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Courting the Catholic Vote: The Center Party in Baden, 1903–13

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2008

Carl H. E. Zangerl
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Extract

Surveying the German political situation in the spring of 1913, the chairman of the National Liberal Party in Baden, Edmund Rebmann, could only see “black,” the adjective commonly used to describe the Catholic Center Party. The Center was systematically tightening its grip on the states of south Germany: Bavaria had already fallen under its domination; Württemberg and Alsace-Lorraine were wavering; even Baden, the last stronghold of liberalism south of the Main, was threatened. Rebmann was deeply concerned. “A united south Germany with purely black governments,” he warned a meeting of National Liberal leaders in Karlsruhe, Baden's capital, “would be an enormous prize for the Center” and might ultimately undermine the unity of the German empire. His assessment was shared by other political observers who had witnessed at first hand the way in which the Center Party had insinuated itself into a virtually impregnable position in German politics. While there is no evidence of a conspiracy to break up the empire, the Center, with its solid block of votes in the Reichstag, its growing representation in the Landtage of south Germany, and its famous tactical flexibility, was able to exert considerable influence over government policy both nationally and regionally in the decade before World War I. The party once designated by Bismarck as an enemy of the Reich had become a conservative friend of the status quo.

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Articles
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Central European History , Volume 10 , Issue 3 , September 1977 , pp. 220 - 240
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Copyright © Conference Group for Central European History of the American Historical Association 1977

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References

I would like to thank Stanford University and Purdue University for data-processing grants.

1. Protocol of the National Liberal Executive Committee, Feb. 23, 1913, p. 24, in Archiv der Nationalliberalen Partei, 69 P 36/90, Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe.

2. See Holdermann, Friedrich, “Die Klerikalisierung Süddeutschlands,” März 7 (1913);Google ScholarKolb, Wilhelm, “Über das Zentrum und die Sozialdemokratie,” Sozialistisches Monatsheft 9 (09 1905): 783–87;Google ScholarNational-Zeitung, no. 638, Nov. 23, 1905. Several historians have discussed the Center's changing role: Morsey, Rudolf, “Die deutschen Katholiken und der Nationalstaat zwischen Kulturkampf und dem ersten Weltkrieg,” Historisches Jahrbuch 90 (1970): 31–64;Google ScholarRepgen, Konrad, “Entwicklungslinien von Kirche und Katholizismus in historischer Sicht,” in Rauscher, Anton, ed., Entwicklungslinien des deutschen Katholizismus (Munich, Paderborn, Vienna, 1973), pp. 11–30;Google ScholarDeuerlein, Ernst, “Die Bekehrung des Zentrums zur nationalen Idee,” Hochland 62 (09/10 1970): 432–49.Google Scholar

3. Schauff, Johannes, Die deutschen Katholiken und die Zentrumspartei: Eine politischstatistische Untersuchung der Reichstagswahlen seit 1871 (Cologne, 1928), p. 100 and passim.Google Scholar On the Center's apparent malaise see M. Rainer Lepsius, “Parteiensystem und Sozialstruktur: zum Problem der Demokratisierung der deutschen Gesellschaft,” and Nipperdey, Thomas, “Die Organisation der bürgerlichen Parteien in Deutschland,” both in Ritter, Gerhard, ed., Die deutschen Parteien vor 1918 (Cologne, 1973), pp. 65–69 and 106–7;Google Scholar

Grebing, Helga, Geschichte der deutschen Parteien (Wiesbaden, 1962), pp. 86ff.;Google ScholarMorsey, Rudolf, Die deutsche Zentrumspartei 1917–1923 (Düsseldorf, 1966), pp. 33–36;Google Scholar Morsey, “Katholiken und der Nationalstaat,” p. 35; Ross, Ronald, Beleaguered Tower: The Dilemma of Political Catholicism in Wilhelmine Germany (Notre Dame and London, 1976), pp. xiii–xv, 38.Google Scholar

4. Badische Landeszeitung (hereafter BLZ), no. 482, Oct. 17, 1906. The BLZ was the official organ of the National Liberal Party in Baden.

