Charter of Quaregnon

The Charter of Quaregnon (French: Charte de Quaregnon, Dutch: Charter van Quaregnon) was a political manifesto which formed the doctrinal basis of Belgian socialism from 1894 until 1979.

In 1894, Belgian elections were for the first time held according to the scheme of the plural right to vote under the pressure of the violent Belgian general strike of 1893. This meant for the Belgian Labour Party (POB-BWP), that for the first time workers could vote and that representatives from the party, ten years after its foundation, could enter the Belgian parliament. With a doctrinarian charter the program of the socialist party was presented to the electorate. Out of several ideas Émile Vandervelde chose this proposition, which was adopted on the Easter Congress of the Socialist Party, at Quaregnon on 25-26 March 1894, and which became known as the Charter of Quaregnon. This charter was strongly influenced by ideas of the French socialist Jules Guesde.

As a doctrinal source of inspiration for the Belgian Socialists, the Charter of Quaregnon remained in place for two World Wars and many years. Only after 1979, when the Belgian Socialist Party (PSB-BSP) divided into the Flemish Socialistische Partij (SP) and the Walloon Parti Socialiste (PS), newer charters were created.

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