MNHA | #wielewatmirsinn (English Texts)

English

Introduction Einleitung

Introduction Aller voter et se porter candidat...

Wählen oder selbst zur Wahl antreten,…

Voting or even running for election in order to stand up for what you believe in may seem like an irrevocable right, but this wasn’t always the case.

Today every Luxembourger over the age of 18 is eligible to vote in the national elections for the Chamber of Deputies as well as in local and European elections. While foreigners living in Luxembourg may not participate in parliamentary elections, under certain circumstances they may vote for the municipal councils and members of the European Parliament.

One hundred years ago, the most fundamental democratic right — the right to vote — was not taken for granted by everyone. It was only then that all Luxembourgers were granted this right after an intense political struggle. The road from the French Revolution to the introduction of universal suffrage for all Luxembourgers in 1919 was long and difficult.

This exhibition tells a story full of contrasts, hopes and disappointments — from the 18th century to the present day.

3

Le pouvoir : du roi au peuple Die Macht: vom König zum Volk

From royal decree to the power of the people In the Middle Ages, the area that makes up present-day Luxembourg was governed by monarchs whose power was passed down from one generation to the next. From that point on, Luxembourgers were ruled by a series of dynasties, but the absolute power of the monarch was never questioned.

It was not until the 17th and especially the 18th century that philosophers began to challenge the omnipotence of Europe’s monarchs and to demand independent governments, parliaments and courts. Nearly at the same time, revolutions in Great Britain, the United States of America and France led to permanent changes as the people claimed political power for themselves. Little by little, the principle that political leaders should be elected by the entire population took hold.

La République française donne le droit de vote...

Die Französische Republik: das Wahlrecht für Besitzbürger

The French Republic: voting rights for property owners In 1795, just a few years after the French Revolution, France occupied the Duchy of Luxembourg and made it part of the département des Forêts (an administrative division named for the area’s forests). The French political system was put into effect — i.e. the republic as a form of government and the corresponding electoral system. During this period, and later under Emperor Napoleon I, Luxembourg elected local administrators and judges of peace as well as delegates to represent the Département des Forêts in Paris. The electoral system took shape gradually. Initially, all men were eligible to participate in elections, at least in theory. In practice, however, the four-tiered electoral system left them in fact powerless. Later, voting was reserved for citizens who paid enough taxes. As a result, only the wealthiest property owners were called to the polls, while the vast majority of the people were excluded. Women were also excluded, regardless of their wealth. Indirect suffrage persisted, as property owners chose electors who then selected the representatives for the various bodies. These bodies in turn selected a few delegates to represent the people at the higher levels of government. Real political power thus remained in the hands of very few privileged men.

4

19e siècle 19. Jahrhundert

19th century Payer pour voter : le suffrage censitaire Zahlen, um zu wählen: das Zensuswahlrecht

Pay to vote: the system of census suffrage In the 19th century, electing members of parliament was a privilege reserved for wealthy citizens. In accordance with census suffrage, which applied in Luxembourg until 1919, the right to vote was reserved for men who paid a certain amount in taxes each year. The required tax rate was lowered multiple times over the years, allowing an increasing number of Luxembourgish men to participate in elections. From 1848 onwards, census suffrage was increasingly called into question by those were denied the right to vote, in particular by less affluent farmers and workers. The Catholic Church also periodically pushed for expanding suffrage. At the same time, as industrialisation began to accelerate the pace of social change, the question of political participation grew increasingly important.

5

Une société divisée : riches et pauvres au 19e siècle Eine geteilte Gesellschaft: Arm und Reich im 19. Jahrhundert

A society divided: rich and poor in the 19th century Luxembourgish society in the 19th century was characterised by numerous inequities. The rise of industrialisation around the middle of the century created a new class of affluent citizens. Wealthy landowners and traders, bourgeois entrepreneurs, steel magnates, lawyers, notaries and solicitors dominated political life.

Behind the scenes, however, countless workers, farmers and day labourers toiled to create wealth, without a voice in politics or any improvement in their circumstances. As a result, economic prosperity and the associated political influence were very unequally distributed. Poverty and a lack of prospects spurred large-scale migration up into the second half of the 19th century, in particular to France and the United States. At the same time, starting in the mid-19th century, an educated middle class comprising civil servants, clerks and small-scale merchants sought to participate in governing the country.

After 1890, the iron and steel industry experienced an unprecedented boom.

Against this backdrop, socialist ideals championed by emerging political factions took on increasing importance in Luxembourgish public discourse. Catholic social teaching also began to spread at this time. This doctrine was explicitly directed at the working class and partly supported their struggle for emancipation. As foreign workers immigrated to Luxembourg, many of whom were politically minded, these movements picked up even more steam. Although they stopped short of calling for a revolution, the disenfranchised population became increasingly vocal in advocating for their interests.

Le retour du roi : la bourgeoisie de la période hollandaise Wieder ein König: das wohlhabende Bürgertum der niederländischen Zeit

The return of the king: the prosperous bourgeoisie in the Dutch era (1815–1830) The 1815 Treaty of Vienna dissolved the empire of Napoleon I. Luxembourg was elevated to a Grand Duchy under the rule of the King of the Netherlands, who also governed as Grand Duke of Luxembourg in personal union, making him the head of all of the present-day Benelux countries. The electoral system of indirect census suffrage introduced by the French was maintained with a few adjustments.

The richest taxpayers in each canton chose representatives who then convened to select the deputies for the parliament, known as the Assembly of Estates. This assembly met only a few days a year in Luxembourg, and as the King-Grand Duke was not bound to observe its positions on political issues, the deputies wielded very little power. Luxembourgish deputies elected through the same form of cen6

sus suffrage were also represented in the powerful States General assembly in The Hague, the Dutch capital.

L’intermède belge (1830-1839) Belgisches Zwischenspiel (1830-1839)

A Belgian intermezzo (1830–1839) In 1830, Belgium split from the Netherlands and declared its independence. Much of the population of Luxembourg supported the Belgian Revolution. The capital, where the Prussian garrison was stationed, was an exception, as the troops were in favour of the status quo and ultimately ensured that it was maintained. Luxembourgish delegates were elected to the parliament in Brussels, but census suffrage applied there as well.

When the conflict between Belgium and the Netherlands was resolved in 1839, the Grand Duchy was again separated from Belgium and shrunk to its present size.

Luxembourg once more became subject to the rule of the Dutch king, who was also Grand Duke of Luxembourg in personal union. Although the administration was restructured, indirect census suffrage continued, ensuring that only a limited number of rich citizens were eligible to vote. The personal union ended in 1890 when Grand Duke Adolphe ascended to the throne, establishing the dynasty that continues to rule Luxembourg up to the present day.

Un feu de paille : le suffrage universel de 1848 Ein Strohfeuer: das allgemeine Wahlrecht von 1848

A flash in the pan: the universal suffrage of 1848 The year 1848 saw revolutions break out across Europe, especially in France and Germany. In Luxembourg, too, the people rose up against their conservative and authoritarian rulers. Calls for greater democracy rang out loud and clear.

The Grand Duchy was part of the German Confederation as well as the German Customs Union at the time and sent six delegates to the Frankfurt Parliament in May 1848. Under the Federal Elections Act, all Luxembourgish men over 25 years of age were eligible to vote for the first time, regardless of their wealth; only civil servants were excluded.

This was the first and, for the time being, only attempt to implement universal suffrage in Luxembourg. In July 1848, after the revolutionary movement had lost its strength, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg adopted a new constitution that preserved census suffrage. Although the required tax rate was lowered, suffrage 7

remained the preserve of wealthy men. For the first time, the constitution also explicitly stipulated that Luxembourgish citizenship was required in order to vote.

This new constitution did introduce direct elections, however. Delegates from each of the cantons were elected by the canton’s citizens themselves, with the number of delegates reflecting the population of the respective canton. Censorship was also abolished, giving rise to a free press where politics could be discussed openly.

But in 1856 the King-Grand Duke William III put a new authoritarian constitution in place which limited the powers that had been granted to the Chamber of Deputies in 1848. The tax rate required to participate in elections was increased, significantly reducing the number of people eligible to vote.

En route vers le suffrage universel : le cens attaqué (1868-1913) Auf dem Weg zum allgemeinen Wahlrecht: der Zensus unter Beschuss (1868-1913)

Heading toward universal suffrage: the census system comes under fire (1868–1913) The direct election of deputies was finally enshrined in the liberal constitution of 1868. So was the principle of census suffrage, which made it even more difficult to abolish later. In 1901, the tax amount required to vote was reduced to the minimum permitted by the constitution, 10 francs, thereby allowing a maximum number of Luxembourgish men to participate in elections without an amendment to the constitution. But as Luxembourg moved into the 20th century, more and more voices called for the abolishment of census suffrage.

The boom in the iron and steel industry and the rise of a new working class ushered in changes to Luxembourgish society. Disenfranchised workers demanded their right to political participation and thus also to universal suffrage, which had already been introduced in several neighbouring countries. Liberal and progressive politicians from the bourgeoisie also called for such reform. In contrast, established political circles were not even considering women’s suffrage at that time.

