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Radicalism (fromFrenchradical) was apolitical movement representing the leftward flank ofliberalism between the late 18th and early 20th century. Certain aspects of the movement were precursors to a wide variety of modern-day movements, ranging fromlaissez-faire[1] tosocial liberalism,social democracy,civil libertarianism, and modernprogressivism.[2][3] This ideology is commonly referred to as "radicalism" but is sometimes referred to asradical liberalism,[4] orclassical radicalism,[5] to distinguish it fromradical politics. Its earliest beginnings are to be found during theEnglish Civil War with theLevellers and later theRadical Whigs.
During the 19th century in the United Kingdom, continental Europe and Latin America, the termradical came to denote a progressive liberal ideology inspired by theFrench Revolution. Radicalism grew prominent during the 1830s in the United Kingdom with theChartists and in Belgium with theRevolution of 1830, then across Europe in the 1840s–1850s during theRevolutions of 1848. In contrast to thesocial conservatism of existing liberal politics, radicalism sought political support for a radicalreform of theelectoral system to widensuffrage. It was also associated with a variety of ideologies and policies, such as liberalism,left-wing politics,direct democracy,republicanism,modernism,atheism,secularism,antimilitarism,civic nationalism, abolition of titles,rationalism,secularism,casual clothing, redistribution ofwealth andproperty, andfreedom of the press.
In 19th-century France, radicalism was originally the extreme left of the day, in contrast to the social-conservative liberalism ofModerate Republicans andOrléanist monarchists and the anti-parliamentarianism of theLegitimists andBonapartists. Until the end of the century, radicals were not organised as a united political party, but they had rather become a significant force in parliament. In 1901, they consolidated their efforts by forming the country's first major extra-parliamentary political party, theRepublican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party, which became the leading party of government during the second half of theFrench Third Republic (until 1940). The success of French Radicals encouraged radicals elsewhere to organize themselves into formal parties in a range of other countries in the late 19th and early 20th century, with radicals holding significant political office in Argentina (Radical Civic Union), Bulgaria (Radical Democratic Party), Denmark (Radikale Venstre), Germany (Progressive People's Party andGerman Democratic Party), Greece (New Party andLiberal Party), Italy (Republican Party,Radical Party,Social Democracy andDemocratic Liberal Party), the Netherlands (Radical League andFree-thinking Democratic League), Portugal (Republican Party), Romania (National Liberal Party), Russia (Trudoviks), Serbia (People's Radical Party), Spain (Reformist Party,Radical Republican Party,Republican Action,Radical Socialist Republican Party andRepublican Left), Sweden (Free-minded National Association,Liberal Party andLiberal People's Party), Switzerland (Free Democratic Party), and Turkey (Republican People's Party[6][7][8][9]). During theinterwar period, European radical parties organized theRadical Entente, their ownpolitical international.
Beforesocialism emerged as a mainstream political ideology, radicalism represented the left wing of liberalism and thus of the political spectrum. As social democrats came to dominate the centre-left in place of classical radicalism, they either re-positioned asconservative liberals or joined forces with social democrats. Thus, European radical parties split (as in Denmark, whereVenstre undertook a conservative-liberal rebranding, whileRadikale Venstre maintained the radical tradition as a coalition partner of the newly-dominantSocial Democrats), took up a new orientation (as in France, where the Radical Party aligned with the centre-right, later causing the split of theRadical Party of the Left) or dissolved (as in Greece, where the heirs ofVenizelism joined several parties, largely eventually finding their way to the social-democraticPASOK). AfterWorld War II, European radicals were largely extinguished as a major political force except in Denmark, France, Italy (Radical Party), and the Netherlands (Democrats 66). Latin America still retains a distinct indigenous radical tradition, for instance in Argentina (Radical Civic Union) and Chile (Radical Party).[citation needed]
The twoEnlightenment philosophies ofliberalism and radicalism both shared the goal of liberating humanity from the remnants of feudalism. However, liberals regarded it as sufficient to establish individual rights that would protect the individual while radicals sought institutional, social/economic, and especially cultural/educational reform to allow every citizen to put those rights into practice. For this reason, radicalism went beyond the demand for liberty by seeking also equality, i.e. universality as inLiberté, Égalité, Fraternité.
