ABSTRACT
Th e Christian Democratic political parties are today the most prominent and in many countries the most powerful and characteristic manifestation of the whole Christian Democratic movement. Foreigners may indeed easily over-estimate their importance compared to that of the social movements, less well known outside their own environ ment. The main pillar of Christian Democracy in France is not the M.R.P., important though that party is. It is probable that far more real weight attaches to the Christian trade unions (C.F.T.C.) or to the youth move ments, such as the Young Christian Farmers or Workers, grouped in the A.C.J.F. But the parties are in any case important enough for their role to need no exaggeration. The Christian Democratic Union in Germany, the Democrazia Cristiana in Italy, and the Christian Social Party in Belgium have been consistently the largest parties in their respective Parliaments, and have at one time or another held absolute majorities. The three leading Christian Democratic parties of Holland (the Catholic People’s Party and the Anti-Revolutionary Party and Christian Historical Union, which are Protestant) hold a permanent majority in their parlia ment, though they have not always acted together as a block to exploit it. The Austrian People’s Party and the Christian Social Party in Luxem burg have never quite attained an absolute majority, but have been the largest parties in their respective parliaments. The M.R.P. (Popular Republican Movement) in France holds a mere 13|% of the seats in the French Chamber of Deputies. But they happen to be key seats, in that central area of which Andre Siegfried said, in the days when it was mono polised by the Radicals, that its yield of ministerial portfolios to the square yard was the highest in the Chamber. The M.R.P. has been represented in nearly every French government since the war, the only important exception being the Mendes-France government of 1954-5. It has had a particularly great influence on foreign affairs. The Conservative People’s Party of Switzerland, which is based mainly on Catholic support, has likewise only 25% of the deputies in the Swiss lower house. But, as a centre
party, it has, like the M.R.P., a key position, and is permanently represented in the government.