In 1913, a new method of calculating the minimum tax rate, which also took municipal taxes into account, led to a significant increase in the number of people eligible to vote. Nearly two-thirds of men over age 25 were now called to the polls, making it possible for Jean Schortgen to become the first working-class member of Luxembourg’s parliament in 1914. But a constitutional amendment was still needed in order to replace census suffrage with universal suffrage once and for all.

8

Biographies Jean-Baptiste Nothomb (1805–1881) “I still maintain that the Luxembourgers were right to join the revolution and that Europe has perpetrated a grave injustice by separating Luxembourg from Belgium.”

A young lawyer from Luxembourg, Jean-Baptiste Nothomb played a central role during the Belgian Revolution in 1830, advocating for Belgium’s independence from the Netherlands.

After secession, he helped develop a new electoral law and successfully argued for lowering the voting age to 25. In contrast, census suffrage was never called into question in the new kingdom of Belgium.

Nothomb was elected to parliament in the first elections following the split from the Netherlands. When the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg was brought back under the rule of the Dutch king in 1839, Nothomb chose to remain in Belgium. He served as the head of the Belgian government from 1841 to 1845.

Emmanuel Servais (1811-1890) “I was pleased to see the revolution break out in Paris. I was overjoyed by the revolution in Brussels that followed.”

The young lawyer Emmanuel Servais welcomed the Belgian Revolution. He settled in Arlon, becoming a member of the provincial council in 1836. When the question of dividing the Province of Luxembourg arose in 1839, Servais organised pro-Belgian rallies.

After the division, Servais chose to live in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and despite some initial difficulties, was admitted to the bar there. In 1841 he became a member of the new “Assembly of Estates” instituted by William II. By the time revolution broke out in Luxembourg in 1848, Servais had evolved into a government loyalist and could no longer understand what drove people to take to the streets. Nevertheless, he was elected as a member of the parliament in Frankfurt.

Servais joined the government that implemented the king’s authoritarian constitution in 1856, something he would later come to regret. As Prime Minister he supported the development of a new, more liberal constitution in 1868.

9

Norbert Metz (1811-1885) “The interests of the proletariat were so near and dear to me that I could not personally fear them.”

The engineer and industrialist Norbert Metz was one of the largest ironworks owners in 19th-century Luxembourg. From 1842 to 1885, he was also involved in politics.

As a member of parliament, Norbert Metz took part in the discussions around a more liberal constitution in 1848, but he opposed the introduction of universal suffrage. He claimed that he was not personally against it but felt that reducing the required tax rate to a minimum of 10 francs was sufficient. Metz argued that this would extend suffrage to the middle class, thereby balancing the conflicting interests of the rich and the poor. According to him, those who had to work in order to live were at risk of being led astray by false promises and alluring ideas. He thus thought it wiser to introduce political emancipation gradually.

Charles Théodore André (1822-1883) “The rest of us, the rest of us, We are Red Republicans!”

In 1848 Charles Théodore André was one of the strongest advocates of universal suffrage. In the newspaper Der Volksfreund (The Friend of the People), the young lawyer fought for the establishment of a workers’ party and penned a “Call to the Workers of the Country of Luxembourg” in which he urged members of parliament to enshrine universal suffrage in the constitution. The call was also signed by workers and craftsmen. Together they attempted to submit their petition to the Assembly of Estates on 25 April 1848 when it held its first session in Ettelbruck.

But the majority of the deputies refused to admit the delegation headed by André.

The poet Edmond de la Fontaine (known as Dicks) paid André an ironic tribute in his poem D’Vulleparlament am Gréngewald (The Birds’ Parliament at Grünewald), by portraying him as a Schnautzvull (fledgling) and calling him a “Red Republican”. Shortly afterwards, however, André turned his back on the workers’ movement and joined the liberals.

10

Eduard Michelis (1813-1855) “We must provisionally prepare for universal suffrage and universal eligibility. We must take steps in this direction, but we do not want to put them in place immediately.”

The German priest Edward Michelis was appointed professor at the seminary in Luxembourg by Johann Theodor Laurent, the Vicar Apostolic and head of the church in Luxembourg. During the Revolution of 1848, Michelis was the driving force behind the new Catholic newspaper Luxemburger Wort, which advocated for increasing the church’s influence over the state.

At that time, the church used the Wort to challenge the government, and the paper argued in favour of abolishing census suffrage. Michelis did however pull back from these demands quite soon. While he called for the country to prepare for universal suffrage in the brochure “On universal suffrage and universal eligibility”, he saw its introduction as premature and did not believe that Luxembourgers were ready for such responsibility. The church soon turned away from these democratic tendencies entirely. Only decades later, with the founding of the Catholic People’s Association in 1903 and its attempts to educate the people through conferences and brochures, did this push for democracy once again flourish.

Paul Eyschen (1841-1915) “I too want to ensure that the country’s representation rests upon as broad and solid a base as possible. But unrestricted universal suffrage, which is ultimately only the power of the masses, is hardly the way to achieve this.”

The lawyer Paul Eyschen joined the government in 1876 and became Prime Minister in 1888. As a conservative liberal, he was interested in social reforms modelled on those of Bismarck, but he was sceptical of universal suffrage, which was already in place in the German Reich. As Eyschen saw it, no one in Luxembourg was taking to the streets to forcibly demand that the constitution be amended to achieve electoral reform. This was, as he believed, because the government and members of parliament endeavoured to protect the wellbeing of the weaker members of society.

In the following decades, Eyschen watched the push for universal suffrage increasingly gain ground in Luxembourg as elsewhere, with the introduction of countless legislative initiatives. Nevertheless, Eyschen himself never came out in clear support of universal suffrage.

11

Charles André Engel (1849-1900) “There are people who believe they were put on this earth to rule over others.”

The lawyer and journalist Charles André Engel was a champion of socialist ideas.

He published various newspapers and served as editor in chief of L’Écho, a paper headed by the left-wing liberal Émile Servais which became the most important voice in favour of universal suffrage after 1890.

In his speech to a public assembly on 1 May 1892, Engel emphasised that universal suffrage was crucial for a fairer society. He criticised those whose guiding principle, in his view, was that the people should work for them, while they made decisions for the people. Thus he argued that on 1 May, of all days, the people should proclaim: “We want to be citizens of Luxembourg and treated as such; we demand a stake in government; we want laws that serve everyone and that must therefore be made by everyone. And then we will triumph because we will have the constitution on our side, as well as just and progressive laws and the power of the majority, because we are the nation!”

Michel Welter (1859-1924) “We have put universal suffrage at the very top of our agenda.”

The physician Michel Welter was elected to parliament in 1897. Like his political allies, he described himself as a democrat. He was concerned with creating a fair electoral system and helping the working class to achieve political equality.

In 1902 Welter helped founding the Social Democratic Party and became part of its moderate wing. Facing strong opposition in parliament, he was willing to compromise on the question of suffrage, but he introduced countless bills to lower the required tax rate for voters in hopes of at least making gradual progress.

In 1912, when almost no opponent to universal suffrage remained, Welter worked with colleagues to create a parliamentary commission tasked with preparing a constitutional reform. This proved to be a delaying tactic, as liberals and socialists now feared that expanding suffrage would not benefit them, but the Catholic Party of the Right.

12

Aline Mayrisch-de Saint-Hubert (1874-1947) “Now, ladies, we must fight and stand in solidarity in order to increase our power.”

Aline de Saint-Hubert came from a bourgeois family. In 1894 she married the engineer and ironworks entrepreneur Émile Mayrisch. Although she lacked higher education, she worked as an art and literary critic. In 1906 she joined forces with other women to found the Association for Women’s Interests (VIF).

The association soon opened a private school for girls in Luxembourg City, which became a state-run school in 1911. In 1916, the first young women in Luxembourg achieved the general qualification for university entrance — a major leap forward compared to the previous generations. In addition to learning countless trades, women now had the opportunity to study.

The Association for Women’s Interests stressed publicly that it was not advocating for women’s suffrage, as it believed the time was not yet ripe in Luxembourg. Nevertheless, Aline Mayrisch and her comrades organised lectures with foreign speakers who were actively campaigning for women’s suffrage in their home countries.

Margarete Hey-Fink “Equal responsibilities, equal rights! Hence, universal secret suffrage for people of both sexes over 18 years of age.”

Little is known about Margarete Hey-Fink. She lived in Differdange, was a German national and became active in the left wing of the Social Democratic Party in 1905.

Starting in 1909, she began speaking at public gatherings, promoting the socialisation of the means of production and the eight-hour day as well as taking a stand against war. She called on women “not to leave the struggle over these important issues to men”.

Hey-Fink was particularly involved in the fight for women’s rights. From 1917 on, she participated in the new push for women’s suffrage, and in the summer of 1918, she was among the initiators of a socialist petition to grant women the right to vote. In the autumn of that year, she even joined the party leadership. But in 1920, she joined the newly formed Communist Party, feeling it better represented her interests. After participating in the general strike in 1921, she was expelled from the country.

13

(1914-1919) À marche forcée vers le suffrage universel Ein Gewaltmarsch zum allgemeinen Wahlrecht

A forced march toward universal suffrage The period from 1914 to 1919 was of key importance in the history of universal suffrage in Luxembourg. Although the country was occupied by German troops during the First World War, Grand Duchess Marie-Adélaïde retained her position along with the government and the Chamber of Deputies. In 1917, workers starving from the effects of the war began to strike, but their wage demands went unmet. At the same time, the Luxembourgish newspapers were reporting on the revolutionary events unfolding in Russia. The November 1917 Bolshevik Revolution quickly served as a major impetus for the most radical members of the workers’ movement in Luxembourg, as it did in the rest of Europe. In this tense situation, a new Chamber of Deputies was elected in June 1918 which was expected to reform the constitution. Would universal suffrage be introduced?