In some countries, radicalism represented a minor wing within the Liberal political family, as in the case of England'sRadical Whigs. Sometimes, the radical wing of the liberals were hardline or doctrinaire and in other cases more moderate and pragmatic. In other countries, radicalism had had enough electoral support on its own, or a favourable electoral system or coalition partners, to maintain distinct radical parties such as inSwitzerland andGermany (Freisinn),Bulgaria,Denmark,Italy,Spain and theNetherlands,[10] but alsoArgentina (Radical Civic Union),Chile andParaguay.[11]
Victorian era Britain possessed both trends: In England the Radicals were simply theleft wing of the Liberal coalition, though they often rebelled when the coalition's socially conservativeWhigs resisted democratic reforms, whereas inIreland Radicals lost faith in the ability of parliamentary gradualism to deliver egalitarian and democratic reform and, breaking away from the main body of liberals, pursued a radical-democratic parliamentary republic through separatism and insurrection. This does not mean that all radical parties were formed by left-wing liberals. In French political literature, it is normal to make a clear separation between Radicalism as a distinct political force to the left of Liberalism but to the right of Socialism. Over time, as new left-wing parties formed to address the new social issues, the right wing of the Radicals would splinter off in disagreement with the main Radical family and became absorbed as the left wing of the Liberal family—rather than the other way around, as in Britain and Belgium.
The distinction between Radicals and Liberals was made clear by the two mid-20th-century attempts to create an international for centrist democratic parties. In 1923–24, the French Radicals created anEntente Internationale des Partis Radicaux et des Partis Démocratiques similaires: it was joined by the centre-left Radical parties of Europe, and in the democracies where no equivalent existed—Britain and Belgium—the liberal party was to allowed attend instead. After the Second World War the Radical International was not reformed; instead, a centre-rightLiberal International was established, closer to the conservative-liberalism of the British and Belgian Liberal parties.[12][13][14] This marked the end of Radicalism as an independent political force in Europe, though some countries such as France and Switzerland retained politically important Radical parties well into the 1950s–1960s. Many European parties that are nowadays categorised in the group ofsocial-liberal parties have a historical affinity with radicalism and may therefore be called "liberal-radical".[15]
According toEncyclopædia Britannica, the first use of the termradical in a political sense is generally ascribed to the EnglishparliamentarianCharles James Fox, a leader of the left wing of theWhig party who dissented from the party'sconservative-liberalism and looked favourably upon the radical reforms being undertaken byFrench republicans, such as universal male suffrage. In 1797, Fox declared for a "radical reform" of theelectoral system. This led to a general use of the term to identify all supporting the movement for parliamentary reform.
Initially confined to the upper and middle classes,[citation needed] in the early 19th century "popular radicals" broughtartisans and the "labouring classes" into widespread agitation[citation needed] in the face of harsh government repression. More respectable[citation needed] "philosophical radicals" followed theutilitarian philosophy ofJeremy Bentham and strongly supported parliamentary reform, but were generally hostile to the arguments and tactics of the "popular radicals". By the middle of the century,parliamentary Radicals joined with others in theParliament of the United Kingdom to form theLiberal Party, eventually achieving reform of theelectoral system.
The Radical movement had its beginnings at a time of tension between the American colonies andGreat Britain, with the first Radicals, angry at the state of theHouse of Commons, drawing on theLeveller tradition and similarly demanding improved parliamentary representation. These earlier concepts of democratic and even egalitarian reform had emerged in the turmoil of theEnglish Civil War and the brief establishment of therepublicanCommonwealth of England amongst the vague political grouping known as the Levellers, but with theEnglish Restoration of the monarchy such ideas had been discredited. Although theGlorious Revolution of 1688 had increased parliamentary power with aconstitutional monarchy and theunion of the parliaments broughtEngland andScotland together, towards the end of the 18th century the monarch still had considerable influence over theParliament of Great Britain which itself was dominated by the English aristocracy and by patronage. Candidates for the House of Commons stood asWhigs orTories, but once elected formed shifting coalitions of interests rather than splitting along party lines. Atgeneral elections, the vote was restricted to property owners in constituencies which were out of date and did not reflect the growing importance of manufacturing towns or shifts of population, so that in manyrotten borough seats could be bought or were controlled by rich landowners while major cities remained unrepresented. Discontent with these inequities inspired those individuals who later became known as the "Radical Whigs".
William Beckford fostered early interest in reform in theLondon area. The "Middlesex radicals" were led by the politicianJohn Wilkes, an opponent of war with the colonies who started his weekly publicationThe North Briton in 1764 and within two years had been charged withseditious libel and expelled from the House of Commons. TheSociety for the Defence of the Bill of Rights which he started in 1769 to support his re-election, developed the belief that every man had the right to vote and "natural reason" enabling him to properly judge political issues. Liberty consisted in frequent elections and for the first time middle-class radicals obtained the backing of the London "mob". Middlesex andWestminster were among the few parliamentary constituencies with a large and socially diverse electorate including manyartisans as well as the middle class and aristocracy and along with the county association ofYorkshire led by the ReverendChristopher Wyvill were at the forefront of reform activity. The writings of what became known as the "Radical Whigs" had an influence on theAmerican Revolution.
