Gottlieb Duttweiler – the founder of Migros, a retail business and consumer cooperative – was dissatisfied with Swiss politics in the 1930s and, therefore, founded the Alliance of Independents with a group of like-minded people.
Duttweiler's authoritarian style of leadership, combined with his vague political positions, led to a breakaway of leading figures from the party in 1943.
After the death of longtime chairman Duttweiler in 1962, the party established itself as a social liberal alternative between the left and the right.
In the 1990s, the party tried unsuccessfully to win back these voters by returning to its social liberal roots.
Following numerous election losses and prominent politicians' defections to other parties, the LdU disbanded on December 4, 1999.