Charleroi and, in 1869, the infamous butcheries of Seraing and the Borinage.
The massacre of Charleroi, arranged by the military and constabulary against the miners who had been driven to the utmost desperation in consequence of the restriction of output and wage reductions, induced the International at the time to begin a vigorous agitation in Belgium, and led to a proclamation by the General Council of the International, which resulted in a considerable success for the International as regards organization.
The scenes of the sixties were repeated during the so-called hunger rebellions of 1886 in which not only economic questions, but also the demand for universal suffrage played a part, the latter in a confused manner, it is true. General Baron Vandersmissen issued his notorious circular letter on April 3, 1886, a circular later condemned by even the Chamber of Deputies, in which he decreed cynically, "L'usage des armes est fait sans aucune sommation" [use is made of arms without previous warning]. There was an unheard-of number of victims. In Roux alone 16 workmen were killed
