TheBavarianPeasants' League (German:Bayerischer Bauernbund, or BB) was a German political party inBavaria from 1893 to 1933; in English it is also referred to as theBavarian Farmers' League. The party represented the interests of Bavaria's rural population in theBavarian state parliament and the GermanReichstag. Its program was more liberal than those of most other agricultural interest groups of the era and strongly non-clerical. In 1922 it changed its name to theBavarian Peasants' and Small Businesses' League(Bayerischer Bauern- und Mittelstandsbund) in a largely unsuccessful attempt to expand its voter base. With the rise of theNazi Party, the BB's membership fell sharply. It disbanded in 1933, recommending that its members join Nazi agricultural groups.

German agriculture entered a long period of crisis beginning with the1873 depression. ChancellorOtto von Bismarck introduced protective tariffs on grain imports in 1878 and 1879 in response to surpluses from the United States and Russia that were significantly reducing prices for German farmers.Leo von Caprivi, who succeeded Bismarck in 1890, negotiated trade treaties with a number of European countries and reduced grain tariffs. The moves angered German farmers, particularly the politically powerfulJunker class, many of whose members owned large agricultural states inGermany's Prussian east.^[1][2]

TheGerman Agrarian League (Bund der Landwirte, BdL) was founded in Berlin in 1893 to promote the interests of agriculture in the face of Caprivi's reforms. It began almost immediately to solicit members inLower Bavaria, but the attempt failed because many of the region's farmers were anti-Prussian and distrustful of the nobility that dominated the BdL's leadership. During the remainder of the year a series of regional groups were established across Bavaria. The majority of them came together in 1893 to form the Bavarian Peasants' League (Bayerischer Bauernbund, BB). It was initially more of an umbrella organization for the individual groups than a unified party.^[3]

The BB backed the German Agrarian League in its support of protectionism, but it remained anti-Prussian and Bavarian particularist. It fought for the interests of small and mid-sized farmers and called for large estates to be broken up. Even though its membership was largely Catholic, it opposed the CatholicCentre Party because it supported Caprivi's policies. The BB also went on record against the clericalism of both the Centre and theBavarian People's Party (BVP). It wanted to separate church and state, nationalize the school system and abolish ecclesiastic school supervision. The party came to be labelled the "social democracy of the flatlands".^[4][3][5]

During most of its existence, the BB encompassed views that ranged from far left to far right. Its membership numbers varied considerably because groups regularly split off from the party or joined it. In Lower Bavaria, the party tended to be more radical than in Franconia or Swabia. In 1910, the majority of the Franconian branch joined national agrarian leagues. The split left the BB concentrated in "Old Bavaria" (Upper and Lower Bavaria plus theUpper Palatinate).^[5][3] Estimates of the BB's membership during the imperial period range from about 15,000 in 1896 to 7,000 in 1914. From 1924 to 1933, the number was relatively stable at about 35,000.^[3]

There was a strongantisemitic element in the party during the imperial period. Its 1900 statues barred Jews from joining, and from 1903 to 1907 itsReichstag members were part of a parliamentary interest group (the Economic Association) made up of overtly antisemitic Reichstag parties. In theBavarianLandtag, the BB supported all antisemitic bills that were introduced until 1918. After the Franconians split away in 1910, the BB's antisemitism moderated. The party's staunch support of the Weimar Republic also limited its appeal to anti-Jewish elements in Bavaria after the end ofWorld War I.^[5]

During theGerman revolution of 1918–1919, the Bavarian Peasants' League supportedKurt Eisner and theBavarian Soviet Republic. Under Eisner's direction, Karl Gandorfer, who headed the BB from 1919 to 1932, established a parliamentary farmers' council parallel to theworkers' and soldiers' councils that had taken over across Germany, including in Bavaria. As head of the council, Gandorfer was a member of Eisner's provisional government and filled the 50-member body almost exclusively with members of the BB's left wing.^[3] It served as Bavaria's leading agricultural council until it was replaced by the Bavarian Chamber of Agriculture in March 1920.^[6]BVP members led the chamber until 1925, at which point Karl Prieger of the BB took over until 1933.^[7]

In an attempt to expand its political base into the non-agricultural middle class, the BB changed its name to the Bavarian Peasants' and Small Businesses' League (Bayerischer Bauern- und Mittelstandsbund) in 1922, but it had only limited success. Its best results in the BavarianLandtag came in 1928 when it won 11.5% of the vote and seated 17 members. The BB provided the Bavarian agriculture minister in six cabinets.^[3][8][9]

From 31 March to 22 November 1922,Anton Fehr of the BB was minister of food and agriculture in the national government'ssecond Wirth cabinet, but In theReichstag the party never had more than a minor presence and needed to form alliances with other parties in order to achieve parliamentary strength.^[3] In 1928, the party joined forces with related groups to form theGerman Farmers' Party for Reichstag elections.^[10]

The BB's support dropped sharply in both the BavarianLandtag and the Reichstag elections after 1930. Most of the party's leadership continued to support the Republic after the Nazis came to power in 1933, but many members and lower party officials shifted to theNazi Party or, to a lesser extent, the Bavarian People's Party. On 11 April the BB dissolved and urged its members to join Nazi farmers' organizations.^[3]

Notes

• Hochberger, Anton (1991).Der Bayerische Bauernbund 1893–1914 [The Bavarian Peasants' League 1893–1914] (in German). Münich: Beck.ISBN 978-3-406-10680-4.

• Political parties established in 1870
• Political parties disestablished in 1933
• Agrarian parties in Germany
• Liberal parties in Germany
• Political parties of Bavaria
• Defunct regional parties in Germany
• 1870 establishments in Bavaria
• 1933 disestablishments in Germany
• Bavarian nationalism
• History of agriculture in Germany
• Conservative parties in Germany
• Defunct agrarian political parties in Europe

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