Christelijk-Historische Unie

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
CHU election poster, 1948: The solid pillars of the state - law, loyalty, authority, faith, freedom

The Christelijk-Historische Unie ( CHU , pronounced [krɪstələk hɪstorisə yni] ; in German: Christian-Historische Union ) was a conservative party of Protestant Christians in the Netherlands , which existed from 1908 to 1980. Its forerunner was the Christelijk-Historische Partij founded in 1903 . In 1980, the CHU merged with the non-denominational Christian Democratisch Appèl (CDA).

history

Alexander de Savornin Lohman , founder of the CHU

In the 19th century the terms anti-revolutionair (directed against the ideas of the French Revolution ) and christelijk-historically (referring to the historical rights of the estates ) still denoted the same political direction that was strong in political Calvinism . From the Anti-Revolutionaire Partij (ARP) founded in 1879 under Abraham Kuyper , a faction of the Vrije Antirevolutionairen split off in 1894 under the leadership of Alexander de Savornin Lohman . It was triggered by the reform of the electoral law by the liberal interior minister, Johannes Tak van Poortvliet , which was supposed to extend the right to vote to every adult man who could read and write and take care of himself. Kuyper agreed, while de Savornin Lohman and his colleagues opposed it. The Christelijk-Historische Partij emerged from the Vrij-Antirevolutionaire Partij in 1903 . This in turn merged in 1908 with Bond van Kiesvereenigingen op Christelijk-Historischen grondslag in de provincie Friesland (Friese Bond) founded in 1898 to form CHU.

In addition to the electoral dispute, there were denominational, organizational and social differences between the two Protestant parties, CHU and ARP. Kuyper was the leader of the Gereformeerde Kerken , which had separated from the state-affiliated Nederlandse Hervormde Kerk in the 1880s . ARP supporters were therefore mostly Reformeerde churchgoers, members of the Hervormde Kerk found their political home in the CHU. The ARP was a tightly organized membership party and particularly addressed the “little people”; As a loose dignitaries party that was less dogmatic in terms of content, the CHU had its base in the upper class and the nobility. Unlike Kuyper and the ARP, the CHU also rejected the strategy of verzuiling ("piling up"). The ARP and CHU as well as the Catholic party were united in their demand for the equality of denominational and state schools. In the period between the two world wars, the CHU received between 6.5 and 10.9 percent of the vote. The only prime minister of the party was Dirk Jan de Geer , who held office twice (1926–1929 and 1939–1940).

After the Second World War, the CHU, together with the two other denominational parties ARP and Katholieke Volkspartij (KVP), stood in the middle of the political spectrum. They formed a coalition alternately with the social democratic Partij van de Arbeid (PvdA) and the right-wing liberal Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie (VVD). The CHU was involved in government as a junior partner from 1948 to 1965 and from 1967 to 1973. With a share of between 4.8 and 9.2 percent of the vote, it was the smallest of the three Christian parties. Together with KVP and ARP, the CHU belonged to the European Union of Christian Democrats (EUCD) and was a founding member of the European People's Party (EPP) in 1976 . Compared to KVP and ARP, which had a pronounced Christian social program, the CHU was considered to be more conservative. Unlike the KVP and ARP, it did not participate in the center-left coalition under the social democrat Joop den Uyl (1973–1977). In 1978, the head of the Foreign Relations Office of the German CDU , Henning Wegener , estimated that of the three Christian parties in the Netherlands, the CHU was closest to the CDU.

After the 1967 elections, in which the vote share of the three Christian parties together fell below 45 percent, they worked ever closer together. They ran for parliamentary elections in 1977 with a common list and formally merged on October 11, 1980 to form the Christian Democratisch Appèl (CDA).

Known members

Dirk Jan de Geer , the only Prime Minister from the ranks of the CHU

literature

Web links

Commons : Christelijk-Historische Unie  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rien Fraanje: The Christian Democracy in the Netherlands. Navigating between values ​​and responsibility. In: Carla van Baalen and others: A fragmented landscape. Contributions to the past and present of Dutch political parties. Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam 2018, pp. 13–37, on p. 18.
  2. ^ Rien Fraanje: The Christian Democracy in the Netherlands. Navigating between values ​​and responsibility. In: Carla van Baalen and others: A fragmented landscape. Contributions to the past and present of Dutch political parties. Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam 2018, pp. 13–37, at pp. 18–19.
  3. ^ Markus Wilp: The political system of the Netherlands. An introduction. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2012, p. 215.
  4. ↑ Paul Lucardie: The party system in the Netherlands. In: Oskar Niedermayer and others: The party systems of Western Europe. VS Verlag, Wiesbaden 2006, pp. 331-350, on pp. 331-332.
  5. ↑ Norbert Lepszy: The political system of the Netherlands. In: Wolfgang Ismayr: The political systems of Western Europe. Leske + Budrich, Opladen 1997, pp. 323-356, on p. 336.
  6. ^ Thomas Jansen : The European People's Party. Origins and Development. Macmillan, Basingstoke (Hants) 1998, pp. 48, 62.
  7. ^ Markus Wilp: The political system of the Netherlands. An introduction. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2012, p. 133.
  8. ↑ note Henning Wegener for Ernst Albrecht, 05/16/1978. In: Michael Gehler u. a .: Transnational party cooperation of the European Christian Democrats and Conservatives. Volume 1: Documents 1965–1979. DeGruyter, Berlin / Boston 2018.