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Liberal State Party Liberale Staatspartij | |
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| Abbreviation | LSP |
| Leader | seeLeadership |
| Founded | 16 April 1921 (1921-04-16) |
| Dissolved | 5 October 1946 (1946-10-05) |
| Merger of | Liberal Union League of Free Liberals Economic League Neutral Party Middle Class Party |
| Succeeded by | Freedom Party |
| Youth wing | League of Young Liberals |
| Ideology | Conservative liberalism[1] |
| Political position | Centre-right |
TheLiberal State Party, "the Freedom League" (Dutch:Liberale Staatspartij "de Vrijheidsbond",LSP), was aconservative liberal[1]political party in theNetherlands from 1921 to 1948. It is historically linked to thePeople's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), a major Dutch political party.
The LSP was founded on 16 April 1921 as a merger of the mainstream liberalLiberal Union, the conservative liberalLeague of Free Liberals, the minorEconomic League and the single seat parties of theNeutral Party and theMiddle Class Party.[2] They were joined by the General Political Party, who lacked parliamentary representation. These were all the liberal parties in the Netherlands except for the progressive-liberalFree-thinking Democratic League (VDB).
The merger was forced by theconstitutional revision of 1918 implementinguniversal suffrage andproportional representation. The two biggest parties (the Liberal Union and the League of Free Liberals) had lost a considerable number of seats with the implementation of universal suffrage, while the other three parties had profited from the system of proportional representation.
During its entire existence the LSP lost seats, the party started with ten seats in 1922 and was left with only four in 1937. Unlike other social groups, the liberals did not build up a structure ofpillarised organisations around it: therefore liberal voters were relatively independent from the League and were easily attracted by new political parties, like theNational Socialist Movement. Although the party was very small it was part of coalition cabinet two times between 1933 and 1937 in the second and third cabinets ofHendrikus Colijn. In 1939 several individual League-members were involved in the short-lived fifth Colijn cabinet.
In 1941, after the Netherlands was invaded in 1940 by the Germans, the party was forbidden. In 1946, after the Netherlands was liberated, the Liberal State Party was reformed to theFreedom Party, which in 1948 became thePeople's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD).
In 1963 a group of VVD members tried to rekindle the "Freedom League" flame, but they were unable to gain seats in the elections and dissolved.
The party was official founded as the "Freedom League" ("Vrijheidsbond"), during the 1920s the party adopted the name Liberal State Party, "the Freedom League" (Liberale Staatspartij, "de Vrijheidsbond"), after 1937 it adopted the name Liberal State Party ("Liberale Staatspartij").
The LSP was aconservative liberal party. Personal freedom was their most important principle. It therefore defended asmall state and was in favour offree trade. Government should however be involved in providingsocial security for the extremely poor andpensions for the elderly. It defendedpublic education.Internationally it favoured international (mutual) disarmament and the gradual implementation of autonomy for theDutch Indies.
The LSP mainly received support fromagnostics orlatitudinarianprotestants (such asRemonstrants, moderate orthodox or freethinking members of theDutch Reformed Church andMennonites) from higher classes:businessmen,civil servants, wealthy farmers, and voters with free professions (lawyers, doctors etc.). The party performed particularly well in the major trading citiesAmsterdam andRotterdam, the rich municipalities aroundHilversum andThe Hague and in northern rural provinces, likeGroningen andDrenthe.
This table shows the LSP's results in elections to theHouse of Representatives,Senate andStates-Provincial, as well as the party's political leadership: the fractievoorzitter, is the chair of the parliamentary party and the lijsttrekker is the party's top candidate in the general election, these posts are normally taken by the party's leader. The party's leader can also be in cabinet.
| Election | Lead candidate | List | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Government | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1922 | List | 271,358 | 9.3 | 10 / 100 |  | Opposition | ||
| 1925 | List | 269,564 | 8.7 | 9 / 100 |  1 | Opposition | ||
| 1929 | List | 249,105 | 7.4 | 8 / 100 | 1 | Opposition | ||
| 1933 | List | 258,732 | 7.0 | 7 / 100 | 1 | Coalition | ||
| 1937 | List | 160,260 | 4.9 | 4 / 100 | 3 | Opposition |
The party was particularly strong in urbanmunicipal andprovincial governments. The party supplied severalmayors of larger cities, such asPieter Droogleever Fortuyn inRotterdam
In the following figure one can see the election results of the provincial election of 1931 per province. It shows the areas where the LSP is strong, namely South Holland and too a lesser extent Gelderland and North Holland. The party is very weak in rural and Catholic Limburg and Brabant.
| Province | Seats |
|---|---|
| Groningen | 5 |
| Friesland | 4 |
| Drenthe | 6 |
| Overijssel | 4 |
| Gelderland | 8 |
| Utrecht | 4 |
| North Holland | 8 |
| South Holland | 11 |
| Zeeland | 6 |
| North Brabant | 1 |
| Limburg | 1 |
The LSP lacked a real system ofpillarised organisations around it. 'Neutral' organisations, which were not linked to a pillar, often had friendly relations with the LSP. This included the general broadcasting associationAVRO (Algemene Verenigde Radio Omroep, General United Radio Broadcasting Organisation), the general union ANWV (Algemene Nederlandse Werkelieden Vereniging, the General Dutch Workers' Association), furthermore the neutral employers' organisationVNO and the financial newspaperHet Handelsblad had good relations with the League. Together with the other liberal party, the VDB, these organisation formed the weak general pillar.
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