Alfred Defuisseaux

Alfred Eloi Nicolas Defuisseaux was born into a family of six in Mons, Hainaut Province, Belgium on 9 December 1843.Puissant, J. (1993). L'évolution du mouvement ouvrier socialiste dans le Borinage. Belgium: Académie royale de Belgique. His father was a Belgian lawyer and industrialist named Nicolas Defuisseaux.Goldberg, M. (2005). Dictionnaire historique de la laïcité en Belgique. Belgium: Fondation rationaliste et les Éditions Luc Pire. Alfred's grandfather, Philippe Joseph Defuisseaux, played a notable role in declaring the establishment of the French republic in the city of Mons in 1792.Cahiers. (1971). Belgium: Éditions Nauwelaerts.

Alfred Defuisseaux graduated as a Doctor of Law at the Free University of Brussels in 1868, registering as a lawyer at the Mons bar.Delsinne, L. (1955). Le Parti ouvrier belge des origines à 1894. Belgium: Renaissance du livre. His early legal practice centred on defending the working class through Workers' compensation cases, specifically representing coal miners who were victims of firedamp.Biographie coloniale belge: Belgische koloniale biografie. (1952). Belgium: Librairie Falk fils.

In 1870, Alfred helped the campaign of his older brother Léon, who was elected a Liberal Democratic Member of parliament. He also became an activist for universal suffrage.Pirotte, A. (1997). L'apport des courants régionalistes et dialectaux au mouvement wallon naissant: un enquête dans les publications d'Action Wallonne de 1890 à 1914. Belgium: Collège Erasme, Bureau du Recueil.

Defuisseaux published A People's Catechism ({{langx|fr|link=no|Le catéchisme du peuple}}) in March 1886, which sold over 500,000 copies in working-class circles. This work aimed at educating the people against the ruling classes and the State before the eventual Belgian strike of 1886 occurred in the Province of Hainaut.{{Cite book |last=Landauer |first=Carl |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jET8EAAAQBAJ&dq=Alfred+Defuisseaux&pg=PA462 |title=European Socialism, Volume I: From the Industrial Revolution to the First World War and Its Aftermath |date=2024-04-05 |publisher=Univ of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-37320-4 |language=en}} His involvement led to his conviction by the Brabant Assizes, resulting in two six-month prison sentences. Fleeing to France before the verdict, he continued his political and journalistic efforts, and within five years, he was sentenced in absentia to 29 years in prison.

At the 1894 elections for the district of Mons, Defuisseaux represented Belgium's Socialist Party who backed him to win a seat in the Chamber of Representatives in the Belgian Parliament.

File:DeFuisseaux 1843-1901.jpg. Caricature from Le Petit Belge. {{c.}} 1897. ]]

As a member of the Commission of the XXI, formed on 13 February 1895, he took part in reviewing the draft law for the Congo's transfer to Belgium, alongside 14 Catholics, 4 socialists, and 3 liberals.

He was reelected as a socialist deputy in the Chamber of Representatives of Belgium for the district of Mons in 1898.Compte rendu du ... congrès annuel. (1895). Belgium: Impr. Brismée.

On 1 September 1900, he retired to Nimy in the city of Mons, Belgium.

Alfred Defuisseaux died on 11 November 1901 in Nimy, Mons, Hainaut Province, Belgium.

• A People's Catechism ({{langx|fr|link=no|Le catéchisme du peuple}}), 1886Defuisseaux, A. (1886). Le catéchisme du peuple. Belgium: Maheu.
• Moral Tales for the Use of the People ({{langx|fr|link=no|Contes moraux à l'usage du peuple}}), 1887Defuisseaux, A. (1887). Contes moraux à l'usage du peuple. Belgium: La République Belge.

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Category:1843 births

Category:1901 deaths

Category:People from Mons, Belgium

Category:Socialist Party (Belgium) politicians

Category:Belgian lawyers

Category:Belgian socialists

Category:Belgian journalists