The Christian Social Party (german: Christlich–soziale Partei, CSP) was a

right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authorit ...

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 ...

in the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

founded in 1878 by

Adolf Stoecker Adolf Stoecker (December 11, 1835 – February 2, 1909) was a German court chaplain to Kaiser Wilhelm I, a politician, leading antisemite, and a Lutheran theologian who founded the Christian Social Party to lure members away from the S ...

as the Christian Social Workers' Party (german: Christlichsoziale Arbeiterpartei, CSPA). The party combined a strong Christian-right programme with progressive ideas on labour and tried to provide an alternative for disillusioned

Social Democrat 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 ...

voters. Part of the

Berlin movement The Berlin movement was an anti-Semitic intellectual and political movement in the German Empire in the 1880s. The movement was a collection of unassociated individuals and organizations. The movement developed in the aftermath of the Panic of 1 ...

, it increasingly focused on the

Jewish question The Jewish question, also referred to as the Jewish problem, was a wide-ranging debate in 19th- and 20th-century European society that pertained to the appropriate status and treatment of Jews. The debate, which was similar to other "national ...

with a distinct

antisemitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

attitude.

History

In December 1877,

, domestic

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

at the court of Emperor

Wilhelm I William I or Wilhelm I (german: Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig; 22 March 1797 – 9 March 1888) was King of Prussia from 2 January 1861 and German Emperor from 18 January 1871 until his death in 1888. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he was the f ...

and board member of the

Evangelical Church of the Prussian Union The Prussian Union of Churches (known under multiple other names) was a major Protestant church body which emerged in 1817 from a series of decrees by Frederick William III of Prussia that united both Lutheran and Reformed denominations in Pr ...

, together with the economist

Adolph Wagner Adolph Wagner (25 March 1835 – 8 November 1917) was a German economist and politician, a leading ''Kathedersozialist'' (academic socialist) and public finance scholar and advocate of agrarianism. Wagner's law of increasing state activity is ...

had founded the Central Association for Social Reform (''Zentralverein für Sozialreform''), dealing with injustice and

poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in ...

after the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

. The organization was meant to counter the rise of the presumably

revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

ary

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 to answer the urging social question on the basis of

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

religion and

monarchism Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. ...

. It was constituted as a laborers' party on 1 February 1878. The program of the CSP included: * Founding of mandatory specialized

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

s * Settlement of the

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners ...

system * Commercial

arbitration Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that resolves disputes outside the judiciary courts. The dispute will be decided by one or more persons (the 'arbitrators', 'arbiters' or 'arbitral tribunal'), which renders the ' ...

Social insurance Social insurance is a form of Social protection, social welfare that provides insurance against economic risks. The insurance may be provided publicly or through the subsidizing of private insurance. In contrast to other forms of Welfare, soci ...

: mandatory widows and orphans, disability and pension funds *

Eight-hour day The eight-hour day movement (also known as the 40-hour week movement or the short-time movement) was a social movement to regulate the length of a working day, preventing excesses and abuses. An eight-hour work day has its origins in the 16 ...

Factory Acts The Factory Acts were a series of acts passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom to regulate the conditions of industrial employment. The early Acts concentrated on regulating the hours of work and moral welfare of young children employed ...

* Restoring laws against

usury Usury () is the practice of making unethical or immoral monetary loans that unfairly enrich the lender. The term may be used in a moral sense—condemning taking advantage of others' misfortunes—or in a legal sense, where an interest rate is ch ...

* Progressive income and inheritance taxes In turn, Social Democrats like

Johann Most Johann Joseph "Hans" Most (February 5, 1846 – March 17, 1906) was a German-American Social Democratic and then anarchism, anarchist politician, newspaper editor, and orator. He is credited with popularizing the concept of "propaganda of the dee ...

led a large conjugation in protesting against the party and its Christianity while the

reformist Reformism is a political doctrine advocating the reform of an existing system or institution instead of its abolition and replacement. Within the socialist movement, reformism is the view that gradual changes through existing institutions can eve ...

approach repelled

social conservative Social conservatism is a political philosophy and variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional power structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institution ...

voters. In the 1878 elections, the party obtained less than 1% of the vote, thereby failing to enter the German Reichstag parliament. Upon their defeat, the CSP gave up its stance as a workers' party and concentrated on

petit-bourgeois ''Petite bourgeoisie'' (, literally 'small bourgeoisie'; also anglicised as petty bourgeoisie) is a French term that refers to a social class composed of semi-autonomous peasants and small-scale merchants whose politico-economic ideological s ...

