DECURTINS, GASPAR. - Sociologist, b. 23 Nov. 1855, at Truns (Canton of the Grisons), d. there, 30 May 1916. He studied at the monastery of Disentis, then at the gymnasium in Chur, and finally at the Universities of Munich, Strasbourg, and Heidelberg. Leader of the Swiss Catholic party, he began his public life in 1878 as president of the Disentis Circle and deputy to the Council of the Grisons; in 1881 he became a deputy to the Swiss National Council.
Quickly realizing the importance of economic and social problems, he studied them through a comparative examination of Christian and socialist doctrines, rapidly becoming one of the leading exponents of the Swiss Catholic social movement. He was a severe critic of the liberal policies then predominant and a convinced advocate of state intervention for the protection of labor.
A staunch Catholic, he did not exclude collaboration with socialist organizations, whether political or trade union, when this seemed a necessary prerequisite for the implementation of social reforms. In this spirit, in 1886, the Arbeiterbund was founded, a large workers' organization aimed at protecting the interests of wage earners without distinction of party or creed. He also took the initiative in establishing the “Segretariato del popolo,” charged with promoting the protection of workers' interests and ensuring their effective implementation. To encourage the study and development, even theoretical, of the Christian social movement, in 1889 he organized the Catholic University of Fribourg.
Decurtins’ name is particularly associated with international labor legislation: in 1888, in agreement with the socialist deputy Favon, he secured the approval by the Swiss National Council of a motion inviting the Government to resume negotiations (begun in 1880 by the Swiss Emilio Frey) with European governments to prepare common labor legislation (*La question de la protection ouvrière internationale. Mémoire présenté au Département fédéral de l'Industrie et de l'Agriculture par le dr. G. D., conseiller national*, Bern, 1889). He was in fact entrusted with preparing the program for the international conference that the Swiss government intended to convene in Berne in 1889; but when many countries had already agreed to participate, the German Emperor William II intervened with a proposal for a similar conference, which was indeed held in Berlin in 1890. At its Congress in Bienne in 1894, the Arbeiterbund mandated Decurtins to convene a meeting of delegates from organized workers of various countries, and this initiative was expressly approved by Pope Leo XIII in a brief addressed to him. The invitation was limited to those who accepted the principle of state intervention for the protection of labor, and after various difficulties the Congress was able to convene in Zurich (23–28 Aug. 1897), with the participation of representatives from both Christian organizations (Abbot Hitze, Abbot Beck, De Viart, Axmann, etc.) and socialist organizations (Bebel, Vandervelde, etc.). The Congress concluded with the unanimous approval of Decurtins’ proposal for the establishment of an international office for the protection of labor, with functions of study, documentation, and information, and for the convening of an international congress on labor legislation. Indeed, the International Congress on Labor Legislation held in Paris in 1900 led to the establishment, with headquarters in Switzerland, of the International Association for the Legal Protection of Labor.
With the beginning of the pontificate of Pius X, Decurtins withdrew almost entirely from the field of action to devote himself to study and held the chair of the history of civilization, established at his initiative since 1889. Because of his resolute opposition to modernism (*Tre lettere ad un giovane amico*, Italian trans., Rome, 1911; *A study on modernism*, in *The Catholic Review*, July 1913, p. 191), he received a letter of praise from Pope Pius X on 15 Sept. 1910 (*AAS*, 2 [1910], pp. 738–40).