Popular Democratic party

Founded in 1924, the popular Democratic party (PDP) is the first gathering of scale on the political plan and nondenominational of the Christian Democrat. It represents the advanced of the social Catholicisme French by its standpoint policy and social tendency, while remaining a party which incarnates the ideology of the Centrisme.

The creation of the PDP: filiations and networks

Remote origins: Christian democratic filiation

Qualifying “democratic party of Christian inspiration”, the founders of the PDP have the vocation to gather the various components of the Christian Democrat (Christian-Democrats, social and catholic catholics liberal).

In this direction, the popular democrats are located in the direct filiation of the Christian Democrat, consisted of various current, since its birth with Félicité Robert de Lamennais in 1830 and the foundation on the Future . Second Christian Democrat, the social Catholicisme takes form in the years 1890 around the catholic Association of French youth (ACJF) of Albert de Mun (1886), of the social Chronique of Lyon (1892) or of the Sillon of Marc Sangnier (1894) which will lead to the Ligue of the young Republic (1912). Lastly, liberal and preserving Catholicism was symbolized by the popular liberal Action (1902-1919), defender of freedoms of the Church.

Birth of the PDP

The creation of the PDP finds its premises in the favorable context of immediate after war, that of the rehabilitation of the catholics in the Nation by the “Sacred union” and of the participation in the capacity of catholics during the national Bloc (1919-1924).

Thus, takes place - through the French heart at the time of the legislative ones of 1919 then Office of civic action (VAT) founded to the autumn 1923 - the bringing together and convergence between the departmental committees of the Seine and the Finistere of the democratic Republicans, the democrats Christian and social Catholicism (ACJF, CFTC, the social Semaines of France, etc). It is starting from the constitution after the legislative ones of 1924 of a group parliamentary of the popular democrats, known as “group of the fourteen”, which the PDP hatches.

Founded by the congress of the November 15th and 16th 1924 under the presidency of Georges Thibout and gathering 200 delegated, the PDP preaches the will to carry out “a task of bringing together, of reconciliation around the republican idea” by the definition of a “new republican faith”. The popular democrats preach the concentration of the republicans while being opposed has what the religious fact is a dividing line between the right-hand side and the left. In this direction, and contrary with the Ligue of the young Republic, the strategy of the PDP directs it with a recruitment within the social Catholicisme, positioning it with the center-right and in direct competition with the republican Fédération from which the principal fish pond in is resulting and who has vocation has to gather them since it includes the popular liberal Alliance (ALP). Thus, it is not astonishing that the founding members of the PDP and his leading core is resulting from the ACJF and to a lesser extent Sillon.

The role of the men and the press

Since 1924, the organization of the party is copied on the model of SFIO, attaching an importance so much to the centralization of executive team (National council, executive commission, etc) that with the assigned role at the departmental federations where the militants gather in sections. The central role within the PDP is allocated to the general secretary, posts whom of 1924 to 1940 Jean Raymond-Laurent will occupy.

However, this organisational model remains more theoretical than practical, the statutory changes of 1932 and 1936 endorsing this report since the national congress ceases being the decision-making center and that a loss of influence of the federations compared to the national elected officials and to the leading core takes place. Indeed, the popular democrats pain so much to be established beyond its original bastions (Paris region, west, Alsace-Lorraine and the region of Lion) that with becoming a party of mass, the varying manpower of its militants of 6.000 in 1924 to 10.000 in 1937, with a peak around the 20.000 in 1934. The weak political weight of the PDP shows the specificity of the French case compared to the other European countries, that of the marginalisation of the Christian Democrat in the national political life. In addition to the characteristic of a laic Republic, one of the causes is the political pluralism and intellectual of the catholics who makes that the experiments on political field (the Sillon, the ALP, the Ligue of the young Republic, the PDP, etc) will be modest vis-a-vis the importance of the social Catholicisme and of its radiation on the social sphere.

