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Liberal Party Κόμμα Φιλελευθέρων | |
|---|---|
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| Founder | Eleftherios Venizelos |
| Founded | 22 August 1910[1] (115 years ago) |
| Dissolved | 1961 (64 years ago) |
| Preceded by | Modernist Party (Greece) Barefoot Party (Crete) |
| Merged into | Centre Union |
| Ideology | Liberalism[2]Patriotism[4] Republicanism Venizelism[2] |
| Political position | Centre[5] |
TheLiberal Party (Greek:Κόμμα Φιλελευθέρων[ˈkomafilelefˈθeɾon]ⓘ, literally "Party of Liberals") was a major political party inGreece during the early-to-mid 20th century. It was founded in August 1910 byEleftherios Venizelos, winning alandslide victory in theNovember 1910 legislative elections. This began an era of Liberal-dominated politics, with the party winning 9 of the 12 elections between 1910 and 1933 and Venizelos serving asPrime Minister for a total of 12 years.
The party's platform was broadlymodernising,liberal,social, andnationalist; a set of policies referred to asVenizelism in Greek politics. Though the party contained asocial-democratic wing,[6] it became increasinglyanti-communist in the 1920s. Originally ambiguous on the issue of theGreek monarchy, the party became decidedlyrepublican following theNational Schism and went on to dominate theSecond Hellenic Republic. Among its most well-known members, apart from Venizelos, wereAlexandros Papanastasiou,Nikolaos Plastiras,Georgios Papandreou andKonstantinos Mitsotakis.
The party struggled to gain support following the4th of August Regime and theSecond World War, before merging into theCentre Union led by Georgios Papandreou and other former Liberal Party members. Since its founding, the party used theanchor as an electoral symbol, similar to the one Venizelos had brought with him fromCrete.[7]
Founded as the "Party of the Barefeet" (Κόμμα των Ξυπολήτων) in Crete (then an autonomous region of theOttoman Empire), its early leaders wereKostis Mitsotakis (grandfather ofKonstantinos Mitsotakis) andEleftherios Venizelos. After the annexation of Crete by Greece, Venizelos moved toAthens and turned the party into a national one, under theFileleftheron (liberal) name in 1910. For the following 25 years, the fate of the party would be tied to that of Venizelos. The party was legally disbanded after thefailed coup attempt led byNikolaos Plastiras of 1935, although the organization remained active.
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DuringWorld War II, aGreek government in exile was formed inCairo,Egypt, with the assistance of the British. The government was formed almost entirely of prominent Liberals, includingGeorgios Papandreou andSophoklis Venizelos, even asKing George remained the official head of state.
The party was reformed after the war. By the 1950s, the Liberal Party had lost much of its support and it was eventually merged into theCentre Union, which went on to win the1963 and1964 elections. Throughout its existence, the Liberal Party sought to hinder the rise of theCommunist Party of Greece which was the only real opposition to the Liberals on their most important electoral basis (the refugees of the New Lands, i.e., lands acquired by Greece following theBalkan Wars andWorld War I), sometimes with the use ofanti-communist legislation.[8][9]
The Liberal Party merged intoCenter Union (Enosi Kentrou) in 1961, under the leadership ofGeorgios Papandreou.
In 1980, Eleftherios Venizelos' grandson Nikitas founded a new party under the same name that claims to be the continuation of the original party, seeLiberal Party (Greece, modern).
Representing thecentrist elements of Greek society, and supported by the middle class and the populations of the New Lands, its main competitor was thePeople's Party. Increasingly the Liberal Party became associated withanti-monarchism and during the 1920s the Liberals established arepublic which they led for most of its short-lived existence. The party carried the ideological legacy ofVenizelism.
| Results, 1910–1958[10][11] (year links to election page) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Type of Election | Votes | % | Mandates | Status | |||
| 1910 | Parliamentary | No data | 307 / 362 | Government | ||||
| 1912 | No data | 146 / 181 | Government | |||||
| May 1915 | No data | 189 / 316 | Government | |||||
| Dec 1915 | Boycotted | 0 / 369 | Extra-parliamentary | |||||
| 1920 | 375,803 | ? | 118 / 369 | Opposition | ||||
| 1923 | No data | 250 / 398 | Government | |||||
| 1926 | 303,140 | 31.6 | 102 / 279 | Coalition | ||||
| 1928 | 477,502 | 46.9 | 178 / 250 | Government | ||||
| 1929 | Senatorial | 450,624 | 54.6 | 64 / 120 | Majority | |||
| 1932 | Parliamentary | 391,521 | 33.4 | 98 / 250 | Opposition(to Jan 1933) | |||
| Coalition(from Jan 1933) | ||||||||
| 1932 | Senatorial | 142,575 | 39.5 | 16 / 30 | Majority | |||
| 1933 | Parliamentary | 379,968 | 33.3 | 80 / 248 | Opposition | |||
| 1935 | Boycotted | 0 / 300 | Extra-parliamentary | |||||
| 1936 | 474,651 | 37.3 | 126 / 300 | Opposition | ||||
| 1946 | 159,525 | 14.4 | 54 / 376 | Opposition | ||||
| 1950 | 291,083 | 17.2 | 56 / 263 | Coalition | ||||
| 1951 | 325,390 | 19.0 | 74 / 258 | Opposition | ||||
| 1956 | No data | 38 / 308 | Opposition | |||||
| 1958 | 795,445 | 20.7 | 36 / 300 | Opposition | ||||
(Name, highest office as a party member, year)
Venizelist liberalism and imperialism not only was connected to British liberalism and liberal approaches to imperialism, but was also a product of it. Although looking East for territory, Venizelist imperialism looked to unite the "unredeemed Greeks" living in the East under an "orientalist" pre-modern system with the Europe that was (or would be) Modern Greece - western, modern and liberal.
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