sections of the electorate. Although

antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

was only a minor theme in the early stages of the party, the antisemitic message was carried by the so-called Berlin movement (''Berliner Bewegung'') of the 1880s, which gathered considerable support. The party linked

criticism of capitalism Criticism of capitalism ranges from expressing disagreement with the principles of capitalism in its entirety to expressing disagreement with particular outcomes of capitalism. Criticism of capitalism comes from various political and philoso ...

with hatred toward

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, denoting both

big business Big business involves large-scale corporate-controlled financial or business activities. As a term, it describes activities that run from "huge transactions" to the more general "doing big things". In corporate jargon, the concept is commonly kn ...

and

social liberal Social liberalism (german: Sozialliberalismus, es, socioliberalismo, nl, Sociaalliberalisme), also known as new liberalism in the United Kingdom, modern liberalism, or simply liberalism in the contemporary United States, left-liberalism ...

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

movements as Judaized and fulfilling the plans of the world Jewry to exterminate the German people (which according to the CSP did not include Jews). The party never gained mass support, but Stoecker from 1879 onwards was able to obtain a seat in the Reichstag after an electoral coalition with the

German Conservative Party The German Conservative Party (german: Deutschkonservative Partei, DkP) was a right-wing political party of the German Empire founded in 1876. It largely represented the wealthy landowning elite Prussian Junkers. The party was a response to Ge ...

(DKP). In the parliament, he acted as a DKP

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

, advocating the abolition of

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 intriguing against the policies of

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (, ; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), born Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, was a conservative German statesman and diplomat. From his origins in the upper class of J ...

until his resignation in 1890. Stoecker was even able to include some antisemitic remarks in the DKP's 1892 party manifesto, but when the Conservatives became worried with the over-tones in his messages (although they were more targeted at

Reform Judaism Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its ethical aspects to its ceremonial ones, and belief in a continuous searc ...

than

orthodox Judaism Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...

) the Christian Socials were forced from the coalition in 1896 and approached to the antisemitic German Social Party. In turn, a

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

group around

Friedrich Naumann Friedrich Naumann (25 March 1860 – 24 August 1919) was a German Liberalism in Germany, liberal politician and Protestant parish pastor. In 1896, he founded the National-Social Association that sought to combine liberalism, nationalism and ...

split off to found the

National-Social Association The National-Social Association (german: Nationalsozialer Verein, NSV) was a political party in the German Empire, founded in 1896 by Friedrich Naumann. It sought to synthesise liberalism, nationalism and non- Marxist socialism with Protestant C ...

. The final demise of the Christian Social Party came in the early 1900s. Stoecker died in 1909 and in November 1918 most members of the CSP under lead of Reichstag member Reinhard Mumm (who succeeded Stoecker in representing the

Arnsberg Arnsberg (; wep, Arensperg) is a town in the Hochsauerland county, in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is the location of the Regierungsbezirk Arnsberg administration and one of the three local administration offices of the Hochs ...

constituency) stepped over to the

German National People's Party The German National People's Party (german: Deutschnationale Volkspartei, DNVP) was a national-conservative party in Germany during the Weimar Republic. Before the rise of the Nazi Party, it was the major conservative and nationalist party in Wei ...

(''Deutschnationale Volkspartei'', DNVP) in 1918. The group separated itself again, emerging as the

Christian Social People's Service The Christian Social People's Service (german: Christlich-Sozialer Volksdienst, abbreviated CSVD) was a Protestant conservative political party in the Weimar Republic. The party's genesis lay in Adolf Stockers Christian Social party, which joi ...

(''Christlich-Soziale Volksdienst'') in 1929 after the business magnate

Alfred Hugenberg Alfred Ernst Christian Alexander Hugenberg (19 June 1865 – 12 March 1951) was an influential German businessman and politician. An important figure in nationalist politics in Germany for the first few decades of the twentieth century, Hugenbe ...

had become DNVP chairman.

Notable members

Hellmut von Gerlach Hellmut Georg von Gerlach (2 February 1866 – 1 August 1935) was a German journalist and politician. Life Hellmut von Gerlach, the son of landowner Max von Gerlach, was born in Mönchmotschelnitz in Silesia. He studied law at the universiti ...

References

{{authority control Political parties established in 1878 Political parties of the German Empire Defunct Christian political parties Christian political parties in Germany Christianity and antisemitism Antisemitism in Europe Defunct political parties in Germany German nationalist political parties Paternalistic conservatism Protestant political parties Protestantism in Germany Monarchist parties 1878 establishments in Germany 1918 disestablishments in Germany Political parties disestablished in 1918 Right-wing parties in Europe Defunct conservative parties Conservative parties in Germany