14

La Révolution internationale Die internationale Revolution

The international revolution The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and the associated vision of a new social order inspired a considerable number of European workers at the end of the First World War. After Germany’s defeat in November 1918, Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated as emperor, and in Berlin, the country was proclaimed a republic. Between November 1918 and March 1919, Germany experienced revolutionary uprisings, particularly in Berlin and Munich. Luxembourg also saw an increasing number of protests calling for social and political reforms as early as 1916. The international upheaval therefore set the backdrop for the events which unfolded in the Grand Duchy.

La Chambre est morte ! Vive la Constituante !

Die Kammer ist tot! Es lebe die Konstituante!

The Chamber is dead! Long live the Constituent Assembly!

While German troops occupied Luxembourg, political life in the Grand Duchy remained unchanged. After Paul Eyschen died in 1915, Grand Duchess Marie-Adélaïde appointed a Catholic government, although it did not have a majority in the Chamber of Deputies. This direct political intervention by the ruler of Luxembourg was unprecedented and she was met with reproach for her actions at the end of the war. The confrontations between Catholic, liberal and socialist politicians were characterised at that time by astonishingly harsh rhetoric, reinforced by the numerous popular protests that took to the streets. In July 1918, a new parliament called the Constituent Assembly was elected via census suffrage and was tasked with amending the constitution. During their campaigns, all of the parties announced their desire to introduce universal suffrage. However, they did not address the issue of women’s suffrage, though some women who were influenced by the German feminist and socialist movements had begun to advocate for it. A petition in favour of introducing women’s suffrage was signed by several hundred women and submitted to the Chamber of Deputies, but it failed to elicit a response and the majority of the deputies continued to ignore the issue.

15

Faim et colère Hunger und Zorn

Hunger and fury The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg was not heavily involved in the First World War. Many Luxembourgers did volunteer to join the fighting forces, in particular the French Foreign Legion, but the Grand Duchy’s inhabitants experienced the war primarily as a time of food shortages. Many Luxembourgers were starving between 1914 and 1918. The black market flourished in Luxembourg’s cities and many people went to the Oesling — an agricultural region to the north — to purchase their food from farmers, who took advantage of the situation to demand very high prices. Plagued by hunger, some turned to violence, stole food or looted. Women were particularly called upon since, as was the case abroad, they were increasingly needed in the work force in areas where there were no longer enough men on account of the war. Back then, it was taken for granted that working mothers would simultaneously ensure their children’s nourishment. The government proved itself incapable of ending the food shortages, causing the political class of the time to become increasingly unpopular.

Vers la république ?

Eine Republik?

Moving toward a republic?

At the end of the war, workers’ committees began cropping up in Luxembourg just as they did in Germany and the Lorraine region. These committees demanded universal suffrage for men and women, the adoption of the eight-hour working day and the establishment of workers’ councils in factories. Most notably, protesters twice took to the streets of Luxembourg to proclaim a republic — once in November 1918 and again in January 1919 — but this did not lead to the structures of power being overthrown. However, in light of the pressure exerted by the people, the government was forced to take action and at the time of the signing of the Armistice on 11 November 1918 had already announced a referendum on the monarchy. The people’s social demands were met when the eight-hour working day was adopted in industry in December 1918. The following month, the government summoned the aid of French troops, who restored order and effectively impeded the implementation of the republican agenda. On 9 January 1919, amidst mass demonstrations in Luxembourg, Grand Duchess Marie-Adélaïde abdicated in favour of her younger sister Charlotte.

16

Biographies (busts in the middle ) Marie-Adelheid (1894-1924) “I have decided to renounce the crown of the Grand Duchy. [...] The moment the end of the World War set the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg before a new chapter in its history, I expressed my intention to lay the fate of the country in the hands of the Luxembourgish people” In 1912, at the age of only 18, Marie-Adélaïde succeeded her father Wilhelm IV to become Grand Duchess. Mainly surrounded by German advisors at court, the young ruler was very religious and was seen as having close political ties to Catholic circles. At the beginning of her reign, she was already reproached by the Left for having waited six weeks before enacting the new law on education, which had been rejected by the Catholic Church.

Following the death of Prime Minister Paul Eyschen in 1915, she took advantage of her position to appoint a conservative government which did not have a majority in parliament — a right granted to her in the constitution, but one which her predecessors had not exercised in nearly half a century. By intervening so directly in the country’s politics, the Grand Duchess contributed to the outbreak of a severe political crisis. From 1915 to 1919, there were five different governments and by the end of the First World War, the Grand Duchess’s position was greatly weakened. Some of the liberal and socialist deputies additionally accused her of having received the German Kaiser in the midst of the war and republican committees called for an end to the monarchy as early as November 1918.

In light of the pressure from the public as well as of the uncompromising stance of the victorious Allied forces, who were not interested in negotiating with a ruler whom they, too, perceived to be pro-German, Émile Reuter’s government ultimately withdrew its support for the Grand Duchess and she was forced to abdicate on 9 January 1919. After leaving Luxembourg, Marie-Adélaïde retreated to a Carmelite monastery in Italy. She died in Bavaria in 1924 at the age of just 29.

17

Émile Reuter (1874-1973) “Seeing as the entire country agrees that the people as a whole must be trusted to decide on the future form of government and the fate of the country, any revolutionary movement is utterly unnecessary.” Émile Reuter, a founding member of the Catholic Party of the Right, was elected as a member of parliament in 1911. Appointed Prime Minister in September 1918, he became a key figure in the crisis of 1918–1919. In the face of the uprising of 10 and 11 November 1918, he announced his intention to hold a referendum on the preservation of the monarchy. He was under pressure not just due to the mass demonstrations, but also because of the less-than-friendly attitude of the victorious Allies towards the Luxembourgish government, which they accused of complicity with the Germans. That is why Reuter wanted to prove to the entire world Luxembourg’s desire for independence and, in doing so, save the monarchy. In November 1918, he declared the government’s intent to take a poll of the entire adult population, including both men and women. He was therefore responsible for accelerating the shift toward universal suffrage many months before the constitutional reform.

In January 1919, Reuter and the Party of the Right managed to impede a vote on the abolition of the monarchy in the Chamber of Deputies. In addition, the government called upon the French occupying forces to help break up the antimonarchist demonstrations which were taking place before the Chamber building. The public retroactively legitimised Émile Reuter’s pro-monarchy agenda in the September 1919 referendum and he retained the post of Prime Minister in the elections the following October. He remained in office until 1925 and subsequently served as President of the Chamber of Deputies from 1926 to 1959.

Aloyse Kayser (1874-1926) “[...] confronted with the actions of the foreign military commanders taken on behalf of the government and the President of the Chamber of Deputies, [the committee of public safety] no longer sees itself in a position to use the arms of the constitution and Luxembourgish law. It will institute a republic with all the vigour afforded it by what little freedom the citizens of Luxembourg still have.”

Railway worker and trade unionist Aloyse Kayser was a representative of the group which campaigned for the foundation of a republic in Luxembourg in 1918 and 1919. Kayser was amongst the leaders of the Socialist Workers’ Party and held a seat in the Chamber of Deputies initially from 1908 to 1918 and again from 1919 until his death. He was also one of the most important members of the committee of public safety, founded on 9 January 1919 by a handful of socialist and liberal 18

deputies. They were concerned that the monarchy would present an unsurmountable obstacle to preserving the independence of the Grand Duchy. These politicians were aware that the Allies did not want to negotiate with Grand Duchess Marie-Adélaïde and saw the proclamation of a republic as the only possibility that would prevent Luxembourg from being wiped off the map.

The Luxembourgish republicans then took advantage of a mutiny in the company of volunteers, as the small Luxembourgish army was called, to execute their plan and on 9 January 1919, protesters took to the streets to proclaim a republic in several locations throughout the city. The committee of public safety appointed engineer and former deputy Émile Servais (1847–1928) to the presidency of the new republic. While the French troops broke up the demonstrators, having been summoned by the government and the President of the Chamber of Deputies to maintain order, the deputies detained in the Chamber building were kept from voting on the abolition of the monarchy since the President of the Chamber had closed the session. On that very day, Grand Duchess Marie-Adélaïde abdicated. In the following days, the French occupying forces impeded further public assemblies from taking place.

The revolution of 1919 had failed. The September 1919 referendum reaffirmed the monarchy and put an end to the demands for a republic. However, this did not hinder Aloyse Kayser or other members of the committee of public safety from pursuing a successful political career in the 1920s.

19

Référendum et constitution Referendum und Verfassung

Referendum and constitution Une nouvelle ère Ein neues Zeitalter

A new era On 8 May 1919, the Chamber of Deputies adopted the amendment which enshrined universal suffrage in the constitution — a decision with far reaching implications. From that point on, all Luxembourgish men and women 21 years of age or older were eligible to vote, regardless of their economic standing, and those 25 years of age and above were permitted to run for office.

