Communist Party of Luxembourg

The party was founded on January 2, 1921 in the city of Nyderkorn by activists who left the Socialist Workers Party of Luxembourg . The party program was adopted at the congress ^[1] . Earlier, in November 1920, the left-wing Social Democrats launched the publication Der Kampf ( Struggle ).

After the establishment of the Communist Party, the newspaper became its central organ. In 1925, the publication of the new monthly newsletter Die Proletenfaust ( Proletarian Fist ) began. Since the summer of 1930, the weekly newspaper “Die Arbeiterstimme” ( Voice of the Worker ), which since 1935 began to be called “Die Volksstimme” ( Voice of the People ), has been published as a central organ ^[2] .

The KPL participated in the parliamentary elections of 1922, but failed ^[3] . Since the beginning of the 1930s, the Communist Party of Luxembourg has followed the line of the Comintern , the key elements of which were first the theory of " social fascism ", and later the orientation toward creating a broad " Popular Front " ^[2] . Following the results of the general elections of 1934, the representative of the Communist Party first entered the Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg ^[4] . Zenon Bernard, the long-term leader and founder of the CPL, has become a member of parliament.

In 1937, a referendum was held in Luxembourg on the criminalization of revolutionary political parties , which was interpreted as a referendum against the Communist Party of Luxembourg.

In May 1940, Luxembourg was occupied by German troops. Then KPL was banned and went underground. The Communist Party was active in the Resistance Movement . Issued the underground newspaper Die Wahrheit ( True ). Many party members and its leaders perished, including Zenon Bernard . In September 1942, the Communists took part in the preparation and conduct of a general strike against the occupation of the country ^{[1] [5]} .

Participation in the Resistance Movement strengthens the influence of the Communist Party among the population. The number of KPL in that period increased due to mining and metallurgical workers. In 1945, the publication of a new central organ, the newspaper Die Zeitung vum Lötzeburger Vollek ( Newspaper of the Luxembourg People ), began ^[2] . In the first general election that took place after the war in October 1945, the Communists received 5 seats ^[6] . Representatives of the Communist Party became part of the Government of National Unity . Communist Charles Marx took up the post of Minister of Social Security and Health in November 1945. After his death in June 1946, the then general secretary of the Communist Party, Dominic Urbani, took this post ^[7] .

In the 1950s and 1960s, the Communist Party waged a campaign against Luxembourg's accession to military blocs and for the country's neutrality. This was due to the fact that in 1948 an article on its neutrality was removed from the Constitution of the country. Luxembourg has become one of the NATO member states . The Communist Party also opposed participation in European economic associations ^{[1] [8]} .

According to the data for 1964, the number of the Communist Party was about 500 people ^[9] . In the 1964 election, the Communists received 12.5% ​​of the vote and 5 seats in parliament ^[10] , in the 1968 election - 15.5% of the vote and 6 seats ^[11] .

The 1970-1990s were a time of the decline of the influence of the Communist Party. In the elections of 1979 and 1984, the KPL receives 2 seats, in the elections of 1989 - 1 place, in the elections of 1994 - not a single one ^[4] . In 1999, the Communist Party merged with the Revolutionary Socialist Party (Luxembourg section of the Fourth International ) and the New Left organization in the Left block. In the first general election of 1999, the bloc received 3.3% of the vote and 1 place in the Chamber of Deputies.

In the 2004 general elections, the Left and the Communist Party put up separate lists. In fact, it was a split that resulted from a discussion within the association. As a result, both organizations did not receive enough votes to get into parliament. 1.9% of voters voted for the "Left", 0.9% for the Communist Party. In the 2009 parliamentary and European elections, the Communist Party received up to 1.5% of the vote without gaining mandates, while the Lefts restored their parliamentary representation.

• Rene Urbani - President of the Communist Party of Luxembourg in 1976-1990

• Communist Party of Luxembourg website
• Site of the newspaper "Die Zeitung vum Lötzeburger Vollek"