Ghent's cotton mills and the Belgian labour movement

Around 1800 the Ghent entrepreneur Lieven Bauwens smuggled spinning machinery and skilled workers out of England, and Ghent grew into continental Europe's leading cotton town. Long hours and child labour in its mills fed a strong labour movement: the cooperative Vooruit, founded in 1880, ran bakeries, shops and a festival hall, and Ghent socialists helped build the Belgian Workers' Party.