In the light of a streetlamp, it depicts a man heading to the factory before dawn. His daughters, still children, hang half asleep on his arm, in wooden clogs and barely protected from the cold. The text above and below the painting leaves nothing to be desired in clarity. It is a scathing indictment of the workers' appalling living conditions, particularly the extremely long working days—twelve hours or more a day—and the shameful child labor.
In the mid-nineteenth century, there was no social legislation, and workers were completely at the mercy of their employers. To even make ends meet, the entire family, including children, had to work in the factory from early morning until late at night.
From its founding in 1885, the Socialist Party fought against these excesses of industrialization. Child labor was restricted with difficulty, and despite considerable opposition from the conservative Catholic Party, and was eventually abolished. An initial law in 1884 prohibited mine work for boys under 12 and girls under 14. In 1889, all industrial work for children under 12 was banned, and in 1914, it was extended to children under 14.
For almost a century, the painting hung next to the stage in the main hall of Ons Huis on the Vrijdagmarkt, the beating heart of the socialist movement in Ghent. It became a true icon of the labor movement and its struggle for improved living conditions. As a tableau vivant, it was depicted in processions and mass spectacles. Reproductions adorned countless workers' homes for years. Today, the painting can be found in Floréal in Blankenberge.
