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The Christian Parties of Western Europe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2011

Gabriel Almond
Gabriel Almond
Affiliation:
Yale Institute of International Studies
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Extract

It is a cliché of Communist propaganda to describe the opposition to the peaceful and progressive policy of the Soviet Union as consisting of Wall Street, fascists and former collaborationists, the Vatican, and the right-wing Socialist “toadies.” The general impression given is one of a monolithic and wholly malevolent alliance of all the reactionary “minorities,” bent on driving the innocent and peace-loving masses into a war against the Soviet Union and the “New Democracy.” It is hardly a betrayal of confidence to point out that the Communist is not given to making distinctions. But it is possible to disentangle at least one element of truth in this somewhat harsh judgment of the world outside. This is, that the units engaged in the present world struggle are not solely, and perhaps not even primarily, the nation-states. There is, in a sense, an “East” in the “West,” and a subdued “West” in the “East.” Ideological and political movements, whether regional or world-wide in scope, have become increasingly important bearers of foreign policy. On the most significant issues of foreign policy in the present crisis, the party affiliation of a Western European makes a greater difference than his national affiliation.

Type
Research Article
Information
World Politics , Volume 1 , Issue 1 , October 1948 , pp. 30 - 58
Copyright
Copyright © Trustees of Princeton University 1948

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References

1 Distrust of political Catholicism is by no means limited to the radical left which describes Christian democracy as a façade for “clerico-fascism.” The Protestant denominations attack the universalism of the Church and its claims to special status and governmental protection, while the followers of the historic liberal tradition are also in many cases strongly “anti-clerical.”

2 This figure is for the National Assembly election of November, 1946, the last national election in France. The losses of the MRP in the municipal elections of October-November, 1947 are discussed at a later point.

3 A recent local and municipal election in the United States Zone indicates substantial losses in Christian Party strength.

4 A more careful historical and ideological analysis of Christian democracy has been reserved for later separate publication.

5 Binchy, D. A., Church and State in Fascist Italy, London, Oxford U. Press, 1941, pp. 85 ff.Google Scholar; Gwynn, Denis, The Cathólic Reaction in France, New York, Macmillan, 1924, pp. 35ff.Google Scholar; Micaud, Charles, The French Right and Nazi Germany, 1933–39, Durham, N. C., Duke U. Press, 1943, pp. 133ff.Google Scholar; Vignaux, Paul, Traditionalisme et Syndicalisme, New York, Editions de la Maison Française, 1943, pp. 29ff.Google Scholar; Egerton, F. C. C., Salazar: Rebuilder of Portugal, London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1943, pp. 199ff.Google Scholar; Stoffel, Max, Die Österreichische Ständesordnung, Vienna, 1938Google Scholar, passim; Voegelin, Erich, Der Autoritàre Stoat, Vienna, Julius Springer, 1936, pp. 102ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Gurian, Waldemar, Hitler and the Christians, New York, Sheed and Ward, 1936, pp. 163 ff.Google Scholar

6 The Tablet, March 20, 1948, pp. 177 ff.

7 See Leger, B., Les Opinions Politiques des Provinces Françaises, Paris, Librarie du Recueil Sirey, 1936Google Scholar, particularly the map facing p. 266; see also Montaquier, Michel, “Tableau Politique de la France Metropolitaine,” France-Illustration, November 3, 1945Google Scholar; Goguel, François, “Geographie du Referendum du 13 Octobre et des Elections du 10 Novembre 1946,” Esprit, February, 1947Google Scholar; Le Monde, November 12, 1946.

8 For pre-war German election statistics see Brecht, Arnold, Federalism and Regionalism in Germany, New York, Oxford U. Press, 1945, pp. 31 ff.Google Scholar; Pollock, James K., “An Areal Study of the German Electorate,” American Political Science Review, XXXVIII, 89 ff.Google Scholar; Heberle, Rudolf, “Political Movements Among the Rural People of Schleswig-Holstein,” Journal of Politics, February, May, 1943Google Scholar; Mellen, Sidney L. W., “The German People and the Postwar World,” American Political Science Review, Vol. 37, no. 4, pp. 601 ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar; for postwar election returns see OMGUS Special Report, Statistics of Elections in Germany 1946, March 15, 1947, especially Charts V and VI.

