Party of the Right (Luxembourg)

the Luxembourgish political party

The Party of the Right (, , Rechtspartei), abbreviated to PD, was a political party in Luxembourg between 1914 and 1944. It was the direct predecessor of the Christian Social People's Party (CSV), which has ruled Luxembourg for all but fifteen years since.

Before World War I, politics in Luxembourg was in the era of notables and census suffrage: public political life was restricted to a small minority. The notion of a "party" did not exist in the modern sense; the word referred to political schools of thought, loose groupings of like minded people, and sometimes, committees organised shortly before elections. There was, then, no Catholic party in the strict sense, even though there was a group in the Chamber of Deputies appealing to this tendency. The members of this opposition group, numbering 17 Deputies (out of 52) in 1912, came primarily from rural cantons. Present at the founding were Émile Reuter, Émile Prüm, Mgr. Schiltz, Albert Philippe, Pierre Dupong, Joseph Bech and Mgr. Jean Origer. The founding of the party in 1914 was a reaction to the formalisation of the other ideological alliances within the Chamber of Deputies. The Social Democratic Party formed in 1902, whilst the dominant Liberal League was founded in 1904. The party's foundation also took part in a climate of Kulturkampf. and soon became the dominant party, strengthened by the introduction of universal suffrage in 1918. The leader of the Party of the Right would serve as the prime minister from the end of the First World War until the start of the Second, except for a fourteen month period in the mid 1920s. The three prime ministers from the Party of the Right were Émile Reuter (1918–1925), Joseph Bech (1926–1937), and Pierre Dupong (1937–1944); the latter two would go on to serve as prime minister as heads of the CSV. It is also notable that the PD cabinet of 1921–1925 was the only cabinet in Luxembourgian history that included politicians of only one party. The historian Gilbert Trausch distinguished two streams within the party: on the one hand, agrarian conservatives, who defended the interests of farmers and traditional values, and were ambivalent or hostile towards the world of industry. These rural notables were also hostile towards universal suffrage. On the other hand, were the innovators, generally slightly younger than the first group, and who were inspired by Christian social ideas, and the conviction that social reforms were necessary; this second group was more favourable towards universal suffrage. Émile Prüm and Philippe Bech belonged to the former of these groups, while Emile Reuter and Pierre Dupong represented the latter. The close relationship between the Catholic Church and the party was illustrated by the presence in the party of the priest Jean Origer, the director of the Luxemburger Wort, and head of the party in the Chamber of Deputies; and of Jean Baptiste Esch, a writer for the Luxemburger Wort.

+ Chamber of Deputies Election Seats Votepercentage 1915 – 1918 43.40% 1919 56.25% 1922 52.08% 1925 46.81% 1928 44.23% 1931 48.15% 1934 46.30% 1937 45.45%

Blau, Lucien (October 2000). "Du parti de la droite au Parti chrétien social: Un tour de force réussi". (in French). forum, No. 203, p. 25–30