For a person of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Christian parties with their almost complete infrastructure-their own professional associations, a network of charitable and philanthropic organizations, their own press, and close relations with priests at the parish level-became a kind of substitute for the “lost world” of traditional societies.
Nineteenth-century Europe was changing radically. Industrialization and urbanization were destroying the world of traditional societies. The way of life of a person in the pre-industrial era was radically different from today. All life and social activities were concentrated in relatively small groups, where tradition and religion played an important role.
In traditional societies, paternalistic ties between individuals and their communities, guilds, church parishes, and large landowners created informal institutions of social stability. The connection with these institutions was a guarantee of a stable existence for a person and his or her children. Freedom in these conditions was perceived not as an opportunity but as a threat of separation from social institutions.
The destruction of the traditional world and the weakening of human connection with traditional institutions led to a sense of abandonment, loneliness, and nostalgic longing for the “lost world” for most people.
For most of these people, modern political ideologies were alien or incomprehensible. In fact, the emergence of Christian parties was one of the signs of the crisis of the liberal-conservative paradigm of the nineteenth century. New groups came to politics, not satisfied with the old ideas.
Liberalism, with its appeal to freedom and its call for the rejection of paternalistic institutions, was too radical. The liberal respect for individualism went against Christian conciliarity. Lengthy parliamentary procedures and respect for the law seemed to be just a screen to hide the selfish interests of a few individuals.
Christian parties were separated from socialism by their attitude toward religion-almost all socialist movements became atheistic. The socialists’ call for the creation of a radically new system went against the “existential nostalgia” for the lost traditional world. At the end of the nineteenth century, separate groups of Christian socialists emerged in almost all European countries-from Lisbon and London to St. Petersburg and Bucharest. However, these groups were extremely uninfluential and failed to become the basis of a mass movement.
It seemed that conservatism should be a natural refuge for these people. However, as practice has shown, conservatism was able to absorb these sentiments only in those countries where parliaments played a prominent role. In these countries, conservative parties, trying to broaden their support base, appealed to ordinary citizens and somehow protected their interests. A classic example of this practice is the activities of the Conservative Party of Great Britain.
In most European countries, conservatism crystallized around ruling dynasties and dominant social strata. Conservatism treated the moods of the great masses with aristocratic superiority, perceiving them as plebeian and low. The gradual increase in the rights of parliaments and the expansion of suffrage led to the formation of huge electoral groups that were alien to the liberalism of big capital, “godless cosmopolitan” socialism, and the conservatism of aristocratic circles.
It was on the basis of such sentiments of the great masses that the first Christian parties of the nineteenth century began to emerge.
In Belgium, the Catholic Party was founded in 1869. In 1870, the Anti-Liberal Party was formed in Germany, later renamed the Center Party. In the Netherlands, the Anti-Revolutionary Party was finally formed in 1879. In 1893, the Christian Social Party was founded in Austria.
Appealing to religion proved to be a rather successful practice. Within a short time, Christian parties gained considerable electoral support. The positions of Christian parties were strengthened by the fact that over time, the leaders of these parties began to create Christian trade unions, youth associations, and numerous Christian aid committees. It is the social work of the parties that contributes to the fact that the electorate of Christian parties is the most consolidated and magnetized. Despite their religiosity and spontaneous monarchism, Christian parties’ relations with church institutions and monarchies have not been partnerships.
In the Netherlands, for example, the Anti-Revolutionary Party came into ideological conflict with the liberal leadership of the Calvinist Church and eventually formed their own church structure.
In Austria, a representative of the Christian Social Party won the mayoral elections in Vienna several times, but did not receive a mandate from the emperor, which led to the actual annulment of the municipal elections.
In the newly formed German Empire, Chancellor Otto Bismarck, believing that the inhabitants of the empire should be Germans first and Catholics second, launched the so-called “war for culture” (Kulturkampf). The Kulturkampf was aimed at weakening Catholic communities. However, the Kulturkampf further consolidated the Catholic community in Germany. In particular, the Center Party strengthened its cooperation with Catholic organizations. Of particular importance was the Center’s alliance with parties that were also associated with Catholicism: “The Bavarian People’s Party and the Catholic People’s Party in Baden. The consolidation of Catholic circles in the German Empire actually led to the first political defeat of the “Iron Chancellor.”
The relationship between the church hierarchy and Christian political movements in purely Catholic countries was even more complicated: Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Ireland. Although it seemed that there was an opportunity for the formation of powerful popular Christian movements, this did not happen in the nineteenth century. This phenomenon can be explained by the official position of the Catholic Church. For a long time, the Roman throne condemned the participation of Catholics in politics, parliamentary elections, and democracy in general. These phenomena were considered destructive and anti-canonical, and the right to power was recognized only for the “God-given sovereign.”
For example, in Italy, the Roman Curia officially opposed the participation of Catholics in elections until 1913. The activities of many societies that tried to reconcile the interests of the church and political forces also did not find support from the clergy.
It was only during the reign of Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903) that the Catholic Church began to gradually change its attitude toward politics. In his encyclicals, Leo XIII called on Catholics to engage in active social work to eliminate social distortions and to create Catholic relief committees. The encyclicals of Leo XIII “Rerum Novarum” and “Graves de Communi Re” formed the so-called “social doctrine of the Catholic Church”. Catholics began to actively form relief committees, trade unions, rural banks, cooperatives, youth organizations, and the corporate press. The Catholic Church began to pay considerable attention to the creation of a network of Sunday schools, which was extremely important in the context of limited access to education in the late nineteenth century. Although the papacy continued to oppose the creation of Catholic parties, the participation of Catholics in elections was no longer condemned.
It is precisely because of this position of the Roman Curia that Christian parties began to be created in the most Catholic countries only in the twentieth century. In particular, contrary to the position of church hierarchs, Catholic priest Luigio Sturzo created the Italian People’s Party.
Christian parties were also formed in France, Ireland, Poland, Yugoslavia, Spain, Czechoslovakia, and Portugal, but the late start of their creation and the lack of initiative on the part of their leadership led to the fact that these parties did not develop into powerful organizations. The late creation of Christian parties had the most negative impact on the political development of the Iberian countries. Due to the religious specificity of the political culture, Christian parties could have acted as a stabilizing factor in the political system. However, due to the absence of such parties, both Spain and Portugal have long balanced between radical left and extreme right forces, which led to a long period of political dictatorships.
Author: Konstantin Kanishev