Major John Cartwright also supported the colonists, even as theAmerican Revolutionary War began and in 1776 earned the title of the "Father of Reform" when he published his pamphletTake Your Choice! advocating annual parliaments, the secret ballot and manhoodsuffrage. In 1780, a draft programme of reform was drawn up byCharles James Fox andThomas Brand Hollis and put forward by a sub-committee of the electors of Westminster. This included calls for the six points later adopted in thePeople's Charter (seeChartists below).
The American Revolutionary War ended in humiliating defeat of a policy which KingGeorge III had fervently advocated and in March 1782 the King was forced to appoint an administration led by his opponents which sought to curb Royal patronage. In November 1783, he took his opportunity and used his influence in theHouse of Lords to defeat a Bill to reform theBritish East India Company, dismissed the government and appointedWilliam Pitt the Younger as his Prime Minister. Pitt had previously called for Parliament to begin to reform itself, but he did not press for long for reforms the King did not like. Proposals Pitt made in April 1785 to redistribute seats from the "rotten boroughs" to London and the counties were defeated in the House of Commons by 248 votes to 174.
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In the wake of theFrench Revolution of 1789,Thomas Paine wroteThe Rights of Man (1791) as a response toEdmund Burke'scounterrevolutionary essayReflections on the Revolution in France (1790), itself an attack onRichard Price's sermon that kicked off the so-called "pamphlet war" known as theRevolution Controversy.Mary Wollstonecraft, another supporter of Price, soon followed withA Vindication of the Rights of Woman. They encouraged mass support for democratic reform along with rejection of themonarchy,aristocracy and all forms of privilege. Different strands of the movement developed, with middle class "reformers" aiming to widen the franchise to represent commercial and industrial interests and towns without parliamentary representation, while "Popular radicals" drawn from the middle class and fromartisans agitated to assert wider rights including relieving distress. The theoretical basis for electoral reform was provided by "Philosophical radicals" who followed theutilitarian philosophy ofJeremy Bentham and strongly supported parliamentary reform, but were generally hostile to the arguments and tactics of the "popular radicals".
In Ireland, theUnited Irishmen movement took another direction, adding to the doctrine of a secular and parliamentary republic inspired by theAmerican andFrench republican revolutions, another doctrine of the French Revolution:civic nationalism. Dismayed by the inability of British parliamentarianism to introduce the root-and-branch democratic reforms desired, Irish Radicals channelled their movement into a republican form of nationalism that would provide equality as well as liberty. This was pursued through armed revolution and often with French assistance atvarious points over the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Popular Radicals were quick to go further than Paine, withNewcastle schoolmasterThomas Spence demanding land nationalisation to redistribute wealth in a penny periodical he calledPig's Meat in a reference toBurke's phrase "swinish multitude". Radical organisations sprang up, such as theLondon Corresponding Society of artisans formed in January 1792 under the leadership of the shoemakerThomas Hardy to call for the vote. One such was theScottishFriends of the People society which in October 1793 held a British convention inEdinburgh with delegates from some of the Englishcorresponding societies. They issued a manifesto demanding universal male suffrage with annual elections and expressing their support for the principles of the French Revolution. The numbers involved in these movements were small and most wanted reform rather than revolution, but for the first time working men were organising for political change.
The government reacted harshly, imprisoning leading Scottish radicals, temporarily suspendinghabeas corpus in England and passing theSeditious Meetings Act 1795 which meant that a license was needed for any meeting in a public place consisting of fifty or more people. Throughout theNapoleonic Wars, the government took extensive stern measures against feared domestic unrest. The corresponding societies ended, but some radicals continued in secret, with Irish sympathisers in particular forming secret societies to overturn the government and encourage mutinies. In 1812,Major John Cartwright formed the firstHampden Club, named after theEnglish Civil War Parliamentary leaderJohn Hampden, aiming to bring together middle class moderates and lower class radicals.
After the Napoleonic Wars, theCorn laws (in force between 1815 and 1846) and bad harvests fostered discontent. The publications ofWilliam Cobbett were influential and at political meetings speakers likeHenry Hunt complained that only three men in a hundred had the vote. Writers like the radicalsWilliam Hone andThomas Jonathan Wooler spread dissent with publications such asThe Black Dwarf in defiance of a series of government acts to curb circulation of political literature. Radical riots in 1816 and 1817 were followed by thePeterloo massacre of 1819 publicised byRichard Carlile, who then continued to fight for press freedom from prison. TheSix Acts of 1819 limited the right to demonstrate or hold public meetings. InScotland, agitation over three years culminated in an attempted general strike and abortive workers' uprising crushed by government troops in the "Radical War" of 1820. Magistrates powers were increased to crush demonstrations by manufacturers and action by radicalLuddites.
To counter the establishedChurch of England doctrine that the aristocratic social order was divinely ordained, radicals supportedLamarckianEvolutionism, a theme proclaimed by street corner agitators as well as some established scientists such asRobert Edmund Grant.