One would however not have to underestimate the originality of the popular democrats within the lines of the inter-war period in particular on the plan of the militancy and propaganda applying “the policy of the presence” in the city theorized by Jean Raymond-Laurent. The same applies in the particular importance as the PDP grants to the press and which is expressed by the foundation since 1924 of the Association of the democratic journalists that Louis Alfred Pagès chairs, conceived like a will of extension of its influence beyond its direct sphere. The popular democrats will thus try to establish a competitor network of regional press of that of the conservative right and reactionary maintaining the bonds with the republican Fédération via its press group founded in 1904. The case of the Nouveau Newspaper created in March 1925 in Lyon symbolizes the failure of this overall plan since the title is repurchased by the Short story writer in 1932. Only the case of the West-Flash directed by Emmanuel Desgrées de Lou then Paul Simon section compared to the general situation.

However, the popular democrats succeed in making Petit democrat , founded in 1919 by the democratic republicans of the Seine, the official body of the party since 1926 whose diffusion (around 18.000) largely exceeds that of the Nation (republican Fédération) or of democratic Alliance . Moreover, the ideas of the PDP are influential in the catholic press of the elites of the Thirties by the means of Politique created by Charles Flory in 1927, of the Cahiers of the new day of Paul Archambault and especially by the daily newspaper the Paddle founded by Francisque Gay in January 1932

Doctrines of the PDP

The popular democratic ideology

It can be summarized in the following principles and the proposals which result from this:

- Attachment with the Republic, of heart and reason, and with political freedoms. In this direction, the PDP is located in the line line of the Christian democratic doctrines affirming that one can be catholic and republican. Combatant “laicism”, it approves the principle of secularity rising from the separation of the Church and the State in 1905. However, the popular democrats defend on the school ground the freedom of the Church and are opposed to the “intangible laws”.

- Opposed to the Economic liberalism and the Socialism, the PDP wants to carry out the democracy in the economic and social organization by the gradual reform and collaboration between the various elements of production (by the mixed trade-unions and the professional representation in particular). Recommending the intervention of the State in the economic sphere, the popular democrats aspire to the realization of social justice by the application of the program of the social Catholicisme (8 hours day, paid vacations, Social Security, family benefits, etc) like by the taking into account of the “intermediate bodies” according to the theory of the “popularism” of Don Liugo Sturzo, founder of the Italian Popular party.

- On the institutional level, the PDP preaches the Décentralisation administrative, social and economic at the level of area by the introduction of a special council gathering the district councils. The party marries also the set of themes of the reform of the State whose will is to reinforce the executive, while defending the legislative power by imposing rules allowing the stability of the government. Lastly, the popular democrats are attached to the introduction of the representation proportional, with the vote of the women, the family vote and the use of the referendum.

- For the foreign policy, the PDP defends the mechanisms of the international conciliation which incarnates the Société of the nations. It will act in particular for the Franco-German bringing together after the First World War.

- Lastly, the PDP insists on the importance of the civic education of the spirits based on the moral fibers like by the respect of the religious conscience.

The question of the centrism

Classified in the forces of “the line” and not in those of the “center” by Andre Siegfried, the case of the PDP raises the question of the adequacy between its center doctrines and perception within the opinion of a “democratic party of Christian inspiration” which classifies it on the right by its religious component of which it cannot be freed, contrary to the democratic Alliance born to support the ministry of Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau and voter the law of 1905.

If its political line is resolutely center, being distinguished the traditional lines republican and parliamentary by its spirit of restoration (on the plan democratic, social, institutional, international, etc), the importance of the religious question in France and the conditions even of its birth under the Cartel of the lefts make that the PDP falls under cleavage right-hand side-left while being born on the right. If the ideology of the Centrisme is by its doctrines even one of the components of the right-hand side, one can wonder about the place and the specificity of the PDP in this current since it is located in the continuity of the Christian Democrat which was born neither on the right nor on the left and whose popular democrats take again as well his challenge of antagonism right-hand side-left as its will to reconcile the enemy families by the ideology of the gathering.

