The Independent National Party ( lb, Onofhängeg Nationalpartei, french: Parti national indépendant, german: Unabhängige Nationalpartei), abbreviated as PNI, was a

populist Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term developed ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country'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 ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

in the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the World War I, First World War to the beginning of the World War II, Second World War. The in ...

. The party was founded in 1918 by disgruntled members of the Party of the Right.Thewes (2003), p. 91 The most prominent of the founders was

Pierre Prüm Pierre Prüm (9 July 1886 – 1 February 1950) was a Luxembourgian politician and jurist. He was the 14th Prime Minister of Luxembourg, serving for a year, from 20 March 1925 until 16 July 1926. Early life Prüm was born in Troisvierges, in the ...

, who was appointed the party's leader. The

constitutional amendment A constitutional amendment is a modification of the constitution of a polity, organization or other type of entity. Amendments are often interwoven into the relevant sections of an existing constitution, directly altering the text. Conversely, t ...

s of 1919 introduced

universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stanc ...

and

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

, strengthening the new populists' chance of winning both votes and seats. In the first election after the reforms, the party won three seats (out of 48) 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 Bourbon R ...

, finishing a distant fourth; the dominant Party of the Right won 27 seats, allowing it to form the only stand-alone government in Luxembourgian history. In the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

of 1922, the PNI increased its share to four seats, but fell back to three in the 1925 election. More importantly, the Party of the Right fell below the 50% threshold, allowing the other parties to form a broad-based

coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

against the conservatives. The coalition relied upon almost all minor parties giving their support to pass measures of

confidence Confidence is a state of being clear-headed either that a hypothesis or prediction is correct or that a chosen course of action is the best or most effective. Confidence comes from a Latin word 'fidere' which means "to trust"; therefore, having ...

, but included members of only three

party list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can ...

s: the Independent National Party, the Radical Socialist Party, and the

Independent Left The Independent Left (french: Gauche indépendante, GI) was a French parliamentary group in the Chamber of Deputies of France of the French Third Republic during the interwar period. It was not a political party but a technical group formed by ind ...

. The head of the coalition was the leader of the PNI, Prüm, even though the party was only the joint-fourth largest party in the Chamber of Deputies. In 1926, the government attempted to reward the support offered by the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

by improving minimum

working conditions {{Short description, 1=Overview of and topical guide to working time and conditions This is a list of topics on working time and conditions. Legislation * See :Employment law Working time * See :Working time * Flextime Working conditions * Bios ...

. However, this was opposed by the Radical Socialists, a party that was born from the Liberal League and maintained its predecessor's support for business and the

middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Commo ...

es. In opposition, the Radical Socialists withdrew their support from the coalition, leaving the government short of a majority. To avoid a humiliating

motion of no confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

, Prüm offered his resignation on 22 June,Thewes (2003), p. 90 and left politics to become a

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

. At the next election, without Prüm, the PNI's share of the vote was slashed, and the party won only one seat. In the 1931 election, the party lost that solitary seat, and was dissolved. Many of the Independent National Party's members, including Prüm, would later become associated with the

Volksdeutsche Bewegung Volksdeutsche Bewegung (German; literally "Ethnic German Movement") was a Nazi movement in Luxembourg that flourished under the German-occupied Luxembourg during World War II. Formed by Damian Kratzenberg, a university professor with a Germ ...

: a collaborationist

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

party that governed during the

German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...

Footnotes

References

* {{Authority control Defunct political parties in Luxembourg Conservative parties in Luxembourg Political parties established in 1918 Political parties disestablished in 1931