A referendum on the future political system and economic orientation of the country took place on 28 September 1919, marking the first opportunity for all the women of Luxembourg and many of its men to cast their votes. The first parliamentary elections following the introduction of universal suffrage took place on 26 October of the same year.

It is worth noting that the principal characteristics of the electoral system have undergone only marginal changes since 1919: voting via party list in four constituencies, the opportunity to vote for a party or for individual candidates from one or more lists (panachage) and, above all, compulsory voting.

20

La parole au peuple : le référendum du 28 septembre 1919 Das Volk hat das Wort: das Referendum vom 28. September 1919

The voice of the people: the referendum of 28 September 1919 After the end of the war, the government announced a referendum on the monarchy with the goal of addressing two problems at once: the issue of the political system, which had been called into question by Luxembourgers themselves and provoked mass demonstrations, and the threat to the country’s independence emanating from the victorious Allied powers.

Initially planned for 4 May, the referendum ultimately took place on 28 September 1919 at the Allies’ urging. Though it was merely a public opinion poll, it represented the first time that Luxembourgish men and women were able to express their views on the basis of universal suffrage. But compulsory voting had not yet been introduced — 72% of eligible voters took part in the referendum, with 77.8% voting for a monarchy and only 19.6% for a republic. On the question of the future economic union, 73% voted in favour of collaboration with France.

However, since France declined the offer, Luxembourg ultimately founded an economic union with Belgium in 1921, an alliance for which only 27% had voted initially.

La souveraineté du peuple Die Souveränität des Volkes

The sovereignty of the people After the war ended, the monarchy became a major point of contention. But public opinion shifted between January and September 1919. While the monarchy initially appeared to be a danger to the country’s independence, it increasingly became an argument for preserving it. In the end, despite the challenges it had faced before the referendum, the monarchy was reaffirmed. Nonetheless, the constitutional reform ensured that “the sovereign power resides in the Nation” and no longer with the monarchy, a considerable limitation of the latter’s authority. From then on, both the Chamber of Deputies and the government elected by the people held the true political power. Since 1919, the role of Grand Duke or Duchess has remained largely that of a figurehead.

21

Pour être électeur, il faut être Luxembourgeois ou Luxembourgeoise Um wählen zu können, muss man Luxemburger bzw. Luxemburgerin sein

To be eligible to vote, you have to be a Luxembourger In 1919, Luxembourgish women won the right to vote — something which was no matter of course in those days. Women in Germany had already received the vote in 1918, but in France and Belgium they didn’t enjoy this right until after 1945. Even if there was no mass mobilisation for women’s suffrage in Luxembourg, some women and men had already been demanding reform at least since 1905. More than anyone else, the radical socialists had submitted petitions demanding the vote. At the end of 1918, numerous women activists including Marguerite Mongenast-Servais launched petitions which demanded suffrage for the women of Luxembourg. Eventually, they prevailed, despite reluctance from liberal politicians who were concerned that women would easily be swayed by the clergy and would thus mostly elect conservatives. In the end, the Catholic party and the Socialists as well as the majority of the independent deputies voted to adopt universal suffrage for both men and women.

Un système électoral « moderne » : la représentation proportionnelle Ein „modernes“ Wahlsystem: das Verhältniswahlrecht

A “modern” electoral system: proportional representation Through the constitutional reform, proportional representation was introduced.

This means that the seats of a constituency are distributed proportionally to the total number of votes that the candidates of each list receive. This system is intended to enable the representation of all political powers which play a particular role in society. Proportional representation implies that political parties draw up lists of candidates all aiming to implement a common platform. Before 1919, Luxembourg used a majority voting system, meaning that the candidates who received the most votes in an election won the available seats. This explains why many candidates ran independently from any party even though the first modern political parties had already emerged in Luxembourg as early as 1902.

Quatre circonscriptions électorales Vier Wahlbezirke

Four constituencies Each of Luxembourg’s cantons elected its own deputies until 1919, when the cantons were grouped together to form a total of four constituencies. That year, it was 22

decided that there would be one deputy per 5,500 inhabitants in each constituency. The number of seats in parliament would therefore change over time, totalling 48 in 1919 and rising to 64 by 1983. In 1988, the number of seats per constituency was permanently fixed: 23 for the southern constituency, 21 for the centre constituency, 9 for the northern constituency and 7 for the eastern constituency, amounting to a total of 60 seats.

Until 1956, deputies were elected for six-year terms, with elections being held every three years in two of the four constituencies each time. This meant that half of the Chamber of Deputies was re-elected every three years. Today, the entire Chamber is re-elected every five years.

The borders of the constituencies were not drawn at random, since the socioeconomic composition of the electorate can have a significant impact on election results. For instance, to balance out the votes of the working-class majority in the canton of Esch-sur-Alzette, the deputies decided in 1919 to add the rural and agricultural canton of Capellen to the southern constituency.

Voter : du privilège à l’obligation Vom Recht zur Pflicht zu wählen

Voting — from right to obligation In Luxembourg, all those eligible to vote are also obliged to do so, a peculiarity unique to only a few countries in the world and the result of low election turnout — a problem which had already existed in Luxembourg prior to 1919. The law of 1919 stipulated a fine of 1 to 25 francs for failing to vote without good reason.

Today, these penalties can technically range from 100 to 1,000 euros. In 1924, an exception was made for people at the age of 70 or above. This age limit was raised to 75 in 2003. However, the law has seldom been put into practice since 1964 and those who choose not to vote no longer need anticipate legal proceedings or a fine.

Pursuant to the law of 1919, particular groups were still barred from voting: people who had been convicted of certain crimes or misdemeanours — even after they had served their sentences — as well as prostitutes, husbands who had been convicted of infidelity, people involved in bankruptcy proceedings and people who received social welfare. Most of these restrictions have since been lifted. Today, only people who have explicitly lost their voting rights on the grounds of a court decision and adults under guardianship are excluded.

23

Nouveaux groupes électoraux Neue Wählergruppen

New electoral groups Le suffrage universel – et maintenant ?

Das allgemeine Wahlrecht – und nun?

Universal suffrage — what next?

The sovereignty of the people which was achieved through universal suffrage has afforded all Luxembourgers the opportunity to take part in political life since 1919. It wasn’t only women who gained the right to vote in 1919. Poor men, too, in particular farmers and workers, could cast a ballot for the first time.

Yet the inclusion of these three politically relevant segments of the population was not the solution to all their problems — women, workers and farmers found it necessary to continue using other means to voice their demands and represent their interests. Subsequent to 1919, the demands of the working class were primarily defended by the Socialist Workers’ Party as well as the Communist Party, even if the latter was less successful in elections. In addition, the workers’ movement unionised. The farmers, whom the Party of the Right viewed as an integral part of its voter base, banded together in associations to more effectively assert their demands. By contrast, although they had gained the right to vote, women more or less disappeared from the political stage by the 1930s and the parties stopped nominating women candidates almost entirely for about thirty years.

24

Les femmes : les grandes absentes du débat politique Die Frauen: die großen Abwesenden der politischen Debatte

Women: the notable absentee in the political debate In 1919, women took part in the elections for the first time. Some who were already active in political parties or feminist associations even ran for office, but only one woman was elected: Marguerite Thomas-Clément, who held a seat in the Chamber of Deputies on and off until 1931. It wasn’t until 34 years later that another woman held a political post, when Astrid Lulling was elected as Luxembourg’s second woman deputy in 1965. In 1967, Madeleine Frieden-Kinnen became the first woman to join the government.

In the 1920s, a number of women activists drew up party lists with equal numbers of men and women or even exclusively women, but they were not met with any notable success. Finally, in the 1960s and 1970s, a resurgence in the women’s movement gradually led to a change in politics. The women’s movement formed new associations and organisations and, after numerous demonstrations and lots of political action, succeeded in pushing through major legal amendments regarding women’s position in society. However, despite the fact that more women have become involved in politics since the 1970s, and that party election lists must include at least 40% women and 40% men since a legal change in 2016, women are still widely underrepresented in Luxembourg’s political scene. As of 2019, only 15 of the 60 deputies were women.

L’essor du mouvement ouvrier Der Aufschwung der Arbeiterbewegung

The rise of the workers’ movement In the 19th century, a growing working class emerged in Luxembourg. As universal suffrage was being established in the interwar period, a workers’ movement began to take shape. The free trade unions had close ties with the socialist party and the Christian trade unions played an active role in the Christian social party. Starting in the 1920s and 1930s, many Luxembourgers worked in the iron and steel industry, which meant that the working class became a very important group of voters for the parties to contend for. Workers were regularly elected and re-elected to the Chamber of Deputies.

Although it was represented in politics, the working class, which was combatting poor conditions at work as well as low wages, had to demonstrate in great force for improvements in times of crisis. This allowed them to put pressure on politicians seeking a balance between the interests of workers and those of their employers.

As a result, in the 1930s, a social model emerged based on open dialogue and un25

derstanding — employers and trade unions came together with the government on a regular basis to seek solutions to social issues. The Chamber of Deputies was not directly involved in these “tripartite” meetings, which was institutionalised in the 1970s. Despite the fact that the deputies should really have had more deciding power as the elected representatives of the people, their role in these proceedings was limited to approving the tripartite agreements.

