The Popular Liberal Action (french: Action libérale populaire, ALP), simply called Liberal Action (), was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country'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 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

supporters of the

French Third Republic The French Third Republic (french: Troisième République, 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 194 ...

. It operated in the

center-right Centre-right politics lean to the right of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and m ...

, 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 Republican politician who served as the Prime Minister of France. Early life Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau was born in Nantes, Brittany. His father, René ...

and

Émile Combes Émile Justin Louis Combes (; 6 September 183525 May 1921) was a French statesman and freemason who led the Bloc des gauches's cabinet from June 1902 to January 1905. Career Émile Combes was born in Roquecourbe, Tarn. He studied for the pri ...

who pursued an

anti-clerical Anti-clericalism is opposition to religious authority, typically in social or political matters. Historical anti-clericalism has mainly been opposed to the influence of Roman Catholicism. Anti-clericalism is related to secularism, which seeks to ...

agenda designed to weaken the Catholic Church, especially its role in education. The ALP between 1901 in 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, giving at the strong space of any French political party.

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 Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-ol ...

. 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'' (from its incipit, with the direct translation of the Latin meaning "of revolutionary change"), 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, pas ...

". ''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 may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 f ...

'', 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 (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

because of the ''

Union sacrée The Sacred Union (french: Union Sacrée, ) was a political truce in France 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 mad ...

'', 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.

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 Louis Hébert (c. 1575 – 25 January 1627) is widely considered the first European apothecary in the region that would later become Canada, as well as the first European to farm in said region. He was born around 1575 at 129 de la rue Saint ...

* comte Ferri de Ludre * Paul Lerolle * marquis de l'Estourbeillon * Jean Plichon *

Emmanuel de Las-Cases Immanuel ( he, עִמָּנוּאֵל, 'Īmmānū'ēl, meaning, "God is with us"; also romanized: , ; and or in Koine Greek of the New Testament) is a Hebrew name that appears in the Book of Isaiah (7:14) as a sign that God will protect the H ...

Léonce de Castelnau Léonce is a French masculine given name. People with the name Léonce include: * Léonce (actor) (1823–1900), French actor and singer *Léonce Bekemans (born 1950), Belgian economist and scholar *Léonce-Henri Burel (1892–1977), French cinema ...

Xavier de la Rochefoucauld Xavier or Xabier may refer to: Place * Xavier, Spain People * Xavier (surname) * Xavier (given name) * Francis Xavier (1506–1552), Catholic saint ** St. Francis Xavier (disambiguation) * St. Xavier (disambiguation) * Xavier (footballer, bo ...

* Émile Driant

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 Bourbon ...

, - ! Election year ! # of
overall votes ! % of
overall vote ! # of
overall seats won ! +/– ! Leader , - !

1902 Events January * January 1 ** The Nurses Registration Act 1901 comes into effect in New Zealand, making it the first country in the world to require state registration of nurses. On January 10, Ellen Dougherty becomes the world's ...

, 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, a ...

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

1910 Events January * January 13 – The first public radio broadcast takes place; live performances of the operas ''Cavalleria rusticana'' and ''Pagliacci'' are sent out over the airwaves, from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York Ci ...

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

1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It also saw the first airline to provide schedule ...

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

History

Notable members

Electoral results

Further reading