5. Under the provisions of the suffrage reform of 1904, if no party gained an absolute majority in the Hauptwahl, all parties receiving at least 15 percent of the vote could participate in the Stichwahl (runoff election), where a relative majority sufficed. In practice, the field for the Stichwahl was usually reduced to two candidates as a result of tactical alliances.

6. See Weber, Max, “Bemerkungen,” Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik 20 (1905): 553, and Lepsius, passim.Google Scholar

7. Holdermann, p. 803. The Grand Duchy of Baden was a constitutional monarchy with a bicameral legislature. Government ministers, though appointed by and responsible to the grand duke, had to work within the constraints imposed by the political composition of the Landtag. After 1904, the membership of the first chamber, including members of the royal family, government appointees, and elected representatives of various interest groups, gave that body a corporative character; the seventy-three representatives in the second chamber, which had the power to initiate legislation, were elected by a direct, equal, and secret suffrage. For details, see Roth, Adolf and Thorbecke, Paul, Die badischen Landstände (Karlsruhe, 1907), pp. 1–94.Google Scholar

8. Badische Beobachter (hereafter BB), no. 242, 1st ed., Oct. 18, 1910. The BB, the official organ of the Center Party in Baden, provides a wealth of information about the party's policies and agitational activities. On the history of the Catholic movement in Baden see Becker, Josef, Liberaler Staat und Kirche in der Ära von Reichsgründung und Kulturkampf 1860–1876 (Mainz, 1973);Google ScholarStadelhofer, Manfred, Der Abbau der Kulturkampfgesetzgebung im Grosshrezogtum Baden 1878–1918(Mainz, 1969);Google ScholarGall, Lothar, Der Liberalismus als Regierende Partei: Das Grossherzogtum Baden zwischen Restauration und Reichsgründung (Wiesbaden, 1968);Google ScholarGall, Lothar, “Die partei- und sozialgeschichtliche Problematik des badischen Kulturkampfes,” Zeitschrift für die Geschkhte des Oberrheins 113 (1965): 151–96;Google ScholarBachem, Karl, Vorgeschichte, Geschichte und Politik der deutschen Zentrumspartei, 9 vols. (Cologne, 1927–1932), 8: 98ff.;Google ScholarWacker, Theodor, Kampf gegen den badischen Nationalliberalismus (Freiburg, 1888);Google ScholarNeumann, Ludwig, Badische Wahlkreis-Arithmetik (Freiburg, 1895), pp. 36–48;Google ScholarKöhler, Heinrich, Lebenserinnerungen des Politikers und Staatsmannes 1878–1949, ed. Becker, Josef (Stuttgart, 1964), pp. 16–34.Google Scholar

9. See Roth and Thorbecke, pp. 20–73.

10. Statistisches Jahrbuch für das Grossherzogtum Baden, 1914 und 1915, vol. 41 (Karlsruhe, 1915), pp. 23–25, 45, 66–68.Google Scholar Also see Offenbacher, Martin, Konfession und soziale Schichtung: Eine Studie über die wirtschaftliche Lage der Katholiken und Protestanten in Baden (Tübingen and Leipzig, 1900).Google Scholar

11. Die Verhältnisse der Industriearbeiter in 17 Landgemeinden bei Karlsruhe (Karlsruhe, 1904), pp. 216 and 217–20.Google Scholar Also, Pfeiffer, Hans, “Katholiken und Sozialdemokratie,” BB, no. 291, Oct. 22, 1913.Google Scholar

12. The activities of the Catholic associations are described by Ritter, Emil, Die Katho-lische-Soziale Bewegung Deutschlands im neunzehnten Jahrhundert und der Volksverein (Cologne, 1954), pp. 218ff.;Google ScholarBurger, Wilhelm, ed., Das Erzbistum Freiburg in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart (Freiburg, 1927), pp. 224ff.; Köhler, pp. 41–44.Google Scholar

13. Lepsius, p. 69.

14. Quoted in BB, no. 48, 2d ed., Mar. i, 1910.

15. For membership figures see the Statistisches Jahrbuch 1913, p. 142, and Statistisches Jahrbuch 1914–15, pp. 152–54. The liberal concern about Catholic “separatism” is reflected in BLZ, no. 485, Oct. 18, 1913.