Les intérêts agricoles à la Chambre Die Bauerninteressen in der Kammer

Farmers’ interests represented in the Chamber Peasant farmers made up the other group which had newly attained the right to vote. From farmhands and servants to the owners of family-run agricultural operations, they represented probably the most important group of voters for the Party of the Right, which had explicitly set its sights on the farming population and continued to do so for a long time. The farmers’ interests differed from those of the working class — for instance, the eight-hour working day was not adopted in agriculture straight away. However, the farmers also formed associations and organisations in the 1920s and 1930s. Since then, an important political issue has been state intervention in the agricultural sector, including land consolidation, modernisation of production methods, support for agricultural sale and distribution cooperatives, etc. All these aspects, which are of vital importance in agriculture, shaped the politics of the 20th century.

L’éducation citoyenne : condition préalable ou conséquence du suffrage universel ?

Bürgerkunde: Voraussetzung oder Folge des allgemeinen Wahlrechts?

Which comes first: civic education or universal suffrage?

In the course of the 19th century, the political incumbents rejected an extension of the right to vote on the grounds that the people would not be able to handle such great responsibility due to their lack of education. The members of parliament saw the introduction of compulsory schooling until the age of 12 in 1881 and the education reform of 1912 as a step towards involving a greater part of the population in politics in the long run. While some politicians truly strove to provide the people with a higher level of education in hopes of a more democratic society, others took advantage of the people’s lack of education as a pretext to refuse them their political rights. After all, a well-educated population often stands up more vehemently for the preservation of its rights.

26

Following the introduction of universal suffrage in 1919, civic education once again became a central issue. Luxembourg’s political system has since been handled with greater emphasis in school textbooks. The political education of the country’s citizens was at the forefront of education policy, though back then — as is still often the case today — many people believed that this education did not go far enough.

On the other hand, lessons in school can sometimes be considered a hindrance.

For a long while, the content of these lessons was different for boys and girls, undoubtedly contributing to the exclusion of women from political life. It wasn’t until 1968 that secondary schools adopted a uniform curriculum.

27

Biographies Marguerite Mongenast-Servais (1882-1925) „So the motto goes: Equality, In school and later in our family.

We do our work and pay our dues, And so our rights we therefore choose.”

Marguerite Mongenast-Servais was the daughter of engineer and deputy Émile Servais, a proponent of progressive ideas. She was tirelessly committed to the efforts of the Socialist Workers’ Party and various other organisations, including the Action républicaine. While she believed that young women should be better prepared for their future roles as homemakers, wives and mothers, she also advocated for them to know their rights and duties as working women and citizens.

In 1918, Mongenast-Servais was a driving force in collecting signatures petitioning for women’s suffrage. Upon its introduction in 1919, Marguerite Mongenast-Servais wrote: “Now we, too, are joining the women in developed countries as citizens in the truest sense of the word. [...] But what does this mean economically?

Will women receive the same wage for doing the same work as men? Here, the old tune is sure to once again ring true: women don’t count! But they do! Women will prove that they count, that humanity can no longer ignore them, neither now nor in the future.”

Marguerite Thomas-Clement (1886-1979) „Allow women to decide for themselves whether they are able to continue their work as married women or if marriage should oblige them to give it up.”

Marguerite Thomas-Clement was the only one of three women candidates for the Socialist Workers’ Party who was elected to the Chamber in the 1919 elections, making her the first woman to hold a seat in Luxembourg’s parliament. Later, she was also the first woman deputy mayor of Luxembourg City, serving for several years.

In the Chamber of Deputies, Marguerite Thomas-Clement was particularly concerned with labour and financial politics, but she also engaged in the political power struggle. Additionally, she was a proponent of women’s rights, since she believed women belonged to the most exploited and oppressed members of society. One of her first initiatives was to propose legislation on legal and economic gender equality, because despite their newly gained suffrage, women remained 28

at a legal disadvantage in other domains. On account of her own experience as a teacher, she fought against the rule prohibiting married women from working as public servants.

Marguerite Thomas-Clement later joined the Radical Socialist Party, which was more liberal than the Socialist Workers’ Party. She was not re-elected to the Chamber in the 1931 elections.

Catherine Schleimer-Kill “The right to vote fell into women’s laps like a prematurely ripe fruit that they looked at with an apprehensive curiosity, at first not knowing what to do with it.”

In 1919, Catherine Schleimer-Kill wrote several newspaper articles encouraging women to take an interest in the upcoming election, where they would have the opportunity to cast a ballot for the first time. The home economics teacher ran herself as a candidate for the Catholic Party of the Right, but she lost the vote. Since she was also a proponent of legal equality for married women, she quickly parted ways with her more conservative party.

In the 1928 local elections, Catherine Schleimer-Kill ventured to present a party list in Esch-sur-Alzette consisting of only women. Her daring was rewarded, and she won a seat on the municipal council! In addition to her political activities, she also founded the organisation Action féminine, which advocated for the improved education of girls and for married women’s right to pursue an occupation.

Later, Catherine Schleimer-Kill described the right to vote as a gift whose value women would only come to recognise over time. “What acts as the driving force for women’s suffrage in other countries can be seen here in Luxembourg as the result of this suffrage. Women are joining forces to [...] draw attention to their other demands — demands which are a normal part of natural justice, mind you.”

Lily Krier-Becker (1898-1981) „Women didn’t care about politics back then. The right to vote only fell into their laps because people wanted to save the dynasty.”

During the turbulent demonstration of 13 August 1919, one newspaper noted how the young saleswoman’s incendiary words inspired workers to band together.

It was probably the first time in Luxembourg that a woman had spoken publicly before such a large crowd. Nevertheless, Lily Becker was not as interested in women’s rights themselves as she was in the leftist workers’ movement, for which

29

she also eventually worked as a trade union secretary. She later viewed women’s suffrage as a simple tactical manoeuvre aimed at saving the monarchy.

Despite her radical rhetoric and her acerbic writing, she soon took a more reformist position. In addition to writing articles for the daily press, she also produced socialist flyers and became involved in the “fight for freedom” during the Spanish Civil War. In 1925, she married trade unionist Pierre Krier and in 1927, she became the co-founder of the social-democratic aid organisation Foyer de la Femme, which, beyond defending women’s interests in society, organised training exercises and holiday activities for its members.

Lily Krier-Becker left the Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party (LSAP) in 1970 in favour of Astrid Lulling’s Social Democratic Party (SdP), active from 1971 to 1984.

Jean Schortgen (1880-1918) “I will remain loyal to the principles on the grounds of which my constituents sent me to the Chamber: to stand up for the poor and disinherited.”

The archetype of a Luxembourger worker, Jean Schortgen began working in agriculture at the age of thirteen before eventually becoming a steelworker and miner.

As a young man, he joined the Social Democratic Party, where he soon joined the ranks of the party leadership. Shortly before the outbreak of World War I in 1914, during the time of census suffrage, Schortgen won a seat as a deputy, thus becoming the first worker to enter parliament. However, this was only made possible through the support of liberal voters.

More than anything else, Schortgen was an advocate for the working class. Against the backdrop of the First World War, which resulted in food shortages, he brought attention to the unacceptable situation of the starving population and emphasised his desire to stand up for the poor, as “the rich do not need anyone to stand up for them; thus far, they have always managed to help themselves”.

Schortgen died in a mining accident on 1 May 1918.

30

Jean-Pierre Bausch (1891-1935) “The miners’ grievances must be heard and their demands met.”

The miner Jean-Pierre Bausch was initially active in trade unions and took part in the major strikes of 1917, 1921 and 1924. He was elected to the Rumelange municipal council in 1924, and it didn’t take long for the spirited young politician to rise to the position of mayor, backed by a social-liberal coalition. In 1928, he took the leap to the Chamber of Deputies, where he primarily concerned himself with giving a voice to the “little people” and to “his” municipality.

Bausch’s personal life goes to show that the right to vote alone hardly improved the miners’ situation — in 1927, his 14-year-old son suffered a serious accident in the mines. In 1933, Bausch spoke out in the Chamber of Deputies: “Miners can retire at age 65, yet barely 1 percent of them survive that long. [...] Is it mere happenstance that working-class miners are so victimised and exploited, or is it systematic?” Moreover, he alleged that miners’ wages had plummeted within only a few decades. Jean-Pierre Bausch eventually lost his own life in a mining accident in 1935. Just one year later, the first collective agreement for miners was signed

Pierre Krier (1885-1947) „After this war [...] we cannot accept any more petty social reforms intended to sedate us.”

Pierre Krier was first elected to parliament in 1918. A train driver and socialist politician, his interests originally lay in the trade union movement. He was appointed chair of the newly created Luxembourg Federation of Miners, Metal, and Industrial Workers (LBMIAV) which eventually became today’s Onofhängege Gewerkschaftsbond Lëtzebuerg (OGB-L), or the Independent Luxembourg Trade Union Confederation. In 1925, he married trade union secretary Lily Becker. Together with other party members, the political realist led the transition from the Socialist Party to the Workers’ Party. In the Thirties, he fought within the party against joint activities with the Communist Party.

