The Left Bloc ( lb, Lénksblock, french: Bloc des Gauches) was a political alliance 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 ...

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 ...

at the beginning of the 20th century. The "marriage of convenience" between the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

and the Liberal League was formed in 1908. Its goal was to roll back the influence of the Church in public life, and specifically in schools. In this, it was successful against the "Right Bloc" (the later Party of the Right), when the Deputies of the two parties voted through the Education Law of 1912. In this period, before

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 ...

had been introduced (in 1919), only 20,000 of the wealthier taxpayers had the right to vote. Thus, the centre of power was in the legislature, and this was a parliament of notables. After their common goal had been reached, the two parties went their separate ways. In part, this was because the liberal, business-friendly world-view on the one hand, and socialist ideas on the other, were irreconcilable.

Captains of industry

The management of the steel industry played a significant role both in the parliament and in the Left Bloc. The major steel company ARBED was formed in 1911 from the merger of the three largest Luxembourgish steel producers. Of the 12 members of its board of directors at its inception, 4 sat in the Chamber of Deputies. These were:

Auguste Laval Antoine Marie ''Auguste'' Laval-Metz (4 February 1843 – 29 October 1915)Mersch (1963), p. 577 was a Luxembourgish politician and industrialist. He sat in the Chamber of Deputies, of which he served as President from 1905 until 1915. Laval-Met ...

, lawyer (

Eich Eich may refer to: Places * Eich, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany * Eich (Verbandsgemeinde), a collective municipality in Alzey-Worms, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany * Eich, Switzerland * Eich, Luxembourg People * Eich (surname), a list of people w ...

); Norbert Le Galais, foundry owner (Luxembourg City), Adolph Schmit, lawyer (Luxembourg City), and

Léon Metz Charles-Léon Metz (1 November 1842 – 25 June 1928) was a Luxembourgish politician and industrialist. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies for forty-three years (1875–1918), and served as Mayor of Esch-sur-Alzette from 1906 to 1909. Th ...

, foundry owner (

Esch-Alzette Esch-sur-Alzette (; lb, Esch-Uelzecht ; german: Esch an der Alzette or ''Esch an der Alzig'') is the second city of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the country's List of communes of Luxembourg by population, second-most populous commune, with ...

). If one includes further Deputies, such as Edmond Muller and Maurice Pescatore, the son and son-in-law respectively of ARBED board members, the company's staff and supporters already had the size of a parliamentary party as soon as it was founded. This was a time in which the total number of seats was around 50, and formal political parties themselves were in their infancy. (The

was only founded in 1902, the Liberal League in 1904.)

References

History of Luxembourg (1890–1945) Political party alliances in Luxembourg Anti-clerical parties {{Luxembourg-poli-stub