Moderate Republicans (France, 1871–1901)

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Opportunist Republicans
)
This article is about the political group of the Third French Republic. For its predecessor, see Moderate Republicans (France, 1848–1870).
Moderate Republicans
Républicains modérés
Leader(s)
Republicanism
Political positionCentre-left[6][7][8][a]
Colours  Orange
^ a: However, Opportunist Republicans was also classified as "Left-wing"[9][10] or "Centre".[11][12]
Politics of France
Constitutions
Executive
Legislature
Judiciary
Administrative divisions
Elections
Foreign relations
Related topics

The Moderates or Moderate Republicans (

Third French Republic. The leaders of the group included Adolphe Thiers, Jules Ferry, Jules Grévy, Henri Wallon and René Waldeck-Rousseau
.

Although considered

radical republicans
as the Democratic Union (Union démocratique).

They were further divided into the National Republican Association (Association nationale républicaine) and the Liberal Republican Union (Union libérale républicaine) in 1888 and 1889, respectively.

History

Origins

The

Bonapartist
majority.

Divisions

President Jules Grévy

After the

Patrice MacMahon, but after the failure of a return to the monarchy and after the legislative elections of 1876 the moderate and radical republicans gained 193 and 98 seats in the Chamber, respectively. From this time, the republicans maintained strong majorities in the French Parliament and were pejoratively called Opportunists by their detractors for their aptitude to gain the popular consensus in spite of any ideology.[17]

Moving to the right

Prime Minister Jules Ferry, who resigned in 1885 after a political scandal called the Tonkin Affair

In January 1879, the Republican

Blanquists). To prevent the creation of a socialist state
, the two radical and moderate republicans spirits decided to cooperate and form common governments despite the personal antagonism between Grévy and Gambetta, who died in 1882.

During the late 1870s and 1880s, the Republican majority launched an education reform with the

republicanism in France being historically associated with the left-wing. This paradox was later identified as sinistrisme
("leftism").

In the legislative elections of 1885, the republican consolidation was confirmed. Even if popularly won by the Conservative Union of Armand de Mackau, the elections guaranteed a solid republican majority in the Chamber. In fact, until the election the two republican groups had been reunited in a new political party guided by President Grévy and his close ally Jules Ferry, namely the Democratic Union, born of the fusion of the Republican Left and the Republican Union. However, the republican Prime Minister Ferry was forced to resign in 1885 after a political scandal known as the Tonkin Affair and President Grévy also resigned his office in 1887 after a corruption scandal involving his son-in-law. The Moderate Republicans, seriously challenged, survived only thanks to the support of the Radical Republicans of René Goblet and worries about the rise of a new political phenomenon called revanchism, the desire for revenge against the German Empire after the defeat of 1871.

Final divisions and decline

National Republican Association
Association nationale républicaine
Chairman(s)
Republicanism
Political positionCentre-right
Colours  Blue
Staff (1888) ca. 110

The revanchist ideas were strong in the France of the

aristocrats
, respectively.

In the face of the rise of Boulanger, the republican leaders were divided. From one side, the old republican moderate wing, composed by prominent personalities like Jules Ferry, Maurice Rouvier and

Prince Napoléon Bonaparte, also themselves disappointed by Boulanger's republican ideas. The coup de grâce to Boulangisme arrived when he was accused of preparing a coup d'état, causing his flight to Brussels and a republican landslide in the 1889
.

In the 1890s, the Moderate Republican parable ended as the

rehabilitation of Dreyfus in 1900. To remove the mole of antisemitism, Waldeck-Rousseau founded the Democratic Republican Alliance (ADR) in 1901, claiming the heritage of Ferry and Gambetta.[27] Many Moderate Republicans joined the ADR, including Yves Guyot, Ferdinand Dreyfus (not linked with the Colonel), Narcisse Leven and David Raynal. The Moderate Republicans who had remained in the ANR finally adhered along with Progressive Republicans to the Republican Federation, a right-wing party very distant from the original ANR's beliefs.[28]

Prominent members

Electoral results

Presidential elections

Election year Candidate No. of first round votes % of first round vote No. of second round votes % of second round vote Won/Loss
1873 Jules Grévy 1 0.3% Loss
1879
 Jules Grévy 563 84.0% Won
1885
 Jules Grévy 457 79.4% Won
1887
François Sadi Carnot
 303 35.7% 616 75.0% Won
1894
 Jean Casimir-Perier 451 53.4% Won
1895
 Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau 184 23.8% Loss
1899
 Émile Loubet 483 59.5% Won

