The Republicans of the Centre and the Independents of Popular Action were the names given to a

parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political party, political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller politic ...

in the French

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 ...

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 ...

, composed mainly of

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 ...

regionalists from

Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...

and

Lorraine Lorraine, also , ; ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; ; ; is a cultural and historical region in Eastern France, now located in the administrative region of Grand Est. Its name stems from the medieval kingdom of ...

. It was mainly a religious conservative but democratic formation, descended from two political parties of the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

: the Catholic democratic Zentrum party, and the Alsace-Lorraine Regional Party. In ideological terms, it was considered to be more conservative than the social-Catholic Popular Democratic Party, but more moderate than the main French Catholic party, the Republican Federation. During the 1920s its members had largely sat in parliament among the Republican Federation deputies, but found it to have become too

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-nationalist and

centralist Centralisation or centralization (American English) is the process by which the activities of an organisation, particularly those regarding planning, decision-making, and framing strategies and policies, become concentrated within a particular ...

for their tastes.

1932 to 1936: the Republicans of the Centre group

The Republicans of the Centre (, RDC) existed during the 15th legislature (1932 to 1936). It was set up by the UPR deputy for

Colmar Colmar (; ; or ) is a city and commune in the Haut-Rhin department and Alsace region of north-eastern France. The third-largest commune in Alsace (after Strasbourg and Mulhouse), it is the seat of the prefecture of the Haut-Rhin department ...

Joseph Rossé Joseph Rossé (August 26, 1892 – October 24, 1951) was an Alsace, Alsatian politician and autonomist, notable for his engagement in the Union populaire républicaine (1919-1946), Union Populaire Républicaine and his controversial role during a ...

. It contained between six and ten

deputies A legislator, or lawmaker, is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are often elected by the people, but they can be appointed, or hereditary. Legislatures may be supra-nati ...

, and was essentially the parliamentary expression of the Christian democratic deputies from the former German provinces: the Alsatian Popular Republican Union and its Lorrain counterpart, the Lorraine Republican Union. There were also a handful of Alsatian Catholic independents who occasionally sat with the group. This Alsatian heritage was reflected in the group's label of 'Centre': although situated firmly on the right rather than the centre, it carried over the label of the German Zentrum party, to which some UPR deputies had previously belonged.

1936 to 1940: the Independents of Popular Action group

The Independents of Popular Action (, IAP) was the successor to the Republicans of the Centre in the 16th legislature of the Third Republic (1936 to 1940). The group was again predominantly made up of the deputies of the Alsatian Popular Republican Union and Lorrain Republican Union, but they were now joined by other Alsatian regionalists from other ideological traditions, such as the federalist Radical, Camille Dahlet . formed a new group named . a French parliamentary group in the 16th during the

between 1936 and 1940. The IAP was a centrist and

Christian democratic Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...

group composed of the Christian democratic. 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 ...

, the successors of the group merged with the more centrist Popular Democratic Party to form the Fourth Republic's major centre-right party, the Christian-democratic

Popular Republican Movement The Popular Republican Movement (, MRP) was a Christian-democratic political party in France during the Fourth Republic. Its base was the Catholic vote and its leaders included Georges Bidault, Robert Schuman, Paul Coste-Floret, Pierre-Henr ...

References

{{Reflist Christian democratic parties in Europe Defunct political parties in France Political parties of the French Third Republic Parliamentary groups in France Catholic political parties Political parties in Alsace

1932 to 1936: the Republicans of the Centre group

1936 to 1940: the Independents of Popular Action group

See also

References