16. BB, no. 239, 1st ed., Oct. 19, 1905; BB, no. 289, 1st ed., Oct. 20, 1913; Wacker, Theodor, Bedeutung und Aufgabe des Centrums (Mannheim, 1904).Google Scholar

17. Muser, Oskar, Der Ultramontanismus und das Zentrum (Lahr, 1907). Nearly every issue of the two liberal newspapers in Karlsruhe, the Badische Landeszeitung and the Badische Landesbote, criticized the way the Center injected religion into politics.Google Scholar

18. For a discussion of the tactical maneuvering see Wacker, Theodor, Regierung und Parteien in Baden im Sommer 1907 (Karlsruhe, 1907),Google Scholar and Thiel, Jürgen, Die Grossblock-politik der Nationalliberalen Partei Badens 1905 bis 1914 (Stuttgart, 1976).Google Scholar

19. See Nipperdey, “Organisation,” pp. 106–12; Nipperdey, Thomas, Die Organisation der deutschen Parteien vor 1918 (Dusseldorf, 1961), pp. 268ff;Google Scholar Bachem, 8: 99, 123, 200–201; BB, no. 271, 3rd ed., Nov. 27, 1904; BB, no. 167, 2d ed., July 27, 1909.

20. BB, no. 255, 1st ed., Nov. 9, 1910; BLZ, no. 523, Nov. 11, 1910; Friedrich, Manfred, “Die Parteitage des Zentrums in Bayern,” Zeitschrift für bayerische Landesgeschichte 36 (1973): 834–76.Google Scholar

21. Köhler, p. 28.

22. Köhler, pp. 155, 154–64.

23. For information about this circular, which has been overlooked by historians, see BB, no. 270, 2d ed., Nov. 26, 1904, and no. 31, 2d ed., Feb. 8, 1905.

24. Knecht to the Ministry of Justice, Jan. 29, 1906, no. 1195, Grossherzogliches Familienarchiv, Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe. Also see BB, no. 31, 2d ed., Feb. 8, 1906; memorandum, Mar. 12, 1904, by Kreuzer, Emil, the archbishop's advisor on church-state relations, in Generalakten: Kirche und Staat (1893–1918), Erzbischöfliche Ordinariatsregistratur Freiburg. As a result of Wacker's unequivocal position on the relationship between the party and the Church, integralism was not an issue in Baden. It did, however, bring him into conflict with the Vatican; in June 1914 one of his pamphlets was placed on the Index because of its outspoken affirmation of the party's political autonomy. See Bachem, 7: 254; Köhler, pp. 32–34; BB, no. 148, 1st ed., May 30, 1914; BLZ, no. 258, 1st ed., June 6, 1914.Google Scholar

25. No. 146, 1st ed., June 26, 1914. See also the comments by the socialist party secretary Eichhorn, quoted in Volksfreund, no. 281, Dec. 1, 1905, and by the National Liberal party secretary Ziegler, quoted in BLZ, no. 562, Dec. 2, 1905.

26. The electoral data for the Reichstag elections of 1903, 1907, and 1912 and the Landtag elections of 1905, 1909, and 1913, upon which this analysis is based, are published in the following volumes of the Statistische Mitteilungen über das Grossherzogtum Baden (Karlsruhe), vol. 20, Sondernummer (1903), pp. 1–67; N.S., vol. 2, 2d Sondernummer (1909), pp. 1–126; N.S., vol. 5, 1st Sondernummer (1912), pp. 1–88; N.S., vol. 7, 1st Sondernummer (1913), pp. 1–138.

27. A rough estimate of these voter transfers was arrived at in the following way: if the Center decided not to contest a district, for example, in 1878, its vote total in the previous election would be considered its “donation” to the Conservatives or the Progressives. If anything, this procedure underestimates the number of Center supporters voting for other parties because the Center's absolute vote total rose steadily between 1871 and 1912. I have been able to detect 40 probable voter transfers by the Center during that period and at least 35 transfers in the two Landtag elections of 1909 and 1913. Because of the system of indirect elections for the Landtag before 1905, electoral results before and after that date are not directly comparable.

