Edward Anseele

Edward Anseele ( born July 26, 1856 in Ghent, † February 18, 1938 ) was a Belgian socialist politician.

The son of a shoemaker joined early on the political left. The Socialist Congress of 1877 in Ghent put the beginning of his involvement in the labor movement. Anseele became a journalist of the weekly paper " De Volkswil " ( People's Will ), which later became the daily " Vooruit " (forward ) was converted. He organized in 1880 the establishment of the cooperative bakery Vooruit, which became the starting point of a temporarily internationally acclaimed small " anti-capitalist " industrial and commercial empire. In the Great Depression of the 1930s, this charisma was lost, however. The building of the Vooruit remembered but until today the great era of co-operative group of companies in 1900 until 1910.

Anseeles personal career has been long and successful, first at the local level, in the interwar period as Minister of Public Works ( 1918-21 ), as well as railway and Postmaster General ( 1925-27 ). The items offered by the German occupiers during World War I a " President of Belgium " had rejected Anseele. In 1930 he received the honorary title of Minister van State / Ministre d'Etat. This is in Belgium a title of honor, which is awarded by the King for life in special cases.

The Belgian socialist politician Edward Anseele Jr. was a son of Edward Anseele.