The Roman Catholic People's Party (in Dutch: Roomsch-katholieke Volkspartij, RKVP) was a Dutch

Politics of the Netherlands

The politics of the Netherlands take place within the framework of a parliamentary representative democracy, a constitutional monarchy and a decentralised unitary state. The Netherlands is described as a consociational state...

 Social Catholic political party

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

. The RKVP played only a marginal role in Dutch politics.

Party History

The RKVP was founded in 1922 by Pius Arts. In the 1925 election

Dutch general election, 1925

A general election of the House of Representatives of the Dutch Parliament was held in the Netherlands on July 1, 1925.-National summary:-Parties:* Anti Revolutionary Party * Agrarians' League...

 the party won one seat which was taken by Aarts. In the 1929 election

Dutch general election, 1929

A general election of the House of Representatives of the Dutch Parliament was held in the Netherlands on July 3, 1929.-National summary:-Parties:* Anti Revolutionary Party * Agrarians' League...

 the party lost its one seat. In the 1933 election

Dutch general election, 1933

A general election of the House of Representatives of the Dutch Parliament was held in the Netherlands on April 26, 1933.-National summary:-Parties:* Anti Revolutionary Party...

 the party regained one seat. In same year the party merged with the Catholic Democratic League to form the Catholic Democratic Party. In 1937 this party merged with the Roman Catholic State Party, the larger, centrist, catholic party.

Ideology & Issues

The RKVP combined a conservative Catholic stance on ethical issues with a progressive, leftwing stance on economic issues

Economy

An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area; the labor, capital and land resources; and the manufacturing, trade, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area...

.

It advocated the interest of Catholic workers and it wanted just taxation and a strong influence of labour unions in companies. It wanted to increase support for large families and also price controls

Price controls

Price controls are governmental impositions on the prices charged for goods and services in a market, usually intended to maintain the affordability of staple foods and goods, and to prevent price gouging during shortages, or, alternatively, to insure an income for providers of certain goods...

. The party was in favour of private home-ownership and lower rents. It also supported national disarmament

Disarmament

Disarmament is the act of reducing, limiting, or abolishing weapons. Disarmament generally refers to a country's military or specific type of weaponry. Disarmament is often taken to mean total elimination of weapons of mass destruction, such as nuclear arms...

.

In ethical issues, it was as conservative as the Roman Catholic State Party, the larger, centrist, Catholic party. It advocated the re-institution of the envoy at the Holy See

Holy See

The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...

 and an end to the ban on processions.

Leadership & Support

This table shows the RKVP's results in elections to the House of Representatives and Senate, as well as the party's political leadership: the fractievoorzitter, is the chair of the parliamentary party and the lijsttrekker is the party's top candidate in the general election, these posts are normally taken by the party's leader.

Year	HoR	S	Lijsttrekker Lijsttrekker Lijsttrekker is a Dutch term for the top candidate of a party on a party list. He or she is almost always the party's political leader. After an election, this person usually leads the party's faction in the States-General, or serves in a senior position in the Cabinet if his party is part of...	Fractievoorzitter
1925 Dutch general election, 1925 A general election of the House of Representatives of the Dutch Parliament was held in the Netherlands on July 1, 1925.-National summary:-Parties:* Anti Revolutionary Party * Agrarians' League...	1	0	Pius Aarts	Pius Aarts
1926	1	0	no elections	Pius Aarts
1927	1	0	no elections	Pius Aarts
1928	1	0	no elections	Pius Aarts
1929 Dutch general election, 1929 A general election of the House of Representatives of the Dutch Parliament was held in the Netherlands on July 3, 1929.-National summary:-Parties:* Anti Revolutionary Party * Agrarians' League...	0	0	Pius Aarts	extra-parliamentary
1930	0	0	no elections	extra-parliamentary
1931	0	0	no elections	extra-parliamentary
1932	0	0	no elections	extra-parliamentary
1933 Dutch general election, 1933 A general election of the House of Representatives of the Dutch Parliament was held in the Netherlands on April 26, 1933.-National summary:-Parties:* Anti Revolutionary Party...	1	0	Pius Aarts	Pius Aarts
1934	1	0	no elections	Pius Aarts
1935	1	0	no elections	Pius Aarts
1936	1	0	no elections	Pius Aarts

Electorate

The party drew most its support from catholic workers from the region around Tiel

Tiel

' is a municipality and a town in the middle of the Netherlands.The town is enclosed by the Waal river and the Linge river on the south and the north side, and the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal on the east side. The city was founded in the 5th century AD....

, Aarts' home town.