National Ring of Independents

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Four members of the LdU parliamentary group in 1995 in the National Council; from left: Verena Grendelmeier , Franz Jaeger , Walter Biel and Hansjürg Weder

The National Ring of Independents ( LdU ) (French Alliance des Indépendants, AdI) was a Swiss party that existed from 1936 to 1999.

History of the party

Emergence

Party founder Gottlieb Duttweiler in the National Council
William Vontobel , from 1945 Managing Director of the LdU, from 1950 to 1973 National Councilor, which he presided over in 1971/1972
LdU election poster 1951: Walter König was elected to the Zurich government council

Because the retailer and founder of Migros , Gottlieb Duttweiler , did not agree with the prevailing politics in Switzerland in the 1930s, he founded an association with like-minded people in 1935. Although it was not originally intended as a party, but rather as a representation of people who were supposed to reconcile capital and labor in the so-called social market economy , the movement won seven seats straight away in the 1935 National Council elections. However, the seat wins were limited to just three cantons (Zurich 5 seats, St. Gallen and Bern 1 seat each). Since the original plan to unite the best of all parties in a state ring did not succeed politically, a party called the State Ring of Independents was founded in December 1936 . "27 principles" form the first party program.

In 1938 the Landesring submitted the federal popular initiative 'Emergency Law and Urgency'. After that, the Federal Assembly should no longer be able to switch off the right of referendum through the right of urgency. The popular initiative was withdrawn in 1940 in favor of a counter-proposal. Two popular initiatives with a similar focus had already been submitted by another party.

In 1941 a federal popular initiative to reorganize the National Council was submitted. Among other things, it demanded a term of office of 12 years, a ban on preprinted accumulation of individual candidates and disclosure of occupation and any board memberships. The initiative was rejected in 1942 with 65 percent votes against.

In 1955 the LdU submitted a popular initiative to introduce the 44-hour week. This was rejected in a referendum in 1958 with 65 percent no votes. A referendum to fight alcoholism was rejected in 1966 by 77 percent of the voters.

Duttweiler era

Since Duttweiler, as party president, initially only had vague ideas, but acted authoritarian, leading circles within the party split off as early as 1943. This split took place in the National Council elections in the autumn of the same year as an independent-free list on its own and won a seat. But this split did not last long. In the Duttweiler era, the party always achieved around 5 percent of the vote. The party was unable to gain a foothold in French- and Italian-speaking Switzerland, as well as in central Switzerland (with the exception of Lucerne).

Although he tried several times to broaden the party's financial base, Migros or Duttweiler bore most of the costs until the end of his life.

The social liberal phase after Duttweiler

After the death of the long-time party president, the state ring was able to establish itself as a social liberal alternative between the left and the bourgeoisie. In the National Council elections in 1967 it was the strongest opposition party with 9.05 percent of the vote and sixteen members in the National Council and one in the Council of States. The LdU primarily addressed the urban middle class (employees, civil servants). Numerous new status rings, as the cantonal parties were called, were created (1968 Geneva, Neuchâtel, Solothurn and Graubünden; 1972 Valais; 1977 Zug). Towards the end of the 1970s, however, the proportion of voters and mandates fell massively. A violent dispute about direction broke out. The traditional representatives of a social market economy suddenly found themselves facing an ecological wing.

In 1974 a new party program, called Principles and Guidelines , was adopted, which replaced the principles of 1936. Reference was made to this program in an agreement between Migros and LdU in 1979. Then Migros supported the LdU "ideally and financially as long as it is within the framework of the ideas of social liberalism". The company paid the party between 3 and 3.5 million francs annually.

Logo of the daily newspaper "Die Tat" 1939–1977

The daily newspaper Die Tat , the mouthpiece of the Landesring, was converted from a reputable daily newspaper into a tabloid in 1977 - but it could not hold its own and disappeared in 1978.

The green-social-liberal phase

Monika Weber, LdU President 1992–1996

In the mid- 1980s , the ecologically oriented wing caught on. As early as 1982, because of the directional difficulties, representatives of both the Greens (Baselland; conversion to the Greens ) and the social-liberal wing (Zurich; conversion to the SP ) resigned. Since the party's biggest donor, the Migros Cooperative, as a retail giant, had problems with the ecological wing for economic reasons, it cut the contributions to the LdU massively. This had serious consequences. Due to the reduced contributions from Migros, some regional secretariats also had to be closed. The LdU lost its profile and new protest groups (Greens, Auto Party, etc.) lured the voters away from it.

Decline and dissolution

Due to the strong right wing (social liberal) in the Social Democratic Party and the emergence of the Greens, the Landesring lost more and more voters. In the 1990s , the party tried to stop the decline by returning to social liberal ideas, but it failed. The LdU disappeared in many canton parliaments and local councils in large and medium-sized communities. The Lucerne cantonal section applied for its dissolution as early as 1994, followed by the Baselland section in April 1996 and the City of Bern section in October 1998. Many local elected officials of the Landesring switched to other parties (Greens, Free List, etc.) or became non-party.