Evolution of the PDP during the inter-war period

1924-1932: the assertion

Vis-a-vis the Trust of the lefts, the PDP lines up in the parliamentary opposition but keeps largely away from the catholic National federation (FNC) rested by the general Edouard de Castelnau who reactivates religious defense vis-a-vis the laws anticlericals of Edouard Herriot. The PDP will bring a support timoré to the ministries of Raymond Poincaré, allured by the stabilization of the economic situation but hostile to the absence and the retreat of the social legislation. Across, the popular democrats develops the topic of the “central party” or “Trust of the centers”, explaining their support for the ministry André Tardieu (November 1929 - February 1930) which implements it according to them. Aspiring to the conjunction republicans, the position of the PDP is however criticized as well by the democratic Alliance as by the republican Fédération retaining the doctrines of Robert Cornilleau affirming the possibility of co-operation between its party and SFIO on precise objectives.

In spite of its position, the PDP has little weight in the various republican concentrations between 1926 and 1932 which privilege the fish ponds of the Parti radical socialist and the networks of the democratic Alliance. Only Auguste Champetier de Ribes takes part in the various governments between 1928 to 1930.

However, the PDP acquires an increasing visibility as well on the local ground as by the increase of its elected officials on all the scales (local, departmental and national). Thus, it encounters against the republican Fédération on the ground of social Catholicism (ACJF, Semaines social, etc) and more basically its doctrines (social conservatism, nationalism, religious defense, opposition to the SDN, etc). The cantonal elections and legislative of 1928 are the revealing one since the majority of the elected officials of the PDP (19 deputies and 35 general advisers or of district) are it vis-a-vis the right-hand side. Very quickly, the republican Fédération is opposed virulemment to the popular democrats by the voices of Henry de Kérillis which show them to have divided the “nationals” or by Victor Per ret, president of the federation of the Rhone, which accuses the strategy of the “catholic center”, source of confusion according to him enters political action and religious action. Only Georges Pernot recommends a collaboration between its party and the PDP. More largely, the PDP takes seat at the end of the Twenties in the recombining of the right-hand sides republican and member of Parliament vis-a-vis the radical line emergence new and is a symbol of the major division which affect them.

1932-1940: decline

The droitisation of the PDP is sensitive at the time of the Affaire Stavisky and of the events of February 6th, 1934 when the party marries the argumentation of the right-hand sides. Although allured by the topic of the “left Third” worked out by the radical Emile Rock, director of the Republic , in 1934, the popular democrats are divided for the first time into tendencies opposed starting from 1936 pennies the effect of the evolution of the political life which puts at evil a coherent center positioning.

Years of backward flow of the number of its members and its elected officials, the PDP is victim of the dichotomy between its electoral customers resulting from the right-hand side and a group directing which tries to maintain the unit around the initial doctrinal compromise whereas its members divide between a majority left wing incarnated by Robert Cornilleau and a right wing behind Henri Teitgen. Consequently, its visibility is reduced and its attraction - which had known to continue and rejoin many individualities of the social Catholicisme and Christian Democrat until the beginning of the year thirty - is erased.

On the international plan, the party as a whole shows an unquestionable clearness vis-a-vis the rise of the hitlerism and overall vis-a-vis the authoritarian regimes, in Italy as in Spain. Thus, Jean Raymond-Laurent will be the only catholic deputy to go to Spain within the delegation of deputies at the time of a voyage of information to at the beginning of 1939. It will support the cause of the Spanish republicans against the mode of Francisco Franco by affirming that the principal threat for peace comes from the authoritarian regimes and not from Russia, minority attitude within the impregnated lines of a virulent Anticommunisme. The attitude of firmness preached by Georges Bidault, Auguste Champetier de Ribes or Paul Simon however encounters a minority favorable to the conciliation, showing the existence of internal divisions in spite of the official voice of the executive commission of the party which opposes the Accords of Munich in 1938.

The PDP at the Parliament

With the House of Commons

The short history of the PDP was always marked by the concern of setting up a group hinge between those of right-hand side and those of left without never arriving there, following the example attempts of AD.

From 1924 to 1936, the PDP however manages to have a group of the popular democrats, which remains restricted, of the “group of fourteen” original in 1924 with a maximum of 19 deputies and 35 sympathizers at the time of the legislatures of 1928. This group will never manage to gather the whole of the social catholics (divided between the groups of the Young Republic, of Independent of popular action or the republican and social group of Georges Pernot).