28. Wacker, Theodor, Warum sollen Zentrumswähler konservative Landtagskandidaturen unterstützen (Karlsruhe, 1909), pp. 1–7, 21.Google Scholar

29. Because the boundaries of the Landtag and Reichstag election districts did not coincide exactly, some communes in the Landtag groups do not appear in the equivalent Reichstag groups. The Reichstag sample includes 18 cities, 565 communes in the Center stronghold, and 628 communes in southeastern Baden.

30. According to the Badische Beobachter, liberal priests and liberal Catholic bureaucrats had helped to maintain the influence of the National Liberals in southeastern Baden during much of the nineteenth century, see no. 244, 2d ed., Oct. 26, 1904, and no. 160, 1st ed., July 19,1909. The Landtag election results before 1890 also reflect this traditional liberal strength, see Roth and Thorbecke, pp. 293–326.

31. See the party programs for 1905 in Roth and Thorbecke, pp. 129–61. At the national level, of course, the Center and the National Liberals often disagreed about social and economic policies.

32. No. 293, Oct. 10, 1913. Also see Frankfurter Zeitung, no. 295, Oct. 24, 1913; BB, no. 226, 1st ed., Oct. 5, 1910.

33. See Eichhorn, Emil, “Die Landtagswahlen in Baden,” Die Neue Zeit 24 (1905–1906): 195–96.Google Scholar

34. Quoted in Volksfreund, no. 247, Oct. 24, 1905.

35. BB, no. 11, 1st ed., Jan. 14, 1907. For a general discussion of the 1907 elections see Crothers, George D., The German Elections of 1907 (New York, 1941).Google Scholar

36. See Witt, Peter-Christian, Die Finanzpolitik des Deutschen Reich von 1903 bis 1913 (Lübeck and Hamburg, 1970), chap. 4.Google Scholar

37. Wacker speech quoted in BB, no. 247, 1st ed., Oct. 29, 1909. Also see BB, no. 242 1st ed., Oct. 23, 1909, and no. 254, 2d ed., Nov. 6, 1909.

38. See BLZ, no. 17, Jan. 11, 1912; Bertram, Jürgen, Die Wahlen zum Deutschen Reichstag vom Jahre 1912 (Düsseldorf, 1964).Google Scholar

39. See Haas, Ludwig, a leading Progressive, in Badische Landesbote, no. 249, 1st ed., Oct. 25, 1913.Google Scholar

40. BB, no. 241, 2d ed., Oct. 22, 1909. For a discussion of the concept of deviating elections see Campbell, Angus et al. , Elections and the Political Order (New York, 1967), pp. 63–77.Google Scholar

41. These are the very preliminary results of a large-scale analysis of voting data for all the political parties in Baden. On the methodology of regression analysis see Kousser, J. Morgan, “Ecological Regression and the Analysis of Past Politics,” Journal of Interdisciplinary History 4 (1973): 237–62. Unfortunately, socioeconomic data do not exist on a commune by commune basis for the period 1900–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

42. Holdermann, p. 804. Also see Weissmann, Anton, Die Sozialdemokratische Gefahr in Baden! Betrachtungen zur politischen Scharfmacherei des badischen Zentmmsführers Geistlichen Rat Th. Wacker (Freiburg, 1912),Google Scholar and a memorandum, possibly written by Edmund Rebmann in 1913, entitled “Psychologisches zur Zentrumstaktik,” 69 P 36/207, Archiv der Nationalliberalen Partei, Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe.

43. BB, no. 32, 1st ed., Feb. 10, 1910.

44. The conclusion that the Center did not have to choose between secularism and sectarianism clashes with the interpretation offered by Ross, pp. xiv, 139, and Blackbourn, David G., “Class and Politics in Wilhelmine Germany: The Center Party and the Social Democrats in Württemberg,” Central European History 9 (1976): 223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Also see Schmidt, Gustav, “Innenpolitische Blockbildungen am Vorabend des Ersten Weltkrieges,” Das Parlament: Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte 22 (1972): 20ff., and Lepsius, p. 78.Google Scholar