The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1936-11-20
BELGIAN Seen
AS DEVELOPING.
DICTATORSHIP.
Leon Degrelle, Dynamic
Leader Gains Ground
as "Rexist"
BY HAROLD ETTLINGER
United Press Staff Correspondent

Belgium out of the notion that i
was safely democratic countr!
and has confronted it with tn,
specter of Fascism.
i Belgian politics, which in the
best democratic tradition were fol-
decades absorbing but not too
dangerous, have been turned al
most overnight by Degrelle anc
his Rexist party into a struggle
with the fate Of the regime in the
balance. And the showdown
threatens to come in re"
months.
Just how this happened is not
quite clear, and no two Belgians
agree on it. The Fascisms of Hit
Ter and Musolini were carried in
TO power on waves of discomfort,
in times Of stress and crisis, but
Degrelle up to now has had phe-
nomenal success at time when
things are doing well with Bel
GUM, when prosperity is increas-
ing, labor troubles are few and
the left revolutionary threat is at
a minimum.
VOTE PROVES STRENGTH
His party, which scarcely any
Belgian had heard Of a year be-
fore, won 100000 votes in the par
liamentary elections of 1886 after
q campaign such as this country
had never seen. Degrelle and his
general staff Of youngsters fought
for votes with weapons of calumny
and accusations of graft and cor
ruption, with an intensity that left
many Of the old line democratic
parties flatfooted. He spared no.
body, and particularly showed no
mercy for Catholic leaders.
He attacked the Liberals and
Socialists with violence unheard of
in Belgium, and finally turned to
the threat Of Communism, repre-
scented by z per cent of the cleo
tors, and to the Franco-Soviet
pact. He eonjured up the red men
ace with such skill that thousands
of the more impresionable voters
were convinced that they had to
make an immediate choice be-
tween Rexism and Moscow
Degrelle's campaigns always
have begun suddenly, been carried
out with amazing intensity and
stopped abruptly in favor of some
other issue, with the result that
many of his followers, as well as
his enemies, have been confused
His inconsistency has caused his
opponents to insist that with De.
grelle himself Rexism would quick
ly melt away. e.
HAS PERSONAL MAGNETISM
Degrelle was born near the
French frontier of family which
emigrated from the French side
two generations ago. He is of
medium height, and build, has a
rotund, pleasant face and ready
erin and looks so much like a thou
sand other young Belgians oil
Frenchmen of his age that he
| would scarcely be noticed in
crowd. A visitor, trying to dis
cover what makes him leader, can
see only one remarkable feature
I-Degrelle's small, piercing brown
eyes with unusually black, shining
pupils. But when he begins to
talk the secret is out. He has a
kind of magnets mon the plat
form that Hitler has, and even
when talking across his desk is re-
markable for the energy he puts
into his words and gestures and
for his voice itself.
Something entirely new hap
pened in Belgium when Degrelle
appeared on the scene - women
began to take an interest in poll
tics. All his meetings draw wo.
men, who are duplicated by his
appearance and his voice, and the
Belgian equivalent of isn't he
cute?" can be heard in feminine
whispers a dozen times at any of
these gatherings. An equally good
proof Of his magnetism is that De-
grelle who speaks only French can
pack melting hall in the Flemish
stronghold of Antwerp, can hold
an audience of Flemish farmers
and .burghers many of whom do
not speak a word of French and
moreover, hate the Walloons.
IN POLITICS EARLY ., -
Some years ago Degrelle, when
still a student at the Catholic
University of Louvain, founded a
young Catholic movement which
he called ,Christus Rex. Leaders
of the Catholic party paid little
attention to young militants like
Degrelle and regarded them as
sort of political erran dboys. In
Christus Rex, Degrelle led a small
group of ardent young Catholics
in a more vigorous fight for the
church and against Socialism than
the elder Catholics had ever at
tempted. '.',
During the financial crisis of
1885 Degrelle sought desperately
to get a place among the leaders
of the Catholic party, or at least a
place on the party ticket. 1t was
when this failed that he launched
separate party and called it
Christus Rex. The "Christus" was
dropped shortly afterward, re-
portedly at the request of the
church, and Rex was born. Rex
proved to be a goo dstriking name
in Belgium, despite the fact that
standing alone it meant nothing.
ATTACK ALWAYS STRESSED
Apart from the announcement
of a few broad Fascist principles
and a thoroughly revolutionary
aim, Rex fought a purely negative
fight, that is, it devoted it's entire
time To ATTACKING Dnnnnllo 10 a