The Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (, , ), abbreviated to LSAP or POSL, is a

social democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

pro-European Pro-Europeanism, sometimes called European Unionism, is a political position that favours European integration and membership of the European Union (EU).Krisztina Arató, Petr Kaniok (editors). ''Euroscepticism and European Integration''. Pol ...

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, ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

. The LSAP sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum. The LSAP is the third-largest party in the

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 ...

, having won 11 of 60 seats at the 2023 general election, and has one seat in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

. Since March 2022, the party's President have been Francine Closener and Dan Biancalana. The party is close to the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions, the country's largest

trade union centre Organizers within trade unions have sought to increase the bargaining power of workers in regards to collective bargaining by acting in collaboration with other trade unions. Multi-union organizing can take place on an informal basis, or on a ...

, but they have no formal links.Hearl (1987), p. 255 The LSAP is particularly strong in the south of the country, controlling most of the mayoralties in the large towns of the

Red Lands The Red Lands form a geographic region in southern and south-western Luxembourg. They are so called for their red iron-laden earth. The Red Lands roughly correspond with the southern part of the canton of Esch-sur-Alzette, along the border with F ...

. It is affiliated with the

Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism, consisting mostly of Social democracy, social democratic political parties and Labour mov ...

, the

Progressive Alliance The Progressive Alliance (PA) is a political international of progressive and social democratic political parties and organisations founded on 22 May 2013 in Leipzig, Germany. The alliance was formed as an alternative to the existing Socia ...

, and the

Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a Social democracy, social democratic European political party. The PES comprises national-level political parties from all the European Economic Area, European economic area states (EEA) plus the Unit ...

History

The party was formed on 5 July 1902 as the Social Democratic Party. Left-wing elements split in 1905 to create the Social Democratic Workers' Party. These were both re-united in 1912. In 1916, the party was renamed to Socialist Party, part of the

Second International The Second International, also called the Socialist International, was a political international of Labour movement, socialist and labour parties and Trade union, trade unions which existed from 1889 to 1916. It included representatives from mo ...

. On 2 January 1921, communist elements split to create the

Communist Party of Luxembourg The Communist Party of Luxembourg (; ; ; KPL or PCL) is a communist party in Luxembourg. is the current chairman of the party. History The KPL was founded on 2 January 1921, in the town of Niederkorn, making it one of the oldest parties ...

. The Socialist Party was renamed the Luxembourg Workers' Party in 1924, and was a member of the

Labour and Socialist International The Labour and Socialist International (LSI) was an international organization of socialist and labourist parties, active between 1923 and 1940. The group was established through a merger of the rival Vienna International and the Berne Intern ...

between 1923 and 1940.Kowalski, Werner.
Geschichte der sozialistischen arbeiter-internationale: 1923 – 19
'. Berlin: Dt. Verl. d. Wissenschaften, 1985. p. 308 On 5 November 1937, the Party joined the government for the first time, in a coalition under

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Pierre Dupong Pierre Dupong (; 1 November 1885 – 23 December 1953)Thewes, Guy"Les gouvernements du Grand-Duché depuis 1848." Service information et presse. Luxembourg: Imprimerie Centrale, 2011. was a Luxembourgish politician and statesman. He served as ...

Post-war

The party was reformed after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

as the 'Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party', in the mould of the Labour Party in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

,Thewes (2006), p. 123 where the government had been exiled. In the first election after the war, in 1945, the LSAP was the big loser, falling to 26% of the vote, but remained in the National Union Government, along with all other parties. In 1947, the party started its process of re-building itself, and it managed to join a coalition government (1951–1959 in the Dupong-Bodson and Bech Bodson governments, and 1964–1968 in the Werner-Cravatte government). The discussions over the party's direction split the LSAP again. On 2 May 1970,

Henry Cravatte Henry Cravatte (21 May 1911 – 4 November 1990) was a Luxembourgish politician. Political activity Cravatte studied Jurisprudence and in 1936 became lawyer in Diekirch. His political career began in 1951 when he was placed on the list of the Lux ...

was ejected as President by a trades union-led coup. In March 1971, centrist elements, led by Cravatte, split to create the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

