protest when the cabinet, headed by Paul van Zeeland, recognized the Franco government in the Spanish civil war. Influential in Belgian politics and in the European labor movement, Vandervelde played a leading role in the Second, or Socialist, International (1889–1914), serving as the first president of the International Socialist Bureau. He also taught political economy at the Univ. of Brussels from 1924 until his death and wrote several works on political science.
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