In 1937, the Workers’ Party took part in government for the first time in a coalition with the Party of the Right and Pierre Krier became Minister of Labour. Following the German troops’ invasion of Luxembourg in 1940, he fled to London. In exile, he began to grapple with the principles of the welfare state as envisioned by the British labour movement. In his post-war programme entitled “Social reconstruction in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg”, which he was unable to bring to fruition prior to his death in 1947, he addressed the issue of fundamental social reform: “Humanity must have returned to it [...] the natural and material riches which are its own and which it has created and fostered.”

31

Dominique Urbany (1903-1986) “The October Revolution had made a strong impression on us young workers and students. […] Ever since, the country of the Soviets had been for us a bastion of social progress, peace, socialism and freedom. History proved us right.”

The son of a miner, Dominique Urbany became involved at a young age with the Communist Party of Luxembourg (KPL) from its very beginning, when it split from the Socialist Workers’ Party in 1920. He was personally affected by the anti-Communist repression of the 1930s. In 1934, he and fellow party member Jean Kill were forced by the government to leave their posts as primary school teachers.

He also lost his seat in the Rumelange municipal council, which he had won in the local elections. This ban from politics contrasts with the political atmosphere in the first years after the Word War II when Urbany was elected as a member of parliament for the KPL before briefly serving as minister in the national unity government in 1946.

Urbany was a traditional pro-Moscow communist who attended numerous meetings of the Communist International while serving as general secretary of the KPL from 1935 onwards. Within the party, he ensured that this hard-line stance was not called into question.

Eugène Hoffmann (1886-1935) “We farmers have a right to state aid, because we farmers are the state; if we fail, the state fails.”

Eugène Hoffmann was a conservative and wealthy farmer from the town of Vichten. Farmers’ interests were particularly close to his heart and he was among the earliest campaigners for the creation of a chamber of agriculture.

In 1915, he was elected as a member of parliament for the Party of the Right. But the 1919 referendum on the economic future of the Grand Duchy created tension within the party. While the majority of its members were in favour of an economic union with Belgium, Hoffmann argued for a union with France and had no qualms about joining forces with left-wing liberals for a joint campaign. In 1925, Hoffmann helped bring down the Reuter government and left the Party of the Right to found the Independent Party of the Right, later the Party of Farmers and the Middle Class.

Up until his premature death in 1935, Hoffmann used his role as mayor and as a member of parliament to defend the interests of farmers and the north, to push for the farmers to organise, and to fight against rural depopulation. His Farmers’ 32

Party never really took root, but the farmers saw him as their representative in parliament and he was re-elected several times on the back of their votes.

Auguste Delaporte (1892-1960) “I will do my utmost [...] to defend the religious, patriotic and cantonal interests of the people.”

Auguste Delaporte’s father had already been a member of parliament, and Delaporte himself became its youngest member at the age of 26 in 1918. He was a wealthy farmer and trained agronomist from the village of Weiler, not far from Clervaux. As a member of parliament for the Party of the Right until 1937, he campaigned for practical improvements such as widening local roads and expanding education for farmers. He returned to parliament after the Second World War and remained there until 1954.

Like Eugène Hoffmann, Auguste Delaporte supported a union with France in the economic referendum of 1919. But, unlike his fellow parliamentarian, he toed the party line when his party subsequently implemented an economic union with Belgium as part of the governing coalition.

The political success of farmers like Auguste Delaporte shows what an important role they played in society at the time. While Delaporte himself was a wealthy farmer, he joined the ordinary farmers who had been newly elected to parliament in addressing the social problems affecting the agricultural sector. In doing so, he was representing the interests of his voters from the north.

Albert Dühr (1882-1937) “Today, with the international crisis leaving its mark everywhere we look, [...] agriculture forms the best and most secure foundation for the nation and [...] it is here that the happiest people can be found.”

Albert Dühr came from a family of farmers and winegrowers in the village of Ahn on the Moselle river. He served as a member of parliament multiple times between 1916 and 1934 and used this role to demand financial concessions for the wine sector, which had been hit hard by the crisis and had lost access to its traditional markets following the dissolution of the German Customs Union.

Dühr believed it was his duty as a deputy to represent his industry’s interests in parliament; he found loyal voters in the country’s Catholic labour associations.

But in 1934, he was the victim of a ruthless electoral campaign which focused on 33

issues of principle rather than on day-to-day concerns. The right accused the Socialist Workers’ Party of harbouring Communist tendencies; meanwhile, a year after Hitler had seized power in Germany, the left was accusing the Party of the Right of supporting fascist ideas. Dühr lost his seat in parliament as a result of this conflict.

Following his death in 1937, the newspaper Tageblatt asked whether someone like Dühr, “plain and simple in his manner”, could even be called a politician. But while it was the wealthy farmers who had set the agenda in parliament prior to 1919, Dühr and his straightforward character symbolised the political emancipation of the ordinary farmers and winegrowers.

34

Campagnes électorales Wahlkämpfe

Electoral campaigns Votez pour nous !

Wählen Sie uns!

Vote for us!

Parties take part in elections by presenting candidates and manifestos for voters to decide between. In essence, they present competing visions for the future. The parties try to draw attention to themselves with a range of different methods, such as posters and billboards, flyers, election meetings, booths at markets, etc. The electoral list system used in Luxembourg, known as panachage, gives each person multiple votes which they can award to a single party or divide between different candidates. This means that the individual candidates are keen to make their mark, since the voters are not just choosing between political values but can choose the specific people who they believe best represent these values.

But not just anything goes. For example, modern candidates are prohibited from buying potential voters food or drinks during an electoral campaign — while in the 19th century it was common for candidates to organise lavish feasts. It has also become commonplace for the parties to sign an agreement before an election, for instance to limit the number of large street posters or free gifts to potential voters. And since 2007, the law on party funding has required political parties to ensure transparency regarding the origin of the funds they use during electoral campaigns.

35

Les partis politiques Die politischen Parteien

The political parties Before universal suffrage was introduced in 1919, the political parties had less of a presence than they do today. Most candidates stood for election independently.

But politicians with similar views gradually joined forces so that they could better represent their views in the Chamber of Deputies and campaign for election as a group. This resulted in the founding of the Social Democratic Party in 1902, the Liberal League in 1904, and the Catholic-oriented Party of the Right in 1914.

Since 1919, the system of party list proportional representation has encouraged the formation of parties, as independent candidates no longer have a chance of winning. The parties, in turn, form coalitions with each other to give the government a majority, since it is very rare for a single party to hold more than 50% of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies. The three major parties in government since 1919 have traditionally been the Christian Social People’s Party (CSV), the Socialist Workers’ Party (LSAP) and the Democratic Party (DP). The Green Party (Déi Gréng) was founded in the 1980s and first formed part of the government in 2013. Other, smaller parties also have a presence in the Chamber of Deputies or have done in the past, although they sometimes only hold one or two seats. The parties mentioned above currently all hold seats in the Chamber of Deputies along with the Alternative Democratic Reform Party (ADR), the Left (Déi Lénk) and the Pirate Party. There are other parties which also take part in elections but rarely win a seat.

36

Bureau électoral

Electoral office

Wahlbüro

Les élections Die Wahlen

The elections In a democracy, the voting process itself and the counting of the votes are crucial. Everyone who is entitled to vote must have the opportunity to do so, and their votes must be taken into account. The legal framework for this process is laid down in the constitution and governed by a number of laws. For example, candidates and their close relatives are not allowed to work at a polling station or to help count the votes — nor are any other elected political representatives.

The counting process must occur publicly, and anyone who wishes to may attend in person as a witness.

Polling stations in Luxembourg are open from 8.00am to 2.00pm on the Sunday of the election. Voting is compulsory for all adult citizens until the age of 75. They must cast their ballot in secret and in person — nobody can vote on anyone else’s behalf. Only people who need support for specific health reasons may have someone accompany them into the voting booth. In recent years, more and more people have been submitting a postal vote in advance.

37

Textes dans les cabines électorales Texte in den Wahlkabinen

Texts in the voting booths Voter pour un parti ou pour des personnes ?

Eine Partei oder Personen wählen?

Voting for a party or for individual candidates?

The electoral system in Luxembourg gives voters two different options. They can choose to give one party all their votes by marking this party with an “X” on the ballot paper, or they can distribute their votes between individual candidates belonging to different parties. The choice between these two methods can have a major impact on the outcome of the election!

What is more important to you? The parties’ manifestos, their visions for the country’s future? Or the abilities and personalities of the individual candidates?

How do you choose who to put your trust in?

Système majoritaire ou proportionnel ?

Mehrheits- oder Verhältniswahlrecht?

Majority voting or proportional representation?

Although it is possible to vote for individual candidates, the electoral system used in Luxembourg distributes seats based on the total number of votes received by each party. This means it is almost impossible for a single party to win an absolute majority in parliament, making a coalition necessary to form a government. In other countries such as the USA, the UK or France, the person with the most votes in each constituency wins the seat. In other words, the winner takes it all. In these countries, there are often just two parties which shape national politics and alternate between holding an absolute majority and forming the opposition.

Obligation de vote Wahlpflicht

Compulsory voting Voting is compulsory for all adult citizens of Luxembourg up to the age of 75.

They must either visit the polling station on the Sunday of the election or submit a postal vote in advance — regardless of whether they are interested in politics or not! Only a handful of other countries (such as Belgium) make voting compulsory.

This system has a significant effect on the outcome of elections. It also strengthens the legitimacy and representativeness of the winning candidates. Firstly, nobody can claim that political decisions have nothing to do with them because they didn’t elect the decision makers. Secondly, the election results don’t depend on the number of people that each party can convince to turn out and vote.

