The Socialist Association of Linen Workers of Ghent was founded in 1875. Weavers and cotton workers also had their own unions. In 1898, these three merged to form the National Textile Workers' Union, but this merger was initially purely formal. Only later did they converge and actually merge into a single union.
De Vlasbewerker was the communications organ of the Ghent flax union. The magazine's purpose was to expose the abuses in the sector and to educate workers and raise their awareness of their situation. The first issue appeared in 1896, and despite the merger of the three Ghent textile unions, the magazine remained independent until 1905. Only then was it incorporated into De Textielarbeider , the journal of the Belgian Textile Federation.
The "Vlasbewerker" (The Flax Worker) was digitized with the support of the Jules Deconinck Fund and the ABVV Textiles, Clothing and Diamonds Association. The files were made full-text searchable using OCR.