Republican Party of Liberty
The Republican Party of Liberty (French: Parti républicain de la liberté, PRL) was a right-wing[1][2] French political party founded after the Liberation of France on 22 December 1945 by Joseph Laniel, André Mutter, Édouard Frédéric-Dupont and Jules Ramarony. It was absorbed by the National Centre of Independents and Peasants (CNI) in 1951.
The PRL's aim was to unite French conservatives, who had been totally discredited after World War II due to the numbers of collaborators in their ranks, and the role they played during the interwar period. Bernard Frank mocked "this right which suddenly discovered in itself a love for the Republic and liberty." The PRL's tentative approach failed, most conservative leaders trying to conserve their autonomy or to recreate parties of the Third Republic such as the Democratic Alliance, the Republican Federation or the Republican Social Party of French Reconciliation (Parti républicain social de la réconciliation française).
The PRL campaigned for the "NO" to the May 1946 referendum on the Constitution. It obtained 38 deputies at the November 1946 legislative elections. The party was presided over by Michel Clemenceau, who obtained 60 votes out of 883 during the 1947 presidential election — under the Fourth Republic, the President was elected by great electors, not by universal suffrage.
The PRL then obtained 11 Senators in the indirect elections for the Council of the Republic of 1948. After numerous internal dissensions, the PRL merged into the CNI in 1951.
Members
- Michel Clemenceau, President.
- Robert Bertolaud
- Édouard Barrachin
- Henry Bergasse
- Robert Bruyneel
- Jean Crouzier
- Édouard Frédéric-Dupont
- Henri Giraud
- Pierre July
- Joseph Laniel
- Joseph Lecacheux
- Jean Legendre
- Pierre Montel
- André Mutter
- Jules Ramarony
Literature
- Vinen, Richard (1995). "The Parti Républicain de la Liberté". Bourgeois Politics in France, 1945-1951. Cambridge University Press. pp. 115–136.