With the Senate

The PDP will count only some members isolated at the time of the various legislatures, the latter being diluted in the center groups of the Senate.

The PDP during the Second world war

If the majority of the members of Parliament of this party voted the full powerss with the Maréchal Pétain on July 10th, 1940, the PDP however provides the most important quota of opponents against the full powerss within the lines (Pierre de Chambrun, Auguste Champetier de Ribes, Paul Simon and Pierre Trémintin). Like the whole of the political parties, the PDP is put in sleep with the birth of the mode of Vichy and its dislocation during the funny one of war blocks all attempts at ressusciter the party like forces opposition to the Régime of Vichy.

Thus, the popular democrats divide vis-a-vis the new mode. Many its members will take responsabilities within the organizations installation by Vichy (agricultural organizations, family, of youths or in the French Légion of the combatants). The enthusiasm of Louis Alfred Pagès vis-a-vis the orientations of the capacity illustrates temptation within the PDP to approve a policy which takes again major axes of its program (such defense of the family, introduction of organization professionals, the revision of the institutions, etc), which Jean-Claude Delbreil names the “Vichyist slope” that in it the Christian Democrat carries.

However, the members of the PDP which engages in resistance illustrates the originality of this political tendency. If a Georges Bidault is a major member of the network Combat in Lyon and will be the successor of Jean Moulin to the head of the National council of Resistance in June 1943, the popular democrats will take an important place in intellectual and spiritual resistance to Vichy. Thus, the majority of its resistant join the rows of the clandestine press (Christian Témoignage, Liberté , etc) whose symbol remains Jean Raymond-Laurent, founder with Emmanuel Mounier of new Temps (1940-1941). Propaganda by lampoons is especially sensitive in the southern zone, revealing the specificity of the PDP in the region of Lion (in particular in the Rhone and the Loire) compared to the party lasting the inter-war period.

The PDP after 1944

The majority of the members of the PDP find with the Release within the popular Republican movement (MRP). Georges Bidault (which it will chair of 1949 to 1952), Jean Raymond-Laurent or Charles Flory takes part in his foundation, attracted by a party which is opposed to cleavage right-hand side-left, identity combat for the Christian Democrat. The experiment of the PDP was an essential stage of entry in policy of a mobility hitherto a41dernier $c-b1, e,10 $c-b26 ce $c-b16 $c-b43, bn,84 confined in the intellectual sphere and the social action, a precedent whose MRP - in a different political context - will be able to collect the fruits of them. Some of its members (among which the General Cockerel, Rémy Roure, Alphonse Juge) refuse however the transformation of the PDP into MRP and found the Democratic party who adheres to the Rassemblement Republican lefts before basing themselves within UDSR.

Some personalities of the PDP

Presidents of the party

Georges Thibout (1924-1929).
Auguste Champetier de Ribes (1929-1940). Lawyer, appointed then senator of the Low-Pyrenees (1924-1942).

General secretary of the party

Jean Raymond-Laurent (1924-1940). Resulting from the Furrow, deputy of the Loire (1938-1942).

Outstanding personalities

Georges Bidault. Member of the ACJF, leader-writer of the Paddle .
Pierre de Chambrun. Deputy then senator de Lozère (1898-1942).
Robert Cornilleau. Resulting from the Furrow, director of the Small Democrat .
Emmanuel Desgrées of Lou. Lawyer, cofounder of the West-Flash .
Charles Flory. Member of the ACJF, Political founder of .
Louis Alfred Pagès. Member of the ACJF, journalist with the West-Flash .
Ernest Pézet . Resulting from the Furrow, secretary of the FNC (1924-1926).
Marcel Prélot. Law professor, member of the ACJF, Political collaborator of .
Robert Schuman. Deputy of the Moselle (1919-1942), member of the PDP of 1931 to 1939.
Paul Simon. Deputy of Finistere (1913-1942), director of the West-Flash (1933-1940).
Henri Teitgen. Journalist with the West Flash .
Jacques Tourret. Lawyer, member of the social Chronicle, chair PDP of the Rhone (1925-1937).
Pierre Trémintin. Deputy of Finistere (1924-1942).

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