Alsatian Workers and Peasants Party
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Alsatian Workers and Peasants Party Elsässische Arbeiter- und Bauernpartei | |
|---|---|
| Leader | Charles Hueber, Jean-Pierre Mourer |
| Founded | October 1929 |
| Dissolved | July 1939 |
| Split from | French Communist Party |
| Merged into | Landespartei |
| Newspaper | Die Neue Welt |
| Membership (1932) | 1,300 |
| Ideology | Communism Alsatian autonomism |
| International affiliation | International Communist Opposition (–1934) |
| Coalition | Volksfront |
| National Assembly | 1 / 607 |
The Alsatian Workers and Peasants Party (German: Elsässische Arbeiter- und Bauernpartei; French: Parti alsacien ouvrier et paysan), initially the Opposition Communist Party of Alsace-Lorraine (German: Kommunistische Partei-Opposition, abbreviated KPO; French: Parti communiste d'opposition d'Alsace-Lorraine), was a political party in Alsace-Lorraine. The party was led by Jean-Pierre Mourer and Charles Hueber. The party was founded in late October 1929[1] and was a member of the International Communist Opposition[2] until it was expelled from that organisation in 1934 and gradually moved towards pro-Nazi positions.[1]
The party emerged from a split in the Alsatian federation of the French Communist Party (PCF). The split had been preceded by an unorthodox coalition in the Strasbourg municipal elections of May 1929 in which local communists had formed an alliance with clerical and autonomist forces. In a June 1929 municipal by-election, the group around Charles Hueber supported a right-wing autonomist candidate against an official PCF candidate.[1] The Strasbourg communists had also revived the newspaper Die Neue Welt, which had been closed down in 1923, as an alternative to l'Humanité d'Alsace-Lorraine. The expulsions from the PCF came two weeks after the revival of Die Neue Welt.[2]
In October 1929, the expelled group around Hueber and Mourer founded the Opposition Communist Party. The new party had at the time of its foundation, the mayor of Strasbourg, Charles Hueber, and was supported by the majority of the municipal council.[1][3] Jean-Pierre Mourer represented the party in the French National Assembly and was re-elected to the National Assembly in 1932 and 1936.[4]
The party had a difficult relationship with the PCF, which often disrupted KPO meetings.[1]