The Republican Party of Liberty (, PRL) was a
centre-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 ...
to
right-wing
Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...
French political party founded after the
Liberation of France on 22 December 1945 by
Joseph Laniel,
André Mutter,
Édouard Frédéric-Dupont and
Jules Ramarony. It was the only significant right-wing conservative political party in the late 1940s. Key elements in this program were enacted, including the exclusion of the Communist Party from power, closer relations with the United States, and amnesty for Marshal
Philippe Pétain
Henri Philippe Bénoni Omer Joseph Pétain (; 24 April 1856 – 23 July 1951), better known as Marshal Pétain (, ), was a French marshal who commanded the French Army in World War I and later became the head of the Collaboration with Nazi Ger ...
's supporters. It was absorbed by the
National Centre of Independents and Peasants
The National Centre of Independents and Peasants (, ; CNIP) is a right-wing agrarian political party in France, founded in 1951 by the merger of the National Centre of Independents (CNI), the heir of the French Republican conservative-liberal ...
(CNI) in 1951.
[Vinen, 1993,]
The PRL's aim was to unite French conservatives, who had been totally discredited in 1944 due to the numbers of
Vichy collaborators in their ranks, and the role they played during the
interwar period
In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...
.
Bernard Frank mocked "this right which suddenly discovered in itself a love for the Republic and liberty." The PRL's tentative approach failed, most conservative leaders trying to conserve their autonomy or to recreate parties of the
Third Republic such as the
Democratic Alliance, the
Republican Federation or the
Republican Social Party of French Reconciliation (''Parti républicain social de la réconciliation française'').
The PRL campaigned for a "no" vote in the
May 1946 referendum on the
Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed.
When these pri ...
. It obtained 38 seats in the
November 1946 legislative elections. The party was presided over by
Michel Clemenceau (son of
Georges), who obtained 60 votes out of 883 during the
1947 presidential election — under the
Fourth Republic, the President was elected by members of the two chambers of Parliament, not by
universal suffrage
Universal suffrage or universal franchise ensures the right to vote for as many people bound by a government's laws as possible, as supported by the " one person, one vote" principle. For many, the term universal suffrage assumes the exclusion ...
.
The PRL then obtained 11 Senators in the indirect elections for the
Council of the Republic of 1948. After numerous internal dissensions, the PRL merged into the CNI in 1951, while some members joined the
Gaullist Rally of the French People.
Members
*
Michel Clemenceau, President.
*
Robert Bertolaud
*
Édouard Barrachin
*
Henry Bergasse
*
François Brigneau
*
Robert Bruyneel
*
Fernand Chevalier
*
Jean Crouzier
*
Édouard Frédéric-Dupont
*
Henri Giraud
*
Louis Jacquinot
*
Pierre July
*
Joseph Laniel
*
Joseph Lecacheux
*
Jean Legendre
*
Pierre Montel
*
André Mutter
*
Georges Pernot
*
Jules Ramarony
*
Paul Reynaud
Further reading
* Vinen, Richard. "The Parti Républicain de la Liberté and the Reconstruction of French Conservatism, 1944–1951." ''French History'' (1993) 7#2 pp: 183–204.
*
References
Right-wing parties in France
Political parties established in 1945
Political parties disestablished in 1951
1945 establishments in France
1951 disestablishments in France
Opportunist Republicans
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