Ernest Burnelle

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Ernest Burnelle (12 July 1908, Liège – 5 August 1968) was a Belgian politician, member of the Communist Party of Belgium (PCB), and part of the Walloon Movement.

The son of a worker who was an anarchist, Burnelle was first a teacher and then a conscientious scientific regent in Nivelles and Liège. He met Théo Dejace [fr], who educated him on the subject of trade union action. He was secretary of the Central Liege Socialist Teachers and, in the 1960s, was part of the union Common Front in Liège.

After the outbreak of the

Battle of Belgium but escaped captivity (under the Flamenpolitik, the Germans decided to release all soldiers who passed a language test in Dutch). He was part of the Walloon Front for the Liberation of the country [fr]. He participated in the underground press, and became a companion of Julien Lahaut. He narrowly escaped arrest by the Germans, who imprisoned his father. He was a permanent member of the PCB underground and continued its struggle in the Borinage then in the region of Charleroi
.

He was considered an anti-Stalinist in the line of

Royal Question. From 1946 to 1949, he was an MP for Liège and supported the proposed bill to amend the Constitution filed by Marcel-Hubert Grégoire [fr] on behalf of the Walloon National Congress
of 1945, confirmed by the Second Walloon National Congress.

He spoke at the Third Walloon National Congress of Brussels in 1948, where he said he was committed to propagate the idea of

General Federation of Belgian Labour, he suffered a brain hemorrhage. He was replaced as head of the PCB by Marc Drumaux and in the House by Marcel Levaux which he also engaged in the Walloon movement, including Wallonia Region of Europe
.

Bibliography

  • Encyclopédie du Mouvement wallon, Tome I, p. 216. Ernest Burnelle notice biographique par Jules Pirlot http://carcob.eu