The Popular Liberal Action (, ALP), simply called Liberal Action (), was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

that represented

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

supporters of the

French Third Republic The French Third Republic (, sometimes written as ) was the system of government adopted in France from 4 September 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War, until 10 July 1940, after the Fall of France durin ...

. It operated in the

center-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

, primarily to oppose the left-wing Republican coalition led by

Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau Pierre Marie René Ernest Waldeck-Rousseau (; 2 December 184610 August 1904) was a French Republicanism, Republican politician who served for three years as the Prime Minister of France. Early life Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau was born in Nantes, ...

and

Émile Combes Émile Justin Louis Combes (; 6 September 183525 May 1921) was a French politician and freemason who led the Bloc des gauches, Lefts Bloc (French: ''Bloc des gauches'') cabinet from June 1902 to January 1905. Career Émile Combes was born on 6 ...

who pursued an anti-clerical agenda designed to weaken the Catholic Church, especially its role in education. The ALP between 1901-1914 had its best election in 1902, with 78 deputies. It built a nationwide newspaper and propaganda network, had excellent funding. There were 1200 local committees, with 200,000 dues paying members in 1906.

History

The Liberal Action was founded in 1901 by Jacques Piou and Albert de Mun, former monarchists who switched to republicanism at the request of Pope Leo XIII. From the Churches perspective, its mission was to express the political ideals and new social doctrines embodied in Leo's 1891 encyclical "

Rerum Novarum ''Rerum novarum'', or ''Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor'', is an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII on 15 May 1891. It is an open letter, passed to all Catholic patriarchs, primates, archbishops, and bishops, which addressed the condi ...

". ''Action libérale'' was the parliamentary group from which the political party emerged, adding the word ''populaire'' ("popular") to signify this expansion. Membership was open to everyone, not just Catholics. It sought to gather all the "honest people" and to be the melting pot sought by Leo XIII where Catholics and moderate Republicans would unite to support a policy of tolerance and social progress. Its motto summarized its program: "Liberty for all; equality before the law; better conditions for the workers." However, the "old republicans" were few, and it did not manage to regroup all Catholics, as it was shunned by monarchists, Christian democrats, and Integrists. In the end, it recruited mostly among the liberal-Catholics ( Jacques Piou) and the Social Catholics ( Albert de Mun). The party was drawn into battle from its very beginnings (its first steps coincided with the beginning of the Combes ministry and its anticlerical combat policy), as religious matters were at the heart of its preoccupations. It defended the Church in the name of liberty and common law. Fiercely fought by the ''

Action française ''Action Française'' (, AF; ) is a French far-right monarchist and nationalist political movement. The name was also given to a journal associated with the movement, '' L'Action Française'', sold by its own youth organization, the Camelot ...

'', the movement declined from 1908, when it lost the support of Rome. Nevertheless, the ALP remained until 1914 the most important party on the right. All but forgotten during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

because of the ''

Union sacrée The Sacred Union (, ) was a political truce in the French Third Republic in which the left-wing agreed during World War I not to oppose the government or call any strikes. Made in the name of patriotism, it stood in opposition to the pledge made ...

'', it re-emerged in 1919, with only its administrators, but still exerting an important moral influence on the Catholic electors. In 1919, the ''Action libérale populaire'' joined the ''Bloc national''. After that, it sought to regroup, most notably in 1923 and 1927, but to no avail. The ''Action libérale populaire'' played an important historical role by integrating into political life the '' Catholiques ralliés'' and by being the first political party, right of center, to organize itself under a "modern" scheme. A new attempt started in 1924 with the Popular Democratic Party.

Notable members

* Jacques Piou, Founding president * Albert de Mun, first vice-president * Amiral de Cuverville, vice-president * duc d'Estissac, vice-president * Baron Xavier Reille * Camille Guyot de Villeneuve * Hyacinthe de Gailhard-Bancel * Henri Bazire * Henri-Constant Groussau * Louis Hébert * comte Ferri de Ludre * Paul Lerolle * marquis de l'Estourbeillon * Jean Plichon * Emmanuel de Las-Cases * Léonce de Castelnau * Xavier de la Rochefoucauld * Émile Driant * Denys Cochin * Paul Dussaussoy

Electoral results

{, class=wikitable , - , colspan=6,

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

, - ! Election year ! # of
overall votes ! % of
overall vote ! # of
overall seats won ! +/– ! Leader , - ! 1902 , 1,350,581 (#3) , 16.00 , , , , - !

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

, 1,238,048 (#3) , 14.05 , , , , - !

1910 Events January * January 6 – Abé people in the French West Africa colony of Côte d'Ivoire rise against the colonial administration; the rebellion is brutally suppressed by the military. * January 8 – By the Treaty of Punakha, t ...

, 737,616 (#6) , 8.65 , , , , - !

1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as the First World War, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip ...

, 956,261 (#4) , 11.34 , , , {{center, Jacques Piou

History

Notable members

Electoral results

Further reading