After Migros had reduced its financial contributions to CHF 600,000 in 1996, Migros and the party announced their definitive separation in April 1999. At a reform party conference in May 1999, the party was renamed the List of Independents and the dissolution was rejected with 52 to 9 votes. The death knell was the electoral defeat in the Swiss parliamentary elections in autumn 1999. At the special party conference on December 4, 1999 in Aarau, the delegates resolved to dissolve it with 57 to 7 votes. The LdU was history after 63 years. In the end only the local sections in Köniz and Uster remained active.

Rudolf Suter, President LdU and at the same time head of Migros

Party leader

Press

  • The first logo of the act in 1935
    Die Tat (1935–1977; weekly newspaper, daily newspaper from 1939)
  • Der Ring (monthly newspaper; 1965–1984)

Electoral strength

National elections

From 1935 to 1999 a total of 65 people were elected as representatives of the regional ring in the National Council. Three of them were also on the Council of States ( Gottlieb Duttweiler , Albin Heimann and Monika Weber ). The highest number of seats in the National Council was achieved in 1967 with 16 seats, the lowest number in 1999 with only one member.


National Council election results of the Landesring (1935–1999)
8th%
6%
4%
2%
0%
year National Council
votes 		National Council
voter share 		National Council
seats 		Council of States
seats
1935 37,861 4.14% 7th 0
1939 43,735 7.07% 9 0
1943 41,635 4.73% 6th 0
1947 42,428 4.42% 8th 0
1951 49,100 5.11% 10 0
1955 53,450 5.48% 10 0
1959 54,049 5.50% 10 0
1963 48'224 5.01% 10 0
1967 89,950 9.05% 16 1
1971 150,684 7.63% 13 1
1975 116,349 6.06% 11 1
1979 73,895 4.07% 8th 0
1983 77,745 4.00% 9 0
1987 80,099 4.17% 9 1
1991 61,176 3.03% 5 1
1995 34,375 1.83% 3 1
1999 14'063 0.72% 1 0

Cantonal parliaments

The Landesring was represented in numerous cantonal parliaments; longest in the canton of Zurich.

Representation in local councils

The Landesring was also represented in numerous parliaments of cities and municipalities. Strongholds were the cities of Zurich , St. Gallen , Bern , Lucerne , Chur , Winterthur , Kloten , Burgdorf BE and Wettingen .

literature

  • Jean Meynaud, Adalbert Korff: Migros and politics. the national ring of the independents. Federation of Migros Cooperatives, Zurich 1967.
  • Hans Georg Ramseier: The emergence and development of the Landesring der Independentigen up to 1943. [Print:] Chemigraphisches Institut, Glattbrugg (near Zurich) 1973, DNB 571053971 (Dissertation University of Zurich, Philosophical Faculty, 1973, 209 pages).
  • Erich Gruner : The parties in Switzerland. 2nd revised and expanded edition. Francke, Bern 1977, ISBN 3-7720-1345-7 , ( Helvetia Politica Series B 4).
  • Frank Wende: Lexicon on the history of the parties in Europe. Kröner, Stuttgart 1981, ISBN 3-520-81001-8 , pp. 614-615.

Web links

Commons : State ring of the independents (LdU)  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Federal Chancellery BK: Federal People's Initiative 'Emergency Law and Urgency'. Retrieved April 14, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Report of the Federal Council to the Federal Assembly on the referendum of July 23, 1946 for a return to direct democracy (February 27, 1948), pp. 1057-1059. PDF
  3. ^ Federal Chancellery BK: Federal People's Initiative 'Reorganization of the National Council'. Retrieved April 14, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Federal Chancellery BK: referendum of May 3rd, 1942. Retrieved April 14, 2018 .
  5. ^ Federal Chancellery BK: Federal popular initiative 'Introduction of the 44-hour week'. Retrieved May 12, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Federal Chancellery BK: Federal People's Initiative 'Combating Alcoholism'. Retrieved May 12, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Hans Georg Ramseier: The emergence and development of the state ring of the independents until 1943, Chemigraphisches Institut AG, Glattbrugg, 1973, p. 176
  8. ^ Agreement between the Federation of Migros Cooperatives and the Landesring der Independents from August 1979, p. 4. Migros Archives, Zurich.
  9. ↑ Thomas Drysch: party funding: Austria, Switzerland, Germany . Springer-Verlag, 2013, ISBN 978-3-663-10999-0 ( google.ch [accessed on May 12, 2018]).
  10. ^ Année politique Suisse 1996 - political parties. Retrieved May 12, 2018 .
  11. ^ Année politique Suisse 1999 - parties. Retrieved May 12, 2018 .
  12. ^ News.ch: penultimate LdU section in Köniz dissolved , March 7, 2006; accessed December 16, 2014
  13. ^ Jean Meynaud, Adalbert Korff: La Migros et la politique. Meynaud, Montreal 1965 ( online ).