The Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party ( lb, Lëtzebuerger Sozialistesch Aarbechterpartei, french: Parti ouvrier socialiste luxembourgeois, german: Luxemburger Sozialistische Arbeiterpartei), abbreviated to LSAP or POSL, is a

social-democratic Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

pro-European Pro-Europeanism, sometimes called European Unionism, is a political position that favours European integration and membership of the European Union (EU).Krisztina Arató, Petr Kaniok (editors). ''Euroscepticism and European Integration''. Polit ...

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 ...

. The LSAP is the third-largest party 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 ...

, having won 10 of 60 seats at the 2018 general election, and has one seat in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

. The LSAP is currently part of the Bettel–Schneider government, with

Etienne Schneider Etienne Schneider (; born 29 January 1971) is a Luxembourg politician and economist of the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP). He was a municipal councillor in Kayl from 1995 to 2005, and from 1997 to 2004, he was secretary general of the ...

of the LSAP serving as

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

. Since January 2022, the party's interim President has been

Dan Biancalana Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoi ...

. The party is close to the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions, the country's largest

trade union centre A national trade union center (or national center or central) is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a country. Nearly every country in the world has a national trade union center, and many have more than one. In some regions, such a ...

, but they have no formal links.Hearl (1987), p. 255 The LSAP is particularly strong in the south of the country, controlling most of the mayoralties in the large towns of the

Red Lands The Red Lands form a geographic region in southern and south-western Luxembourg. They are so called for their red iron-laden earth. The Red Lands roughly correspond with the southern part of the canton of Esch-sur-Alzette, along the border with Fra ...

. It is affiliated with the

Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism. It consists mostly of socialist and labour-oriented political parties and organisations. ...

, the

Progressive Alliance The Progressive Alliance (PA) is a political international of social democratic and progressive political parties and organisations founded on 22 May 2013 in Leipzig, Germany. The alliance was formed as an alternative to the existing Social ...

, and the

Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a social democratic and progressive European political party. The PES comprises national-level political parties from all member states of the European Union (EU) plus Norway and the United Kingdom ...

History

The party was formed on 5 July 1902 as the Social Democratic Party. Left-wing elements split in 1905 to create the Social Democratic Workers' Party. These were both re-united in 1912. In 1916, the party was renamed to 'Socialist Party', part of the Second International. On 2 January 1921, communist elements split to create the

Communist Party of Luxembourg The Communist Party of Luxembourg ( lb, Kommunistesch Partei vu Lëtzebuerg; french: Parti Communiste Luxembourgeois; german: Kommunistische Partei Luxemburgs; abbr. KPL or PCL) is a communist party in Luxembourg. is the current chairman of the ...

. The Socialist Party was renamed the "Luxembourg Workers' Party" in 1924, and was a member of the Labour and Socialist International between 1923 and 1940.Kowalski, Werner.
Geschichte der sozialistischen arbeiter-internationale: 1923 - 19
'. Berlin: Dt. Verl. d. Wissenschaften, 1985. p. 308 On 5 November 1937, the Party joined the government for the first time, in a coalition under

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Pierre Dupong Pierre Dupong (1 November 1885 – 23 December 1953)Thewes, Guy"Les gouvernements du Grand-Duché depuis 1848." Service information et presse. Luxembourg: Imprimerie Centrale, 2011. was a Luxembourgish politician and statesman. He was the 16th ...

Post-war

The party was reformed after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

as the 'Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party', in the mould of the Labour Party in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

,Thewes (2006), p. 123 where the government had been exiled. In the first election after the war, in 1945, the LSAP was the big loser, falling to 26% of the vote, but remained in the National Union Government, along with all other parties. In 1947, the party started its process of re-building itself, and it managed to join a coalition government (1951-1959 in the Dupong-Bodson and Bech Bodson governments, and 1964–1968 in the Werner-Cravatte government). The discussions over the party's direction split the LSAP again. On 2 May 1970, Henry Cravatte was ejected as President by a trades union-led coup. In March 1971, centrist elements, led by Cravatte, split to create 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 Fo ...