. Those who left included 6 Deputies and most of the party leadership. However, the LSAP could recover by 1974 and joined the DP in a centre-left coalition (the Thorn-Vouel-Berg government), which enacted important social reforms: judicial system reforms (including a humanisation of the penal system), introduction of a fifth week of holiday, general introduction of the 40-hour week, the salary index, reform of unemployment benefits. This did not prevent an electoral defeat in 1979. In this legislative period, the LSAP held their famous energy conference, and decided a moratorium for the atomic power station of Remerschen. This was the definitive end of the project. In 1984, the LSAP were re-united with most of the Social Democratic Party (some members joined the

Christian Social People's Party The Christian Social People's Party (, , ; CSV or PCS) is the largest political party in Luxembourg. The party follows a Christian democratic and conservative ideology and has been described as centre to centre-right. Furthermore, akin to most ...

Recent history

Following the 2004 general election, the LSAP served in the government of Luxembourg as junior partner to the

(CSV) under Prime Minister

Jean-Claude Juncker Jean-Claude Juncker (; born 9 December 1954) is a Luxembourgish politician who was List of prime ministers of Luxembourg, prime minister of Luxembourg from 1995 to 2013 and president of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019. He also was List ...

in the first Juncker–Asselborn government, with the LSAP's Jean Asselborn serving as

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a Minister (government), government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to th ...

and

Minister for Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral re ...

. The coalition with the CSV continued as the second Juncker–Asselborn government following the 2009 general election, which lasted until July 2013 when the LSAP withdrew its support from the government, necessitating early elections. Following the 2013 general election, the LSAP was in a three-party Bettel–Schneider government with the Democratic Party and

The Greens The Greens or Greens may refer to: Current political parties *The Greens – The Green Alternative, Austria *Australian Greens, also known as ''The Greens'' * Greens of Andorra * The Greens (Benin) *The Greens (Bulgaria) * Greens of Bosnia and He ...

, with the Democratic Party's

Xavier Bettel Xavier Bettel (; born 3 March 1973) is a Luxembourgish lawyer and politician who serves as the List of deputy prime ministers of Luxembourg, deputy prime minister of Luxembourg and as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Luxembourg), minister for Fo ...

serving as Prime Minister and

Etienne Schneider Etienne Schneider (; born 29 January 1971) is a Luxembourgish politician and economist who served as First Deputy Prime Minister of Luxembourg from 2013 to 2020. He is a member of the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP). Schneider was a m ...

of the LSAP as Deputy Prime Minister. Since 2023, they have been in opposition again.

