Marteaux was born in to a large working-class family.
In addition, he was a member of the Chamber of Representatives for the Brussels district from 1926 to 1929 and from 1936 until his death in 1949.
In 1939 he switched to the communist Communist Party of Belgium (KPB) following the policy of the Belgian government (of which the BWP was a part at the time) towards the Spanish Civil War.
[2] After the German occupation lf Belgian during World War II, Marteaux co-founded the Front de l'indépendance, which was active in the Resistance.
He held this ministerial post from January 1945 to February 1946 and again from March 1946 to March 1947 in the governments of Van Acker I, II, III and Huysmans.