A French party explicitly called its program ‘neoliberalism’ in 1945

Evidence

The postwar period caused divisions within parties and collective shifts between them, with some former left-wing movements, like the Radical Party, joining the center-right. Among the groups that explicitly claimed their liberalism in 1945–1947, the Parti Républicain de la Liberté (PRL) was the most active. It proudly sported the name of its program: neoliberalism. Formed in December 1945 in opposition to the Social Catholics (Mouvement Républicain Populaire, or MRP) and the communists, the PRL recruited both among the Resistance and among the former Petainists. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 286

Categorization

• DEFINE: Shows that ‘neoliberalism’ was initially claimed as a positive, self-declared program name by a French party, not a slur.
• XREF: Connects to the standard story that neoliberalism was a pejorative later label; here it was proudly self-adopted in 1945. — connects to: Neoliberalism’s origins long predate the 1980s Democratic Party. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 21; The term ‘neoliberalism’ was championed in 1939 by French industrialists and economists — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 382
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 286

Broader Connections

• The term ‘neoliberalism’ was championed in 1939 by French industrialists and economists #corroborates (0.75) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 382