Pharmacy

The Ghent worker in the 19th century, to put it euphemistically, was not very well looked after by the industrialists, but could do little or nothing about it, as universal suffrage was still a far-off dream and strikes were out of the question. Due to the Le Chapelier law, which stipulated a ban on strikes and professional associations, the labor movement could not organize itself at all. Nevertheless, the workers of Ghent managed to circumvent this problem by uniting in so-called sick funds, somewhat akin to the idea of medieval guilds. When the Le Chapelier law was abolished in 1866, the floodgates opened. The working class in Ghent began to organize openly. In 1877, the Flemish Socialist Workers' Party was founded, and by the end of 1880, Edmond van Beveren and Edward Anseele established the Cooperative Society Vooruit in Ghent. The aim was to distribute the means of production a little more equitably through a workers' cooperative. Until then, these were practically entirely in the hands of the bourgeoisie, who in turn exploited the working class. The cooperative was originally a bakers' cooperative. Vooruit owned a bakery, and workers who were members of the society could buy their daily bread here at a lower price. To become a member of Vooruit, you purchased a bread share. This cost about 2 francs. After purchase, you were a lifetime member of the cooperative and immediately also of the union, the sick fund, and, from 1885, the Belgian Workers' Party. Quite a good investment... Van Beveren and Anseele started their venture with a particularly small starting capital and a loan of 2,000 francs. They probably never dared to hope it would become such a success story. On the eve of World War I, Vooruit owned around 100 buildings spread throughout the city, including several spinning mills, weaving factories, metal companies, pharmacies, and a bank. It also had more than 9,000 members.

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