Election results

Chamber of Deputies

ImageSize = width:800 height:150 PlotArea = width:700 height:125 left:25 bottom:20 AlignBars = justify Colors = id:LSAP value:rgb(0.8,0,0) DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:0 till:30 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:0 PlotData= bar:Seats color:LSAP width:24 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:S bar:1919 color:LSAP from:start till:8 text:8 align:center bar:1922 color:LSAP from:start till:6 text:6 align:center bar:1925 color:LSAP from:start till:8 text:8 align:center bar:1928 color:LSAP from:start till:12 text:12 align:center bar:1931 color:LSAP from:start till:15 text:15 align:center bar:1934 color:LSAP from:start till:14 text:14 align:center bar:1937 color:LSAP from:start till:18 text:18 align:center bar:1945 color:LSAP from:start till:11 text:11 align:center bar:1948 color:LSAP from:start till:15 text:15 align:center bar:1951 color:LSAP from:start till:19 text:19 align:center bar:1954 color:LSAP from:start till:17 text:17 align:center bar:1959 color:LSAP from:start till:17 text:17 align:center bar:1964 color:LSAP from:start till:21 text:21 align:center bar:1968 color:LSAP from:start till:18 text:18 align:center bar:1974 color:LSAP from:start till:17 text:17 align:center bar:1979 color:LSAP from:start till:14 text:14 align:center bar:1984 color:LSAP from:start till:21 text:21 align:center bar:1989 color:LSAP from:start till:18 text:18 align:center bar:1994 color:LSAP from:start till:17 text:17 align:center bar:1999 color:LSAP from:start till:13 text:13 align:center bar:2004 color:LSAP from:start till:14 text:14 align:center bar:2009 color:LSAP from:start till:13 text:13 align:center bar:2013 color:LSAP from:start till:13 text:13 align:center bar:2018 color:LSAP from:start till:10 text:10 align:center bar:2023 color:LSAP from:start till:11 text:11 align:center ImageSize = width:800 height:150 PlotArea = width:700 height:125 left:25 bottom:20 AlignBars = justify Colors = id:LSAP value:rgb(0.8,0,0) DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:0 till:400 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:50 start:0 PlotData= bar:Vote% color:LSAP width:24 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:S bar:1919 color:LSAP from:start till:156 text:15.6 align:center bar:1922 color:LSAP from:start till:107 text:10.7 align:center bar:1925 color:LSAP from:start till:162 text:16.2 align:center bar:1928 color:LSAP from:start till:326 text:32.6 align:center bar:1931 color:LSAP from:start till:192 text:19.2 align:center bar:1934 color:LSAP from:start till:294 text:29.4 align:center bar:1937 color:LSAP from:start till:247 text:24.7 align:center bar:1945 color:LSAP from:start till:234 text:23.4 align:center bar:1948 color:LSAP from:start till:378 text:37.8 align:center bar:1951 color:LSAP from:start till:338 text:33.8 align:center bar:1954 color:LSAP from:start till:351 text:35.1 align:center bar:1959 color:LSAP from:start till:349 text:34.9 align:center bar:1964 color:LSAP from:start till:377 text:37.7 align:center bar:1968 color:LSAP from:start till:323 text:32.3 align:center bar:1974 color:LSAP from:start till:292 text:29.2 align:center bar:1979 color:LSAP from:start till:243 text:24.3 align:center bar:1984 color:LSAP from:start till:336 text:33.6 align:center bar:1989 color:LSAP from:start till:262 text:26.2 align:center bar:1994 color:LSAP from:start till:254 text:25.4 align:center bar:1999 color:LSAP from:start till:223 text:22.3 align:center bar:2004 color:LSAP from:start till:234 text:23.4 align:center bar:2009 color:LSAP from:start till:216 text:21.6 align:center bar:2013 color:LSAP from:start till:202 text:20.2 align:center bar:2018 color:LSAP from:start till:176 text:17.6 align:center bar:2023 color:LSAP from:start till:189 text:19.9 align:center

European Parliament

Presidents

The formal leader of the party is the president. However, often, a government minister will be the most important member of the party, as Jean Asselborn is now. Below is a list of presidents of the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party since 1945. * Michel Rasquin (1945–1951) *

Paul Wilwertz Paul Wilwertz (7 April 1905 – 28 December 1979) was a Luxembourgish politician for the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP). He was Mayor of Luxembourg City for five years, as well as sitting in the Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg, Chamb ...

(1951–1952) *

Albert Bousser Albert Bousser (8 February 1906 – 2 May 1995) was a Luxembourgish politician, railway inspector, and trade unionist. Born on 8 February 1906 in Alzingen, Bousser studied in Paris at the École du génie civil, after which he became a railway in ...

(1952–1954) * Émile Ludwig (1954–1955) *

(1955–1959) *

(1959–1970) * Antoine Wehenkel (1970–1974) *

Lydie Schmit Lydie Schmit (31 January 1939 – 7 April 1988) was a Luxembourgish politician and teacher. Schmit joined the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party in 1970. By 1974, she had been chosen as President of the party: a position that she held unti ...

(1974–1980) * Robert Krieps (1980–1985) * Ben Fayot (1985–1997) * Jean Asselborn (1997–2004) * Alex Bodry (2004–2014) *

Claude Haagen Claude may refer to: People and fictional characters * Claude (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Claude (surname), a list of people * Claude Callegari (1962–2021), English Arsenal supporter * Claude Debussy (1862–1918), ...

(2014–2019) * Franz Fayot (2019–2020) * Yves Cruchten (2020–2022) * Francine Closener and Dan Biancalana (2022–present)

Footnotes

References

* *

External links

* {{Authority control Social democratic parties Full member parties of the Socialist International Party of European Socialists member parties Second International parties Members of the Labour and Socialist International Progressive Alliance Parties represented in the European Parliament 1945 establishments in Luxembourg Political parties established in 1945