. Those who left included 6 Deputies and most of the party leadership. However, the LSAP could recover by 1974 and joined the DP in a centre-left coalition (the Thorn-Vouel-Berg government), which enacted important social reforms: judicial system reforms (including a humanisation of the penal system), introduction of a fifth week of holiday, general introduction of the 40-hour week, the salary index, reform of unemployment benefits. This did not prevent an electoral defeat in 1979. In this legislative period, the LSAP held their famous energy conference, and decided a moratorium for the atomic power station of Remerschen. This was the definitive end of project. In 1984, the LSAP were re-united with most of the Social Democratic Party (some members joined the

Christian Social People's Party The Christian Social People's Party ( lb, Chrëschtlech Sozial Vollekspartei, french: Parti populaire chrétien-social, german: Christlich Soziale Volkspartei), abbreviated to CSV or PCS, is the largest political party in Luxembourg. The party f ...

Recent history

Following the 2004 general election, the LSAP served in the government of Luxembourg as junior partner to the

(CSV) under Prime Minister

Jean-Claude Juncker Jean-Claude Juncker (; born 9 December 1954) is a Luxembourgish politician who served as the 21st Prime Minister of Luxembourg from 1995 to 2013 and 12th President of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019. He also served as Finance Minister ...

in the first Juncker–Asselborn government, with the LSAP's

Jean Asselborn Jean Asselborn (; born 27 April 1949) is a Luxembourgish politician who has served in the government of Luxembourg as Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2004. He also served as Deputy Prime Minister from 2004 to 2013, under Prime Minister Jean- ...

serving as

and

Minister for Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between coun ...

. The coalition with the CSV continued as the second Juncker–Asselborn government following the 2009 general election, which lasted until July 2013 when the LSAP withdrew its support from the government, necessitating early elections. Following the 2013 general election, the LSAP has been in a three-party Bettel–Schneider government with the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

and

The Greens The Greens or Greens may refer to: Current political parties * Australian Greens, also known as ''The Greens'' * Greens of Andorra * Greens of Bosnia and Herzegovina * Greens of Burkina * Greens (Greece) * Greens of Montenegro *Greens of Serbia *G ...

, with the Democratic Party's

Xavier Bettel Xavier Bettel (; born 3 March 1973) is a Luxembourger lawyer and politician serving as Prime Minister of Luxembourg since 2013. He was previously a member of the Chamber of Deputies (1999–2013) and Mayor of Luxembourg City (2011–2013). Bett ...

serving as Prime Minister and

of the LSAP as Deputy Prime Minister.

Election results

Chamber of Deputies

ImageSize = width:800 height:150 PlotArea = width:700 height:125 left:25 bottom:20 AlignBars = justify Colors = id:LSAP value:rgb(0.8,0,0) DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:0 till:30 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:0 PlotData= bar:Seats color:LSAP width:24 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:S bar:1919 color:LSAP from:start till:8 text:8 align:center bar:1922 color:LSAP from:start till:6 text:6 align:center bar:1925 color:LSAP from:start till:8 text:8 align:center bar:1928 color:LSAP from:start till:12 text:12 align:center bar:1931 color:LSAP from:start till:15 text:15 align:center bar:1934 color:LSAP from:start till:14 text:14 align:center bar:1937 color:LSAP from:start till:18 text:18 align:center bar:1945 color:LSAP from:start till:11 text:11 align:center bar:1948 color:LSAP from:start till:15 text:15 align:center bar:1951 color:LSAP from:start till:19 text:19 align:center bar:1954 color:LSAP from:start till:17 text:17 align:center bar:1959 color:LSAP from:start till:17 text:17 align:center bar:1964 color:LSAP from:start till:21 text:21 align:center bar:1968 color:LSAP from:start till:18 text:18 align:center bar:1974 color:LSAP from:start till:17 text:17 align:center bar:1979 color:LSAP from:start till:14 text:14 align:center bar:1984 color:LSAP from:start till:21 text:21 align:center bar:1989 color:LSAP from:start till:18 text:18 align:center bar:1994 color:LSAP from:start till:17 text:17 align:center bar:1999 color:LSAP from:start till:13 text:13 align:center bar:2004 color:LSAP from:start till:14 text:14 align:center bar:2009 color:LSAP from:start till:13 text:13 align:center bar:2013 color:LSAP from:start till:13 text:13 align:center bar:2018 color:LSAP from:start till:10 text:10 align:center ImageSize = width:800 height:150 PlotArea = width:700 height:125 left:25 bottom:20 AlignBars = justify Colors = id:LSAP value:rgb(0.8,0,0) DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:0 till:400 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:50 start:0 PlotData= bar:Vote% color:LSAP width:24 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:S bar:1919 color:LSAP from:start till:156 text:15.6 align:center bar:1922 color:LSAP from:start till:107 text:10.7 align:center bar:1925 color:LSAP from:start till:162 text:16.2 align:center bar:1928 color:LSAP from:start till:326 text:32.6 align:center bar:1931 color:LSAP from:start till:192 text:19.2 align:center bar:1934 color:LSAP from:start till:294 text:29.4 align:center bar:1937 color:LSAP from:start till:247 text:24.7 align:center bar:1945 color:LSAP from:start till:234 text:23.4 align:center bar:1948 color:LSAP from:start till:378 text:37.8 align:center bar:1951 color:LSAP from:start till:338 text:33.8 align:center bar:1954 color:LSAP from:start till:351 text:35.1 align:center bar:1959 color:LSAP from:start till:349 text:34.9 align:center bar:1964 color:LSAP from:start till:377 text:37.7 align:center bar:1968 color:LSAP from:start till:323 text:32.3 align:center bar:1974 color:LSAP from:start till:292 text:29.2 align:center bar:1979 color:LSAP from:start till:243 text:24.3 align:center bar:1984 color:LSAP from:start till:336 text:33.6 align:center bar:1989 color:LSAP from:start till:262 text:26.2 align:center bar:1994 color:LSAP from:start till:254 text:25.4 align:center bar:1999 color:LSAP from:start till:223 text:22.3 align:center bar:2004 color:LSAP from:start till:234 text:23.4 align:center bar:2009 color:LSAP from:start till:216 text:21.6 align:center bar:2013 color:LSAP from:start till:202 text:20.2 align:center bar:2018 color:LSAP from:start till:176 text:17.6 align:center

