Leader Ali Ruckert Political position Far-left | Founded 2 January 1921 | |
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Headquarters 3, rue Zénon Bernard
Esch-sur-Alzette Newspaper Zeitung vum Lëtzebuerger Vollek Ideology Communism
Marxism–Leninism | ||
The Communist Party of Luxembourg (Luxembourgish: Kommunistesch Partei Lëtzebuerg, French: Parti Communiste Luxembourgeois, German: Kommunistische Partei Luxemburg), abbreviated to KPL or PCL, is a communist party in Luxembourg.
Ali Ruckert is the current chairman of the party.
History
Founded on 2 January 1921 in the town of Niederkorn, the KPL was launched, making it one of the oldest parties in Luxembourg. In 1937, the Bech government attempted to introduce the so-called Maulkuerfgesetz ("Muzzle law") which would have banned the party, but the law was abandoned after failing to achieve popular support in a national referendum.
Following the end of the Second World War, the party joined the National Union Government (1945 – 47). Its first minister was Charles Marx. After Marx's death, in a car accident in 1946, he was replaced by Dominique Urbany. However, after the death of the leader of the LSAP, the coalition collapsed. With the principle of an all-inclusive government gone, the KPL was excluded from the next government, and never returned another member to the cabinet.
In 1964, the United States State Department estimated the party membership to be approximately 500. In legislative elections held in the same year, the party registered 12.4% of the vote, and won five of the Chamber of Deputies' 56 seats. The party's representation in the Chamber peaked at the following election, with six deputies, but fell, until the KPL lost its last remaining deputy in 1994.
In 1999, many party members were co-founders of the Left (Luxembourgish: Déi Lénk). Accordingly KPL members ran on The Left lists in the 1999 and 2000 elections and no separate KPL lists existed. After disputes between leading KPL members and a majority within the Left shortly before the 2004 elections the party again ran separate lists. A number of the Left members were subsequently expelled from the Communist Party.