Communist Party of Luxembourg
Kommunistesch Partei vu Lëtzebuerg
LeaderAli Ruckert[1]
Founded2 January 1921
Split fromLuxembourg Socialist Workers' Party
Headquarters3, rue Zénon Bernard
Esch-sur-Alzette
NewspaperZeitung vum Lëtzebuerger Vollek
IdeologyCommunism
Marxism–Leninism
Hard Euroscepticism
Political positionFar-left
International affiliationIMCWP
Colours  Red
Chamber of Deputies
0 / 60
European Parliament
0 / 6
Local councils
1 / 722
Website
kommunisten.lu

The Communist Party of Luxembourg (Luxembourgish: Kommunistesch Partei vu Lëtzebuerg; French: Parti Communiste Luxembourgeois; German: Kommunistische Partei Luxemburgs; abbr. KPL or PCL) is a communist party in Luxembourg. Ali Ruckert is the current chairman of the party.[2]

History

The KPL was founded on 2 January 1921, in the town of Niederkorn, making it one of the oldest parties in Luxembourg. In 1937, the Bech government attempted to introduce the so-called Maulkuerfgesetz ("Muzzle law") which would have banned the party. The law was abandoned after failing to achieve popular support in a national referendum.

Following the end of the Second World War, the party, which won 11.1% in the legislative elections, joined the National Union Government (1945–47). Its first minister was Charles Marx. After Marx's death in a 1946 car accident, he was replaced by Dominique Urbany. After the death of the leader of the LSAP, the coalition collapsed. With the principle of an all-inclusive government gone, the KPL was excluded from the next government and never returned another member to the cabinet.

In 1964, the United States State Department estimated the party membership to be approximately 500.[3] In legislative elections held in the same year, the party registered 10.4% of the vote, and won five of the Chamber of Deputies' 56 seats. The party's representation in the Chamber peaked at the following election, with six deputies, but fell, until the KPL lost its last remaining deputy in 1994. In the same year a minority opposing the Marxist-Leninist line of the party split and founded the New Left (Luxembourgish: Nei Lénk) together with the rest of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (Luxembourgish: Revolutionär Sozialistesch Partei).

In 1999, the KPL and the New Left agreed to found The Left (Luxembourgish: Déi Lénk). The Left had members of both parties and independents. Accordingly, KPL members ran on The Left lists in the 1999 and 2000 elections and no separate KPL lists existed. After disputes between a majority within the Left and leading KPL members shortly before the 2004 elections the party again ran separate lists. A number of the Left members were subsequently expelled from the KPL.

The KPL is represented locally on the councils of Differdange and Rumelange. In Rumelange, it is part of the ruling coalition together with the LSAP.[4]

Election results

Chamber of Deputies

Year Votes  % Elected seats Seats after +/– Government
1922[lower-alpha 1] 6,976 1.0 (#5)
0 / 25
0 / 48
 New Extra-parliamentary
1925 15,443 0.9 (#11)
0 / 47
 Steady 0 Extra-parliamentary
1928[lower-alpha 1] Did not participate
0 / 28
0 / 52
 Steady 0 Extra-parliamentary
1931[lower-alpha 1] 6,264 0.7 (#8)
0 / 27
0 / 54
 Steady 0 Extra-parliamentary
1934[lower-alpha 1] 70,940 5.2 (#4)
1 / 29
1 / 54
 Increase 1 Opposition
1937[lower-alpha 1] Did not participate
0 / 26
0 / 55
 Decrease 1 Extra-parliamentary
1945 295,701 11.1 (#4)
5 / 51
 Increase 5 Coalition
1948[lower-alpha 1] 195,956 14.3 (#3)
4 / 26
5 / 51
 Steady 0 Opposition
1951[lower-alpha 1] 35,662 3.2 (#4)
0 / 26
4 / 52
 Decrease 1 Opposition
1954 211,171 7.3 (#4)
3 / 52
 Decrease 1 Opposition
1959 220,425 7.2 (#4)
3 / 52
 Steady 0 Opposition
1964 330,909 10.4 (#3)
5 / 56
 Increase 2 Opposition
1968 402,610 13.1 (#4)
6 / 56
 Increase 1 Opposition
1974 314,635 8.8 (#4)
5 / 59
 Decrease 1 Opposition
1979 177,286 4.9 (#5)
2 / 59
 Decrease 3 Opposition
1984 165,960 4.4 (#5)
2 / 64
 Steady 0 Opposition
1989 157,608 4.4 (#5)
1 / 60
 Decrease 1 Opposition
1994 57,646 1.7 (#7)
0 / 60
 Decrease 1 Extra-parliamentary
1999[lower-alpha 2] 110,274 3.3 (#6)
1 / 60
 Increase 1 Opposition
2004 35,524 0.9 (#7)
0 / 60
 Decrease 1 Extra-parliamentary
2009 49,108 1.4 (#7)
0 / 60
 Steady 0 Extra-parliamentary
2013 53,669 1.6 (#8)
0 / 60
 Steady 0 Extra-parliamentary
2018 44,916 1.3 (#8)
0 / 60
 Steady 0 Extra-parliamentary
2023 24,275 0.6 (#10)
0 / 60
 Steady 0 Extra-parliamentary
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Partial election. Only half of the seats were up for renewal.
  2. ↑ Results for The Left alliance.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Aulner, François. "The capitalist system needs to be 'overcome', says Ali Ruckert". RTL Today. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  2. ↑ Aulner, François. "The capitalist system needs to be 'overcome', says Ali Ruckert". RTL Today. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  3. ↑ Benjamin, Roger W.; Kautsky, John H. (March 1968). "Communism and Economic Development". American Political Science Review. 62 (1): 110–123. doi:10.2307/1953329. JSTOR 1953329. S2CID 154843326.
  4. ↑ "Rümelingen: LSAP und KPL wollen neue Wege gehen". Zeitung vum Lëtzebuerger Vollek. 30 November 2017. Retrieved 21 April 2019.

References

  • Ruckert, Ali, Geschichte der Kommunistischen Partei Luxemburgs, Teil I: 1921-1946, Esch-sur-Alzette 2006 OCLC 219699513
  • Ruckert, Ali, Geschichte der Kommunistischen Partei Luxemburgs, Teil II: 1947-1954, Esch-sur-Alzette 2007 OCLC 316277089
  • Ruckert, Ali, Geschichte der Kommunistischen Partei Luxemburgs, Teil III: 1955-1960, Esch-sur-Alzette 2010 OCLC 724402104
  • Wehenkel, Henri, "Communisme et postcommunisme au Luxembourg", in: Communisme 2014, 1989-2014 - L'éternel retour des communistes, p. 165-172
  • Wehenkel, Henri, "Die Kommunistische Partei Luxemburgs. Aufstieg und Fall einer Partei" in: Moreau, Patrick/Marc Lazar/Gerhard Hirscher (eds.), Der Kommunismus in Westeuropa, Niedergang oder Mutation?, Landsberg/Lech, 1998, p. 477-497
  • Wehenkel, Henri/ Foetz, Guy/Hoffmann, André, 1921-1981. Beiträge zur Geschichte der Kommunistischen Partei Luxemburgs, Luxembourg 1981
  • Wehenkel, Henri/Redondo, Jean-Laurent/Hoffmann, André/Urbany, Serge, "Table ronde: PCL et/ou nouvelle gauche: renouvellement et/ou scission", in: Cahiers Marxistes, No. 201, April–May 1996, p. 121-144 ISSN 1195-0013
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