The Alsatian Workers and Peasants Party (german: Elsässische Arbeiter- und Bauernpartei; french: Parti alsacien ouvrier et paysan), initially the Opposition Communist Party of Alsace-Lorraine (german: Kommunistische Partei-Opposition,

abbreviated An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...

KPO; french: Parti communiste d'opposition d'Alsace-Lorraine), was a

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 ideological or p ...

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

Lorraine Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gra ...

. The party was led by Jean-Pierre Mourer and Charles Hueber. The party was founded in late October 1929 and was a member of the

International Communist Opposition The Right Opposition (, ''Pravaya oppozitsiya'') or Right Tendency (, ''Praviy uklon'') in the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) was a conditional label formulated by Joseph Stalin in fall of 1928 in regards the opposition against certain me ...

until it was expelled from that organisation in 1934 and gradually moved towards pro-

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 ...

positions.

Split from French Communist Party

The party emerged from a split in the Alsatian federation of the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European ...

(PCF). The split had been preceded by an unorthodox coalition in the Strasbourg municipal elections of May 1929 in which local communists had formed an alliance with clerical and autonomist forces. In a June 1929 municipal by-election, the group around Charles Hueber supported a right-wing autonomist candidate against an official PCF candidate. The Strasbourg communists had also revived the newspaper '' Die Neue Welt'', which had been closed down in 1923, as an alternative to '' l'Humanité d'Alsace-Lorraine''. The expulsions from the PCF came two weeks after the revival of ''Die Neue Welt''. In October 1929, the expelled group around Hueber and Mourer founded the Opposition Communist Party. The new party had at the time of its foundation, the mayor of

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label= Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label= Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the ...

, Charles Hueber, and was supported by the majority of the municipal council. Jean-Pierre Mourer represented the party in the

French National Assembly The National Assembly (french: link=no, italics=set, Assemblée nationale; ) is the lower house of the bicameral French Parliament under the Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are kn ...

and was re-elected to the National Assembly in 1932 and 1936.
MOURER (Jean Pierre)
' The party had a difficult relationship with the PCF, which often disrupted KPO meetings.

Rise of fascism

For the party, the rise of fascism in Europe complicated its political development. The party conceptualized fascism as largely synonymous to centralism and compared the Italization of

South Tyrol it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol , settlement_type = Autonomous province , image_skyline = , image_alt ...

with Frenchification of Alsace. The party also criticised German Nazism, but from 1933 to 1936, the group around Hueber gradually moved towards pro-Nazi positions. After

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...

came to power in Germany, refugees belonging to the

Communist Party of Germany (Opposition) The Communist Party of Germany (Opposition) (german: Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (Opposition)), generally abbreviated as KPO or KPD(O), was a communist opposition organisation established at the end of 1928 and maintaining its existence unt ...

(KPDO) began to arrive in Alsace. The Alsatian KPO was in solidarity with the KPDO refugees and aided them in finding work. Even after the KPDO foreign committee had shifted from Strasbourg to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, many KPDO cadres remained in Alsace and became active members of the Alsatian KPO. The editorial line of ''Die Neue Welt'' was clearly marked by the influence of KPDO refugees, who promoted positions that were more clearly

antifascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...

positions. That eventually clashed with the autonomist aspirations of Alsatian cadres and led to a split in 1934. The party expelled the refugee group, which retaliated by expelling the party from the International Communist Opposition. In September 1935, the name "Alsatian Workers and Peasants Party" was adopted, and autononism was confirmed as the party's primary ideological position.Goodfellow, Samuel.
From Communism to Nazism: The Transformation of Alsatian Communists
', in ''Journal of Contemporary History'', Vol. 27, No. 2 (Apr., 1992), pp. 231-258 ''Die Neue Welt'' was frequently quoted in the German media as expressing the feelings of the Alsatian people.Werth, Alexander.
Which Way France?
' Sl: Foreman Press, 2007. pp. 261-264 ''Die Neue Welt'' and ''Elsass-Lothringissche Zeitung'' (the organ of the Landespartei) were merged in April 1939.Hülsen, Bernhard von.
Szenenwechsel im Elsass: Theater und Gesellschaft in Straßburg zwischen Deutschland und Frankreich : 1890 - 1944
'. Leipzig: Leipziger Univ.-Verl, 2003. pp. 170, 264 In July 1939, the party merged with the Autonomist Landespartei.

Membership

As of 1932, the party had around 1,300 members, primarily concentrated in

Bas-Rhin Bas-Rhin (; Alsatian: ''Unterelsàss'', ' or '; traditional german: links=no, Niederrhein; en, Lower Rhine) is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est super-region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its lo ...

. Membership declined from then onwards, and by 1935, only a few hundred members had remained.

References

{{Authority control Alsace independence movement German diaspora political parties Political parties established in 1929 Political parties disestablished in 1939 Communist parties in France Right Opposition