Liberalism In The Czech Lands

This article gives an overview of liberalism in the Czech Lands. It is limited to liberal parties with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in parliament. The sign ⇒ means a reference to another party in that scheme. For inclusion in this scheme it isn't necessary so that parties labeled themselves as a liberal party.

Introduction

When liberalism started in Bohemia and Moravia, the Czech lands were member states of Austria-Hungary. Liberals in the region started as part of the conservative nationalist National Party (Nrodn strana) or Old Czechs, but from 1874 they formed their own party: National Liberal Party (Nrodn strana svobodomysln). Czech liberals usually don't call themselves liberals, but prefer labels such as progressive or even national socialist (don't mix this label up with the German variant). Nowadays liberalism is clearly unsuccessful in this country. Three parliamentary liberal or libertarian parties work together, the Freedom Union-Democratic Union (Unie Svobody - Demokratick unie, in Cabinet), the Civic Democratic Alliance (Občansk demokratick aliance, member of ELDR, only in Senate), and the Liberal Reform Party (Liberln reformn strana, only in Senate). They were unsuccessful at the last European elections. At these elections the European Democrats (Evropšt demokrat) proved to be a liberal alternative, but it joined the EPP.

The timeline

National Liberal Party

  • 1874: Liberals in Bohemia seceded from the National Party and formed the National Liberal Party (Nrodn strana svobodomysln), also known as the Young Czechs.
  • 1889: A faction of the National Party joined the National Liberal Party.
  • 1897: The ⇒ Radical Progressive Party seceded from the party.
  • 1899: The ⇒ Czech State Rights Radical Party seceded from the party.
  • 1900: A faction seceded as the ⇒ Czech People's Party.
  • 1918: The party merged with the ⇒ Czech State Rights Radical Party, the National Party and others into the mainly conservative Czech State Rights Democrats (Česk sttoprvn demokracie), renamed in 1919 as the Czechoslovak National Democrats (Československ nrodn demokracie).
  • 1924: Allies of president Tomas Garrigue Masaryk left the party to form the ⇒ National Labour Party.
  • 1934: After the party developed into a national-conservative party, it joined the National Reunion (Nrodn sjedonocen).

Czech People's Party / Czech Progressive Party

  • 1887: A second faction of liberals seceded from the National Party and joined the ⇒ National Liberal Party in 1889.
  • 1900: This faction formed the Czech People's Party (Česk strana lidov)
  • 1906: The party absorbed the ⇒ Radical Progressive Party and was renamed Czech Progressive Party (Česka strana pokrokov)
  • 1918: The party disappeared, members joined the ⇒ Czech State Rights Democrats and the ⇒ Czech Socialist Party

Radical Progressive Party

  • 1897: The Radical Progressive Party (Strana radiklně pokrokov) seceded from the ⇒ National Liberal Party
  • 1900: The party merged into the ⇒ Czech Progressive Party

From National Social Party until Liberal National Social Party

  • 1898: Socialists and left-wing liberals formed the National Social Party (Nrodn strana sociln).
  • 1918: The party was reorganized into the Czech Socialist Party (Česk socialistick strana), from 1919 the Czechoslovak Socialist Party (Československ socialistick strana).
  • 1926: The party absorbed the liberal ⇒ National Labour Party and was renamed the Czechoslovak National Socialist Party (Československ nrodně socialistick strana)
  • 1948: The party continued as a communist satellite party under the name Czechoslavak Socialist Party (Československ strana socialistick). It regained a democratic profile in 1990, after the fall of the Communist regime.
  • 1993: The party was renamed the Liberal National Social Party (Liberln strana nrodně sociln), but didn't play a role anymore.
  • 1995: The party merged with the ⇒ Free Democrats into the ⇒ Free Democrats-Liberal National Social Party. Shortly before the merger a conservative faction seceded as the Civic National Movement (Občansk nrodn hnut)
  • 1997: After failure in 1996 elections, the Free Democrats (= liberals) left the party and it was renamed again into Czech National Social Party.

Radical State Rights Party / Progressive State Rights Party

  • 1899: The Radical State Rights Party (Strana radiklně sttoprvn) seceded from the ⇒ National Liberal Party
  • 1908: The party merged with a faction of the former ⇒ Radical Progressive Party into the Progressive State Rights Party (Strana sttoprvně pokrokov).
  • 1918: The party merged with the ⇒ National Liberal Party and others into the ⇒ Czech State Rights Democrats.

National Labour Party

  • 1924: A liberal faction of the ⇒ Czechoslovak National Democrats left the party to form the National Labour Party (Nrodn strana prce).
  • 1926: The party merged into the ⇒ Czechoslovak National Socialist Party

German Democratic Freedom Party

From Civic Movement until Free Democrats-Liberal National Social Party

Civic Democratic Alliance

  • 1991: At the fracturing of the general democratic Civic Forum (Občansk frum) the conservative and liberal faction Civic Democratic Alliance (Občansk demokratick aliance) established itself as a separate party.

Freedom Union

Liberal leaders

Liberal thinkers

In the List of thinkers contributing to liberal theory the following Czech thinker is included:

See also

Czech republic

 

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