Legislative elections

Chamber of Deputies
Election year No. of
overall votes 		% of
overall vote 		No. of
overall seats won 		+/– Leader
1871 Unknown (3rd) 17.5%
112 / 638
New
Jules Grévy
1876 2,674,540 (1st) 36.2%
193 / 533
Increase 81
Jules Dufaure
1877[a] 4,860,481 (1st) 60.0%
313 / 521
Increase 120
Jules Dufaure
1881 2,226,247 (2nd) 31.0%
168 / 545
Decrease 145
Jules Ferry
1885[b] 2,711,890 (1st) 34.2%
200 / 584
Increase 32
Jules Ferry
1889 2,974,565 (1st) 37.4%
216 / 578
Increase 16
Jean Casimir-Perier
1893 3,608,722 (1st) 48.6%
279 / 574
Increase 63
Jean Casimir-Perier
1898[c] 3,518,057 (1st) 43.4%
254 / 585
Decrease 25
Jules Méline
  • ^ a: Presented as coalition of Republican Left and Republican Union
  • ^ b: Under the label of Democratic Union
  • ^ c: Under the label of Progressives

See also

Bibliography

  • Abel Bonnard (1936). Les Modérés. Grasset. 330 p.
  • Francois Roth (dir.) (2003). Les modérés dans la vie politique française (1870-1965). Nancy: University of Nancy Press. 562 p.
    ISBN 2-86480-726-2
    .
  • Gilles Dumont, Bernard Dumont and Christophe Réveillard (dir.) (2007). La culture du refus de l’ennemi. Modérantisme et religion au seuil du XXIe siècle. University of Limoges Press. Bibliothèque européenne des idées. 150 p.

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 9782870274019
    .
  2. ISBN 9780231543804
    .
  3. ISBN 9782011818751
    .
  4. ISBN 9782130493884
    .
  5. ISBN 9782735104246
    .
  6. ^ Adam D. Sheingate, ed. (2021). The Rise of the Agricultural Welfare State: Institutions and Interest Group Power in the United States, France, and Japan. Princeton University Press. p. 42.
  7. ^ Jean-Numa Ducange, Elisa Marcobelli, ed. (2021). Selected Writings of Jean Jaurès: On Socialism, Pacifism and Marxism. Springer Nature. p. xi.
  8. ^ Samuel Raybone, ed. (2020). Gustave Caillebotte as Worker, Collector, Painter. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 4.
  9. ISBN 9782200615451
    .
  10. ISBN 9782213656601
    .
  11. ISBN 9789052013176
    .
  12. ISBN 9782213664378
    .
  13. ^ Philippe Vigier (1967). La Seconde République. PUF, coll. Que sais-je ?. p. 127.
  14. ^ Francis Démier (2000). La France du XIXe siècle. Éditions du Seuil. p. 602.
  15. ^ Dominique Lejeune (2011). La France des débuts de la IIIe République, 1870-1896. Armand Colin. p. 9.
  16. ^ Michel Winock (2007). Clemenceau. Éditions Perrin. p. 21.
  17. ^ François Caron (1985). La France des patriotes (de 1851 à 1918). Fayar. p. 384.
  18. ^ Georges-Léonard Hémeret; Janine Hémeret (1981). Les présidents : République française. Filipacchi. p. 237.
  19. ^ Spuller, p. 10.
  20. ^ G. Davenay (30 August 1894). "L'Association nationale républicaine". Le Figaro.
  21. doi:10.1524/9783486596106.27
    .
  22. ^ "L'Association républicaine du Centenaire de 1789". Le Temps. 9–19 February 1888.
  23. ^ Stephen Pichon (24 June 1888). "Un Parti". La Justice.
  24. ^ THE PANAMA SCANDALS; An Exciting Scene in the French Chamber of Deputies. March 30, 1897
  25. ^ Charles Morice; Henry Jarzuel (11 August 1894). "La Constitution". Le Figaro.
  26. ^ Le Figaro, 27 February 1899
  27. ^ Le Figaro, 9 February 1902
  28. ^ Auguste Avril (19 November 1903). "Les Progressistes". Le Figaro.
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