38

What do you think about compulsory voting? Is it a good idea, or would it be better to let people decide for themselves whether or not they want to have a say in an election?

Comment voter ?

Wie wird gewählt?

How does voting work?

That’s enough theory — let’s get down to business. Try out the system for yourself!

You received voting instructions together with your polling card. Read through these instructions carefully. Mark your chosen party with an “X” or, alternatively, mark multiple individual candidates belonging to one or more parties. Make sure you don’t exceed the allotted number of votes.

Élections communales Kommunalwahlen

Local elections The municipality is the smallest unit within the political system, and the one where voters have the most direct influence. Each of Luxembourg’s 102 municipalities elects the members of its municipal council every six years. The number of members on a council is based on the number of local inhabitants. The smallest municipalities, with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants, each elect 7 members. The largest, Luxembourg City, elects 27. The members of each council then elect the mayor and aldermen (deputy mayors), who are responsible for the day-to-day business of the municipality.

Voting is compulsory in local elections just like all other elections in Luxembourg.

But unlike in the national elections, foreign citizens who have lived in the Grand Duchy for at least five years can also request to be added to the electoral register.

Voting is then compulsory for them, too. They can also choose to run for election themselves.

Two different electoral systems are used for the local elections. Municipalities with fewer than 3,000 inhabitants use the relative majority system, where candidates stand for election individually and the candidate who wins the most votes is elected. Municipalities with more than 3,000 inhabitants use proportional representation, following the same procedures as the parliamentary elections.

39

Élections européennes Europawahlen

European elections Luxembourg has elected six representatives to the European Parliament every five years since 1979. All EU citizens can vote in these elections, regardless of their nationality. They can decide whether they would rather vote in the European elections in Luxembourg or in their home country.

Until 2009, the European elections were held on the same day as the national parliamentary elections. Most of the top candidates for the major national parties used to run in the European elections, too — not that they necessarily wanted a seat in the European Parliament. It was more about testing their popularity on a national level beyond the limits of their own constituencies. Since the early general election in 2013, the elections for the Chamber of Deputies and the European Parliament no longer take place in the same year, but some politicians still stand in both elections.

Many important issues are decided at the European level, and its influence on Luxembourg’s politics has grown over time. But European elections still don’t seem to interest the general public as much as local and parliamentary elections.

The campaign for the European elections is shorter, there are fewer debates and events, and the candidates often have a lower profile than those who run for the national parliament.

Participation Wahlbeteiligung

Election turnout While voter turnout at elections is much higher here than in countries without compulsory voting, there are still people in Luxembourg who could and should vote but choose not to.

For example, in the 2018 parliamentary elections, around 260,000 eligible voters were on the electoral register but only 89.6% of these cast a ballot. And of those 233,000 ballot papers, around 7,000 were left blank. Another 9,800 ballot papers were filled out but were invalid, either because the voters made more crosses than allowed, or because they marked the paper in another way which is not permitted.

All in all, this means that only 216,177 of the 259,887 eligible voters (83%) cast a valid vote.

40

While blank and invalid ballot papers don’t affect the outcome in terms of the distribution of seats, voters who deliberately cast a blank ballot are still making a political statement. They are saying that none of the parties or candidates lines up with their political views — that they don’t feel represented by the political status quo.

Luxembourg had 602,005 inhabitants as of 1 January 2018, of whom 47.9% did not have Luxembourgish nationality. This explains why the electoral register only contains 53.6% of the country’s adult population. The remaining hundreds of thousands of residents are ineligible to vote. Considering the thousands of eligible voters who didn’t turn out, or who cast a blank or invalid ballot, this means that only 44.5% of the adult population of Luxembourg voted in the parliamentary elections on 14 October 2018 — even though voting is compulsory!

These figures have led some commentators to ask how much legitimacy the elected representatives really have. Since the 1980s, there have been regular calls to allow foreigners to vote in the national elections and to reduce the voting age to 16. At the referendum of 2015 however, Luxembourg’s voters rejected both proposals with a majority of 80%.

Référendums nationaux et communaux Nationale und kommunale Referenden

National and local referendums In addition to the elections for the Chamber of Deputies and the European Parliament every five years, as well as the municipal council elections which take place every six years, referendums on a specific issue are sometimes held. There have been four national referendums to date: one in 1919 on the monarchy and a future economic union, one in 1937 on a new Law for the Defence of Political and Social Order (dubbed the “muzzle law”), one in 2005 on the European Constitution, and one in 2015 primarily on an expansion of voting rights. At the time this exhibit was created (August 2019), the Chamber of Deputies was discussing the possibility of holding a referendum on the ongoing process of constitutional reform.

Referendums are more common in the municipalities. Following a decision by the municipal council or an initiative by local residents, they are sometimes used as a way to approve particular building projects or decide whether a state project should be carried out on municipal land, for example. It is not compulsory to hold local referendums. The outcome of a referendum is only binding when voters are deciding on plans to merge multiple municipalities.

41

Poser sa candidature Zur Wahl antreten

Running for election The political parties do their best to present full lists of candidates at election time, because the electoral system disadvantages political groups which are unable to find enough candidates for all the seats available in a constituency. Accordingly, 547 candidates ran for just 60 seats in the 2018 parliamentary elections. Since these elections, it has been compulsory for every list in national or European elections to include at least 40% men and 40% women in order to encourage gender parity in politics. Parties which do not comply with this requirement must pay a fine.

To run for election, candidates must meet the same requirements as voters. This means that all adult citizens have the opportunity to run for election. They can stand as a candidate for an existing party or they can try to find enough candidates to create a new party with its own list. Candidates can also run for election as independents.

But why bother running for election at all, when it’s clear that most candidates don’t get elected? In fact, there are many different reasons. Candidates may want to bring about change, to get involved and take on responsibility, to advance a cause that is close to their heart, or to represent their own village or municipality on a national level. It may even be a question of personal ambition or a desire for influence. Of course, they should also be committed to their party’s manifesto.

The parties sometimes have trouble finding candidates for their lists. This isn’t just because electoral campaigns are a lot of hard work. It’s also to do with the negative image of politics, which is sometimes seen as a cutthroat world full of ambitious opportunists only looking out for themselves.

But that doesn’t change the fact that democracy needs ordinary people to get involved in order for it to survive. To ensure a diversity of political opinions in the public eye, we need people to represent these opinions. Without the thousands of candidates who have got involved in politics since 1919, our democracy would be dead

42

Poser sa candidature Zur Wahl antreten

Democracy in danger over the years Over the last century, parliamentary democracy has faced a number of threats. Support for the major antidemocratic ideologies reached a peak in the 1930s. Fascist and even Nazi beliefs became widespread in Luxembourg. Other schools of thought wanted to replace representative democracy with a form of government based on corporatism, where elections would be abolished, and people would participate in politics by joining various compulsory professional associations.

In the 1930s, there was also unease over the growing profile of the Communist Party, which was suspected of being antidemocratic.

Some politicians tried to have the party banned — with blatant disregard for the rules on freedom of expression. In 1937, the government held a referendum on what was commonly dubbed the “muzzle law”, officially the Law for the Defence of Political and Social Order. This would have made it possible to ban certain political groups such as, of course, the Communist Party. The law was rejected by 50.6% of voters, who disagreed with this authoritarian and antidemocratic step.

During the country’s occupation by Nazi Germany from 1940 to 1944, all democratic institutions in the Grand Duchy were abolished.

The Grand Duchess and the government went into exile, only returning after the war ended in 1945. The parties which had existed before the war re-formed with different names and a democratic election was held again in October 1945. After their experiences of occupation, the people of Luxembourg stood more firmly than ever on the side of parliamentary democracy.

43

The Chamber of Deputies La Chambre des Députés Die Abgeordnetenkammer

The Chamber of Deputies The 60 members of the Chamber of Deputies are elected every five years by secret ballot in a direct and general election. After the election, the Grand Duke consults all of the political parties before selecting a person to be responsible for forming a government. The ministers are then also appointed by the Grand Duke. They do not necessarily have to be elected representatives. However, the government must have a majority in the Chamber of Deputies. Since 1919, the political parties have been responsible for forming a government and the Grand Duke’s role has been purely a representative one. This means that the leading candidates don’t run for election to parliament in order to win a seat for themselves, but in order to form a government.

The parties represented in the Chamber of Deputies form coalitions with one another to give the government a majority, and they select the people who will make up the government. A coalition needs at least 31 deputies to achieve this majority. The political movements and groups which aren’t part of the government coalition form the opposition.

The parliament plays a key role in democracy because it is the deputies who are responsible for passing laws. In principle, every deputy 44

has the right to propose new laws. In practice, most laws are based on bills drafted by the government — this is how it implements its political programme. The Chamber of Deputies monitors the government’s work, can set up investigative committees, and is responsible for approving the government’s budget each year. Without this approval, the government would be unable to take action. The deputies also debate current political issues in the Chamber as well as taking part in international activities.

In a state such as Luxembourg which is based on the rule of law, any citizens who believe that the law has been violated can choose to assert their rights in court. This division between the legislature (parliament), the executive (the government) and the judiciary (the courts) is known as the separation of powers and it is the basic principle underlying modern democracy.

