Independent Radicals

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with Radical Party (France).

The Independent Radicals (

historical radicalism. The prominent political scientist André Siegfried described them as "Social [that is, economic] conservatives who did not want to break with the Left, and who therefore voted with the Right on [economic] interests, and with the Left on political issues".[1]

Parliamentary origins and influence

Originally in the 1900s

Socialist Party
.

From 1914 to 1940, Radical Republicans in

Democratic Alliance. This made the Radical Left a pivotal party, and regardless of whether the government was centre-left or centre-right there was usually one or more Independent Radical in cabinet. Several of France's most powerful political figures were Independent Radicals, including Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau and President Gaston Doumergue
.

Developments during the interwar period

At various moments during the interwar the Radical-Socialist Party was subject to small schisms over its attitude to the government of the day. Whenever the more conservative Radical-Socialists quit their caucus, they would either join the Radical Left group directly, or form a small splinter Radical group that eventually merged into the Radical Left. In 1938 an Independent Radical Party was formed from the merger of two groups that had at different points split off from the Radical-Socialist Party in protest at its choice of allies: Henry Franklin-Bouillon's anti-socialist Social and Unionist Radicals (formed in 1927), and André Grisoni's anti-communist 'French Radical Party' (formed in 1936).[2]

The tendency was described by André Siegfried (Tableau des Partis en France) for the case of Franklin-Bouillon's dissidents: "a group largely of former Radical-Socialists who from a sense of National Unity, preferred to side with Poincaré [the liberal centre-right] over the Cartel [Socialist Party], and who ended up turning vaguely into nationalists. Radicalism has always contained this kind of temperament, but has always ended up expelling them. Are they really a party of the Centre[-right]? In any case they have taken refuge there, without fully sharing the mindset, and in any case the pure Radical[-Socialist]s would not forgive their dissidency and welcome them back."

It is worth noting, however, that the Radical-Socialists did welcome some of them back, and on the margins of the two parties there was much overlap and back-and-forth. The most noteworthy rogue Radical-Socialist to be reinstated was Albert Sarraut, leader of the party's right-wing, who during his expulsion from the party between 1924-5 continued to sit as an independent Radical. Others include the Breton deputy Pierre Michel, who in 1932 initially chose to sit among the Radical Left group before, a year later, moving permanently to sit with the Radical-Socialist group.

Over time the boundaries between the Independent Radicals and the Left Republicans group (caucus of the

Democratic Alliance) grew less clear. In 1936 an attempt was made by the liberal former-premier Pierre-Étienne Flandin
to merge the two groups under the label Alliance of Left Republicans and Independent Radicals (ARGRI). It ultimately failed: while some Independent Radicals joined, others refused and continued the old caucus under the name "Independent Radical and Democratic Left" group. While today the distinction between conservative Radicals and conservative Liberals appears arcane (these two tendencies had already merged, or would later merge, in most European countries), at the time there was a genuine difference in temperament.

In 1930, the Independent Radical Raoul Péret became Minister of Justice in André Tardieu's cabinet. He was incidentally the cause of his fall because of his personal links with the banker Albert Oustric.

In the

Senate, the Independent Radicals sat in the Democratic and Radical Union
(Union démocratique et radicale) parliamentary group.

After the

Rally of Left Republicans
umbrella party.

Election results

Regime Year % Seats
Electorate

(first round)

Gained Out of %
Third Republic 1902 16.8% 116 589 20.4%
1906 7.9% 134 583 23.0%
1910 11.4% 113 590 19.2%
1914 16.6% 66 601 11.0%
1919 6.1% 93 613 15.2%
1924 11.8% 42 581 7.2%
1928 10.8% 53 604 8.8%
1932 9.8% 47 607 7.7%
1936 8.4% 39 610 6.4%


Members

See also

References

  1. ^ Siegfried, André (1930). Tableau des partis en France. Paris: Grasset. p. 174.
  2. ^ "Formation d'un nouveau parti politique". Le Temps. 13 February 1938.
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