9 New York Herald Tribune, April 22, 1948.

10 Sturzo, , Italy and Fascismo, London, Faber and Gwyer, 1926 pp. 129 ff.Google Scholar; Binchey, , op. cit., pp. 158 ff.Google Scholar

11 Salomone, A. W., Italian Democracy in the Making, Philadelphia, U. of Pennsylvania Press, 1945, pp. 40 ff.Google Scholar

12 Four of eleven members of the RPF executive committee are in their thirties; five in their forties; and only two are over fifty. Men like Jacques soustelle, AndréMalraux, Jacques Baumel, Guillain de Benouville can hardly be said to have ever lived normal adult existences. These young activists in De Gaulle's immediate entourage are the potential totalitarians of the RPF. See “Les Dirigeants du RPF,” Bilans Hebdomadaires, Supplement to No. 101, April 9,1948.

13 Bilans Hebdomadaires, No. 101, April 9, 1948, p. 1; see also Jacques Fauvet, “Historical and New Factors in Gaullism,” and “The Supporters of the RPF in the Municipal Elections,” Documents, Ambassade de France, Service de l'lnformation; Paul Fraisse, “Le Nouveau Gaullisme,” Esprit, April, 1947; Francois Goguel, “Conjoncture Politique du neo-Gaullisme,” Esprit, December, 1947; Gelo, and Andrea, (pseud.), “Charles de Gaulle: A Political Portrait,” Modern Review, September, 1947.Google Scholar

16 New York Times, April 26, 27,30, 1948.

17 See The Tablet March 6, 1948 and March 20, 1948; New York Herald Tribune April 22, 1948; New York Times, April 23,1948

18 Lignes de force d'un personnalísme Italien,” Esprit, No. 141, January, 1948, pp. 14 ff.

19 While this generalization is on the whole correct it should not be overlooked that the Communists have been quite successful in mobilizing discontent among the distressed agrarian elements. They have registered remarkable electoral successes in both the Italian and French countryside. In Italy they have mobilized elements which in the pre-fascist era had been organized in the peasant unions of Guido Miglioli, movements which were attacked as “White Bolshevism” by the Catholic conservatives.

20 See Auvergne, Dominique, Regard Catholiquts sur le Monde, Bruges, DeBrauwer et Cie, 1938Google Scholar, “Chanoine Cardijn”; Bishop, Claire Huchet, France Alive, New York, McMullen Co., 1947Google Scholar, Chapter III passim; Gorman, R. C., S. J., “The Vitality of French Catholicism,” The Tablet, July 12, 1947.Google Scholar

21 Carter, Barbara Barcley, “The Evolution of the MRP,” The Tablet, March 13, 1948, pp. 162 ff.Google Scholar

22 Spire, op. cit. p. 46.

23 Cited in Mounier, Emmanuel, “Delivrez Vous,” Esprit, January, 1948, pp. 133 ff.Google Scholar

24 Mounier, , Esprit, January 1948, loc. cit. pp. 14 ff.Google Scholar

25 The Tablet, March 20, 1948.

28 Mounier, , Esprit, January, 1948, pp. 139 ff.Google Scholar; see also Fraisse, Paul, “Après l'échec” Esprit, January, 1948, pp. 1 ff.Google Scholar

27 “Dissidence Socialistes,” Supplement No. 96, Bilans Hebdomadaires, March 5, 1948; No. 100, April 2, 1948, p. 2; No. 101, April 9, 1948, p. 1.

28 Rommen, Heinrich, The State in Catholic Thought, St. Louis, Herder Book Co., 1945, pp. 580 ff.Google Scholar

29 The Tablet, March 6, 1948

30 The Tablet, August 2, 1947.

31 Rommen, op. cit. p. 576.

32 Témoignage Chrétien, July 6, 1945; La Vie Intellectuelle, August-September, December, 1945, February, 1946.

33 “Le Débat sur la Nationalisation des Écoles des Houillères,” Bilans Hebdomadaires, May 21, 1948. In Greater Hesse in the U. S. Zone of Germany the Bishops of Mainz, Fulda, and Limburg criticized the draft of the Hesse constitution, particularly the educational article. See Darmstädter Echo, November 28, 1946; Fuldaer volkszeitung, November 26, 1946,.

34 The Tablet, February 14, 1948.