La langue de la Chambre Die Sprache der Abgeordneten

The language of the deputies Today, the deputies and ministers speak Luxembourgish in the Chamber of Deputies. But this wasn’t always the case. While a handful of speeches were held in Luxembourgish in 1848, the trend quickly reverted back to French and German.

The social democrat Caspar Mathias Spoo broke with tradition as a new deputy in 1896 by giving his inaugural speech in Luxembourgish, the language of the people. The other deputies reacted by holding a vote in which the overwhelming majority rejected the use of Luxembourgish in the Chamber. Only after 1945 did the language begin to gain importance — including in electoral campaigns. From the 1970s onwards, more and more deputies spoke Luxembourgish in the Chamber. It’s now impossible to imagine the debates there being held in any other language.

In 1984, the new Languages Law established Luxembourgish as the national language. French, German and Luxembourgish continue to be used as administrative languages. A constitutional reform is currently being debated which would enshrine Luxembourgish in the constitution as the national language. But the country’s laws are written in French, the language of its legal system.

45

Le métier de parlementaire Die Abgeordnetentätigkeit

The work of a deputy In Luxembourg, holding a seat in the Chamber of Deputies is not seen as a fulltime job. Deputies who also work elsewhere are entitled to twenty hours per week of political leave to focus on their parliamentary duties. Many deputies also hold office on a municipal level and receive additional political leave for this. Civil servants and other state employees, meanwhile, do have to give up their job while they are in parliament in order to preserve the separation of powers. Nevertheless, it isn’t uncommon for deputies to continue working another job after they are elected. All deputies receive a monthly allowance and are also paid for the sessions they attend. The reason for this is to make sure that not only the wealthy can afford to hold a seat in parliament. It allows representatives who depend on their salary to carry out their political work completely independently, since members of parliament must be incorruptible — they are prohibited from accepting money or other forms of payment from lobbyists.

Parliamentary work doesn’t just take place in the meetings of the Chamber of Deputies, but above all in the sessions of the committees. This is where new laws are discussed and prepared. The role of deputy therefore also involves work behind the scenes, something which the general public often isn’t aware of. The political factions represented in parliament receive financial support based on the number of seats they hold, which allows them to employ parliamentary assistants to support the deputies in their work. Around one hundred people (as of 2019) work in the administration of the Chamber of Deputies to help ensure that the democratic process runs smoothly.

Every deputy can address oral or written questions and enquiries to the government, which is obliged to answer them.

Le métier de parlementaire Die Abgeordnetentätigkeit

The Chamber and the people Although elections only take place once every five years, citizens today have many other opportunities to address their ideas to parliament.

Any individual or group of individuals can submit a petition directly to the Chamber of Deputies. In addition to this general right, there is also a specific form of public petition which has become an important tool in recent years for the people to put forward their demands. Any petition which adheres to the ethical rules 46

and is in the public and national interest will be published on the website of the Chamber of Deputies and can be signed online or on paper by anyone aged 15 or above. If the petition is signed by more than 4,500 people within six weeks, it will be discussed in a debate broadcast by Luxembourg’s parliamentary channel Chamber TV. The petitions cover a whole range of different issues. Some are of general interest, while others only concern a small group of people.

Representatives of associations and other groups regularly visit the Chamber of Deputies to attend hearings on specific topics. Since 2008, there is also a Youth Parliament, whose members are aged between 14 and 24 and meet on a regular basis. The resolutions passed by the Youth Parliament are subsequently presented to the Chamber of Deputies.

47

Participation citoyenne alternative Alternative BĂźrgerbeteiligung

Alternative ways to participate Participation citoyenne BĂźrgerbeteiligung

Civic participation Political debates take place outside of parliament, too. Social, economic and political demands are expressed in many different ways.

Demonstrations by trade unions, associations, non-governmental organisations, youth groups, etc. have shaped the country’s history since 1919. From simple poster campaigns to strikes, the people make full use of the opportunities available to them to put pressure on the government and the Chamber of Deputies. Political demands are also sometimes expressed at social events such as the Migration Festival. For the last thirty years or so, this form of grassroots participation has been strengthened at the municipal level in particular.

Many different groups within society try to influence politics. The five professional chambers (Chamber of Employees, Chamber of Civil Servants and Public Employees, Chamber of Commerce, Chamber of Trades and Chamber of Agriculture) are made up of elected members of each professional group. The government must seek the opinion of these professional chambers before it can pass certain laws. And, as in neighbouring countries, interest groups in Luxembourg often 48

make their own proposals for amendments to the law. Thus, private businesses, non-governmental organisations, trade unions and ordinary people all try to influence politics outside of election campaigns — be it through written statements or in direct conversation with ministers and deputies.

49

Fin de l’exposition Ende der Ausstellung

End of the exhibition La presse Die Presse

The written press experienced an unprecedented boom in the 19th century. From 1848 onwards, all schools of political thought — and later all parties — had their own newspapers which they could use to reach potential voters directly. Society in Luxembourg was shaped by these alliances between the press and the parties for much longer than in other countries. The largest daily newspaper in the country, the Luxemburger Wort, is aligned with Christian social values and is owned by the Catholic Church. The Escher Tageblatt has been the most important mouthpiece of the socialist organisations since it was purchased by the free trade unions in 1927, and the Lëtzebuerger Journal became the major liberal newspaper following the disappearance of the Luxemburger Zeitung during the Second World War. The Zeitung vum Lëtzebuerger Vollek (known as the Volksstimme prior to 1945) is the newspaper of the Communist Party, which played an important role in politics from 1945 to 1990. The newspaper GréngeSpoun, founded in 1988 and renamed Woxx in 2000, had longstanding ties to the Greens but has since distanced itself from the party.

In the last twenty or so years, the print media have been moving away from the parties with which they were historically associated.

Newspapers now want to be seen as politically neutral media.

50

The influence of the print media in Luxembourg has been waning ever since radio took off in the years after 1945, followed by television in the 1970s and then the internet and social media. Growing numbers of people now get most of their news, if not all of it, online — from news websites as well as social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc.).

Les défis de la démocratie aujourd’hui Die Herausforderungen der Demokratie heute

The challenges to democracy today A century after universal suffrage was introduced, democracy is facing a range of challenges. In some countries, even within the European Union, political representatives are treating the opposition with contempt and trampling the separation of powers. Right-wing and left-wing populism around the world is a sign that voters are rejecting the political class. The establishment has fallen into disrepute. Fewer and fewer people are involved in political parties. Voting behaviour is less predictable than in the past. The major parties that shaped the face of parliamentary representation in Western Europe for almost a century — the Christian social and social democratic people’s parties — are losing ground to new political groupings across the spectrum.

Politics is moving faster than ever, and politicians are responding faster to surveys and comments on social media. Immediacy seems to be expected, and it comes at the cost of fundamental ideological values and political substance as individuals exploit it to try and boost their own position. Politics sometimes seems more like show business. Social movements such as the Indignados, Occupy Wall Street, the gilets jaunes (yellow vests) and Fridays for Future are examples of new forms of political protest which prefer to use modern technologies instead of leaving the campaigning work to traditional political organisations such as parties or trade unions. The internet and social networks certainly allow many people to address politicians more directly than in the past, as well as creating a vast forum for discussion, but they also make it possible to manipulate voters much more ef51

fectively than before. This was particularly true of the US presidential elections in 2016 and the Brexit referendum in the UK — we now know that both foreign powers and domestic lobby groups manipulated public opinion to achieve the outcome they wanted.

Un système en évolution Ein sich weiterentwickelndes System

A constantly evolving system Luxembourg’s electoral system has been the subject of ongoing debate ever since 1919. Numerous changes have been proposed, and some of them have been implemented. For instance, the voting age has been reduced from 21 to 18, the right to vote has been extended to groups who didn’t have it in 1919, and non-citizens can now vote in local and European elections.

Political parties, civil society groups and university researchers have continued to put forward proposals in recent years, mostly as part of the debate over a potential constitutional reform. They have proposed abolishing the four constituencies, for example, or banning individuals from serving as both a deputy and a mayor at the same time or reforming the rules on the voting system of panachage. But it will be difficult to find a majority of deputies in favour of any of the proposed changes to the system, as all of the parties hold different points of view.

There are also conflicting opinions on whether it is necessary to extend the right to vote once again. The proposals to allow non-citizens to vote in parliamentary elections and to lower the voting age to 16 were rejected by a large majority in the 2015 referendum. But politicians and civil society groups are still considering other ways to make the nation’s voting base more representative.

52

Un droit mal-aimé ?

Ein wenig geliebtes Recht?

An unpopular right?

Since 1948, universal suffrage has been enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.” (Article 21) While some Europeans seem to be tired of democracy, people around the world are taking to the streets to defend their democratic rights.

Alone in recent years, millions of people around the globe have taken part in protests, for instance as part of the Arab Spring as well as in Thailand, Algeria, Hong Kong, Turkey, Russia and elsewhere.

Many people are forced to leave their countries even today because they dared to express political views which are not tolerated by their government.

What then is at the root of this democratic fatigue in Luxembourg and other European countries? Has our hard-won right to vote — and universal suffrage in particular — simply become a historical achievement which we no longer appreciate?

53

www.wielewatmirsinn.lu

54