Célestin Demblon

Célestin Demblon
Demblon as a young man
Born	(1859-05-19)19 May 1859
Died	13 December 1924(1924-12-13) (aged 65)
Nationality	Belgian
Occupation	Writer; Politician; Teacher
Years active	1883-1924
Notable work	Lord Rutland est Shakespeare Contes mélancoliques

Célestin Demblon (19 May 1859 - 13 December 1924) was a Belgian socialist politician, teacher and writer, known for his anti-clerical views and his promotion of Francophone Walloon culture. He was also a creative writer in the Symbolist tradition and the author of books on a variety of topics, most notably the Shakespeare authorship question.

From a working-class background, Demblon studied at the École normale of Liège. He was soon working as a teacher in the town but came into conflict with the educational authorities because of his uninhibited discussion of political issues with students. He was accused of promoting socialism to school children, and of attacking the king. He was dismissed from his post.

Demblon obtained work as a lecturer at the Université nouvelle in Brussels, which had been created in 1894 by left-wingers, including anarchists and socialists originally from the Université libre de Bruxelles (Free University of Brussels). It was an independent and self-managed educational institution.

Demblon embarked on a political career in 1894, standing in the legislative elections of that year against the former Liberal prime minister Walthère Frère-Orban as a Socialist candidate. The young teacher defeated the former prime minister, taking his seat in the House of Representatives.

Demblon was noted for forthright views, in particular a strong anti-clericism. His distaste for the Catholic church was expressed in pamphlets with titles such as "La pornographie cléricale", which provoked a debate in the legislature about Demblon's claim that the Bible was full of pornographic passages. Demblon also promoted Walloon ethnic identity within Belgium, at one point insisting that a Walloon should be appointed to a job teaching design because "teaching given by a Walloon will be more profitable for the students ... the picturesque vision characteristic of the Walloon race is very different from that of the Flemish painters." His opposition to the "flamangistes" was linked to a belief in the importance of French cultural identity. He also opposed proponents of the Walloon dialect for the same reason. In 1887 he objected to official support for "patois", writing that "the powerful and lucid young people who have just appeared as if by magic in Wallonia will most certainly take their place enthusiastically before the great organ of the French language"

In 1896, during a major strike, Demblon created the Fédération liégeoise du Parti ouvrier belge (Liege Federation of the Belgian Workers Party), becoming its first member. The POB (Parti ouvrier belge), as it was known, was designed as an alliance of radical groups promoting a consensus socialist political vision. The syndicalist César De Paepe inspired the party vision, but Demblon became its principal spokesman.