ABSTRACT
Th e political movements just described started this period as, except in Austria, convinced adherents of liberal democracy, but had still much to learn about democracy in the social and economic field, as well-several of them-as about the danger of being too closely identified with church affairs and an ecclesiastical hierarchy. The new Christian Democratic parties which arose in these generations in Italy and France might be said in these respects to be born with a silver spoon in their mouths, since they came late enough to be from the start not merely liberal and democratic but also a-confessional and socially aware. The difficulty in their case was rather that an immense effort was needed to bring them to birth at all.
