The Grütli Union (; ) was a political party in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

History

The Union was established in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

on 20 May 1838 by Johannes Niederer, and was initially a discussion club for tradespeople. The name was taken from Rütli, an important location in establishing the

Old Swiss Confederacy The Old Swiss Confederacy, also known as Switzerland or the Swiss Confederacy, was a loose confederation of independent small states (, German or ), initially within the Holy Roman Empire. It is the precursor of the modern state of Switzerlan ...

. The organisation initially focussed on education, but later started political activity, playing a leading role in the establishments of trade unions and health insurance. However, it declined after the 1860s following the establishment of the International Workingmen's Association. In 1878 the Union agreed to adopt a socialist platform, although it refused to merge with the Swiss Workers' Federation. By 1890 it had around 16,000 members, and was far larger than the newly-established Social Democratic Party (SP).Gregory M Luebbert (1991) ''Liberalism, Fascism, or Social Democracy : Social Classes and the Political Origins of Regimes in Interwar Europe'', Oxford University Press, p51 In 1892 some members helped establish the Bauern- und Arbeiterbund party in Basel-Landschaft, and in 1901 the Union merged with the SP, an event known as the " Solothurn Wedding". By that time the two organisations had a roughly equal number of members. Differences with the SP led to the Union breaking away in 1916. In the 1917 elections it won three seats; August Rikli in Bern-Oberaargau, Arnold Knellwolf in Bern-Seeland and Hans Jakob Wirz in Zürich-Süd. All three joined the SP faction in the National Council. In the 1919 federal elections the Union won two seats in the National Council, gaining representation in

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

and

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

.Distribution of mandates in the elections to the National Council from 1919 to 2003
Federal Assembly However, it lost both seats in the 1922 elections, and also failed to win a seat in the 1925 elections, in which it received just 427 votes. That year it rejoined the SP and was formally disbanded.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grutli Union Defunct political parties in Switzerland Political parties established in 1838 1838 establishments in Switzerland 1925 disestablishments in Switzerland Political parties disestablished in 1925