The Republican Union (french: Union républicaine, UR), later known as the Progressive Union (french: Union progressiste, UP), was a French

parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary party, or parliamentary caucus is a group consisting of some members of the same political party or electoral fusion of parties in a legislative assembly such as a parliament or a city council. Parliamentar ...

founded in 1871 as a heterogeneous alliance of moderate radicals, former

Communards The Communards () were members and supporters of the short-lived 1871 Paris Commune formed in the wake of the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. After the suppression of the Commune by the French Army in May 1871, 43,000 Communards ...

and opponents of the French-Prussian Treaty.

History

Formed in the early years of the

French Third Republic The French Third Republic (french: Troisième République, sometimes written as ) was the system of government adopted in France from 4 September 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War, until 10 July 1940 ...

, the Republican Union led by

Léon Gambetta Léon Gambetta (; 2 April 1838 – 31 December 1882) was a French lawyer and republican politician who proclaimed the French Third Republic in 1870 and played a prominent role in its early government. Early life and education Born in Cahors, Ga ...

was strongly opposed to the Treaty of Frankfurt as much understanding to the

Paris Commune The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defended ...

, repressed by the

moderate Moderate is an ideological category which designates a rejection of radical or extreme views, especially in regard to politics and religion. A moderate is considered someone occupying any mainstream position avoiding extreme views. In American ...

Adolphe Thiers Marie Joseph Louis Adolphe Thiers ( , ; 15 April 17973 September 1877) was a French statesman and historian. He was the second elected President of France and first President of the French Third Republic. Thiers was a key figure in the July Rev ...

. The party's electoral lists also included notable activists and intellectuals like

Louis Blanc Louis Jean Joseph Charles Blanc (; ; 29 October 1811 – 6 December 1882) was a French politician and historian. A socialist who favored reforms, he called for the creation of cooperatives in order to guarantee employment for the urban poor. Alth ...

(elected with 216,000 votes),

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

Giuseppe Garibaldi Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as ''Gioxeppe Gaibado''. In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as ''Jousé'' or ''Josep''. 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, patr ...

Edgar Quinet Edgar Quinet (; 17 February 180327 March 1875) was a French historian and intellectual. Biography Early years Quinet was born at Bourg-en-Bresse, in the ''département'' of Ain. His father, Jérôme Quinet, had been a commissary in the army, b ...

Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau Pierre Marie René Ernest Waldeck-Rousseau (; 2 December 184610 August 1904) was a French Republican politician who served as the Prime Minister of France. Early life Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau was born in Nantes, Brittany. His father, René Wal ...

Émile Littré Émile Maximilien Paul Littré (; 1 February 18012 June 1881) was a French lexicographer, freemason and philosopher, best known for his ''Dictionnaire de la langue française'', commonly called . Biography Littré was born in Paris. His father, ...

Charles Floquet Charles Thomas Floquet (; 2 October 1828 – 18 January 1896) was a French lawyer and statesman. Biography He was born at Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port ( Basses-Pyrénées). Charles Floquet is the son of Pierre Charlemagne Floquet and Marie Léocadie ...

Georges Clemenceau Georges Benjamin Clemenceau (, also , ; 28 September 1841 – 24 November 1929) was a French statesman who served as Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909 and again from 1917 until 1920. A key figure of the Independent Radicals, he was a ...

Arthur Ranc Arthur Ranc (20 December 183110 August 1908) was a French left-wing politician and writer. Born in Poitiers, Vienne, he was educated for the law. Implicated in a plot against Napoleon III in 1853, he was acquitted, but shortly afterwards was impri ...

and

Gustave Courbet Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( , , ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and t ...

. Initially on the

extreme left Far-left politics, also known as the radical left or the extreme left, are politics further to the left on the left–right political spectrum than the standard political left. The term does not have a single definition. Some scholars consider ...

of the

Parliament of France The French Parliament (french: Parlement français) is the bicameral legislature of the French Republic, consisting of the Senate () and the National Assembly (). Each assembly conducts legislative sessions at separate locations in Paris: th ...

, the group became close to the

Opportunist Republicans The Moderates or Moderate Republicans (french: Républicains modérés), pejoratively labeled Opportunist Republicans (), was a French political group active in the late 19th century during the Third French Republic. The leaders of the group inc ...

Jules Ferry Jules François Camille Ferry (; 5 April 183217 March 1893) was a French statesman and republican philosopher. He was one of the leaders of the Moderate Republicans and served as Prime Minister of France from 1880 to 1881 and 1883 to 1885. He ...

in the late 1870s, causing a split of the far-left radicals led by Clemenceu. During the Gambetta government (1881–1882),

René Goblet René Goblet (; 26 November 1828 – 13 September 1905) was a French politician, Prime Minister of France for a period in 1886–1887. He was born at Aire-sur-la-Lys, Pas-de-Calais and was trained in law. Under the Second Empire, he helped fo ...

also broke away from the group to form the Radical Left. After the 1885 legislative election, the Republican Union's popularity decreased while the Opportunists to their right increased their votes. In 1894, one of the last prominent members of the group, Gustave Isambert, renamed the Republican Union as the Progressive Union and with an handful of deputies and senators continued to pursue Gambetta's goals. However, changes in the

political system In political science, a political system means the type of political organization that can be recognized, observed or otherwise declared by a state. It defines the process for making official government decisions. It usually comprizes the govern ...

led to a need for a big party of all liberals and when the

Democratic Republican Alliance The Democratic Alliance (french: Alliance démocratique, AD), originally called Democratic Republican Alliance (, ARD), was a French political party created in 1901 by followers of Léon Gambetta such as Raymond Poincaré, who would be presiden ...

was created in 1901 the Opportunists and the Progressive Union merged into it.

Electoral history

Presidential elections

Legislative elections

References

{{Reflist Defunct political parties in France Political parties of the French Third Republic Parliamentary groups in France Republican parties Radical parties in France Left-wing parties in France Political parties established in 1871 1871 establishments in France Anti-clerical parties

History

Electoral history

Presidential elections

Legislative elections

See also

References