European Parliament

Presidents

The formal leader of the party is the president. However, often, a government minister will be the most important member of the party, as

is now. Below is a list of presidents of the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party since 1945. *

Michel Rasquin Michel Rasquin (19 September 1899 – 27 April 1958) was a Luxembourgish journalist and socialist politician, and European Commissioner. Rasquin was born in Pétange, Luxembourg, in 1899. After the Second World War, he was the president of the ...

(1945–1951) * Paul Wilwertz (1951–1952) *

Albert Bousser Albert Bousser (8 February 1906 – 2 May 1995) was a Luxembourgish politician, railway inspector, and trade unionist. Born on 8 February 1906 in Alzingen, Bousser studied in Paris at the École du génie civil, after which he became a railway ins ...

(1952–1954) * Émile Ludwig (1954–1955) * Paul Wilwertz (1955–1959) * Henry Cravatte (1959–1970) *

Antoine Wehenkel Antoine Wehenkel (10 February 1910 – 27 February 1992) was a Luxembourgian politician and engineer. He was a member of the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP), of which he was President (1970 – 1974). Wehenkel was first elected to the ...

(1970–1974) * Lydie Schmit (1974–1980) *

Robert Krieps Robert Krieps (15 October 1922 – 1 August 1990) was a Luxembourgish politician. He served as the President of the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party from 1980 until 1985, as well as serving in the Luxembourgish cabinet under both Gaston Thorn ...

(1980–1985) *

Ben Fayot Ben Fayot (born 25 June 1937 in Luxembourg City) is a Luxembourgish politician from the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP). Fayot sat in the Chamber of Deputies for five years from 1984. He was a Member of the European Parliament from 198 ...

(1985–1997) *

(1997–2004) *

Alex Bodry Alex Bodry (born 3 October 1958) is a politician from Luxembourg. Life and career Born 3 October 1958 in Dudelange, Bodry lived there since childhood. Coming from a family of socialist tradition (his grandfather Jean Fohrmann, was Member of Parlia ...

(2004–2014) * Claude Haagen (2014–2019) * Franz Fayot (2019–2020) * Yves Cruchten (2020–present)

Footnotes

References

* *

External links

* {{Authority control Social democratic parties Full member parties of the Socialist International Party of European Socialists member parties Second International Members of the Labour and Socialist International Progressive Alliance Parties represented in the European Parliament 1945 establishments in Luxembourg Political parties established in 1945