Economic conditions improved after 1821 and theUnited Kingdom government made economic and criminal law improvements, abandoning policies of repression. In 1823,Jeremy Bentham co-founded theWestminster Review withJames Mill as a journal for "philosophical radicals", setting out theutilitarian philosophy that right actions were to be measured in proportion to the greatest good they achieved for the greatest number.Westminster elected two radicals to Parliament during the 1820s.
TheWhigs gained power and despite defeats in theHouse of Commons and theHouse of Lords theReform Act 1832 was put through with the support of public outcry, mass meetings of "political unions" and riots in some cities. This now enfranchised the middle classes, but failed to meet radical demands. The Whigs introduced reforming measures owing much to the ideas of the philosophic radicals, abolishing slavery and in 1834 introducingMalthusianPoor Law reforms which were bitterly opposed by "popular radicals" and writers likeThomas Carlyle. Following the 1832 Reform Act, the mainly aristocratic Whigs in the House of Commons were joined by a small number ofparliamentary Radicals as well as an increased number of middle class Whigs. By 1839, they were informally being called "theLiberal party".
From 1836, working class Radicals unified around theChartist cause of electoral reform expressed in thePeople's Charter drawn up by six members of Parliament and six from theLondon Working Men's Association (associated withOweniteUtopian socialism), which called for six points:universal suffrage, equal-sizedelectoral districts,secret ballot, an end to property qualification for Parliament, pay for Members of Parliament and Annual Parliaments. Chartists also expressed economic grievances, but their mass demonstrations and petitions to parliament were unsuccessful.
Despite initial disagreements, after their failure their cause was taken up by the middle classAnti-Corn Law League founded byRichard Cobden andJohn Bright in 1839 to oppose duties on imported grain which raised the price of food and so helped landowners at the expense of ordinary people.
Theparliamentary Radicals joined with theWhigs andanti-protectionistToryPeelites to form theLiberal Party by 1859. Demand for parliamentary reform increased by 1864 with agitation fromJohn Bright and theReform League.
When the Liberal government led byLord Russell andWilliam Ewart Gladstone introduced a modest bill for parliamentary reform, it was defeated by both Tories and reform Liberals, forcing the government to resign. The Tories underLord Derby andBenjamin Disraeli took office and the new government decided to "dish the Whigs" and "take a leap in the dark" to take the credit for the reform. As a minority government, they had to accept radical amendments and Disraeli'sReform Act 1867 almost doubled the electorate, giving the vote even to working men.
The Radicals, having been strenuous in their efforts on behalf of the working classes, earned a deeply loyal following—British trade unionists from 1874 until 1892, upon being elected to Parliament, never considered themselves to be anything other than Radicals and were labeledLib-Lab candidates. Radical trade unionists formed the basis for what later became theLabour Party.
The territories of modern Belgium had been merged into the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815. Aside from various religious and socioeconomic tensions between the Dutch north and proto-Belgian south, over the 1820s a young generation of Belgians, heavily influenced by French Enlightenment ideas, had formulated criticisms of the Dutch monarchy as autocratic. The monarch enjoyed broad personal powers, his ministers were irresponsible before parliament; the separation of powers was minimal; freedom of press and association were limited; the principle of universal suffrage was undermined by the fact that the largely Catholic south, despite possessing two-thirds of the population, received as many seats to the Estates-General (parliament) as the smaller Protestant north; and the Dutch authorities were suspected of forcing Protestantism onto Catholics. These concerns combined to produce a pro-Catholic Radicalism distinct from both the anticlerical Radicalism of France, and the Protestant Liberalism of the Dutch north.
Following the political crisis of 1829, where the Crown Prince was named prime minister, a limited reform was introduced establishing constitutional rights, similar to the charter of rights of France's autocratic Restoration Monarchy; the Belgian Radicals, like their French counterparts, regarded such a charter of rights as insufficient, potentially revocable by a whim of the monarch. Belgian Radicals closely followed the situation in France when, on 26 July to 1 August 1830, a conservative-liberalrevolution broke out, overthrowing the autocratic monarchy for aliberal constitutional monarchy. Within a month a revolt had erupted in Brussels before spreading to the rest of the Belgian provinces. After Belgian independence, the Constitution of 1831 established a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary regime, and provided a list of fundamental civil rights inspired by the French Declaration of the Right of Man.
As in Britain, Radicals in Belgium continued to operate within the Liberal Party, campaigning throughout the 19th Century for the property-restricted suffrage to be extended. This was extended a first time in 1883, and universal male suffrage was achieved in 1893 (though female suffrage would have to wait until 1919). After this Radicalism was a minor political force in Belgium, its role taken over by the emergence of a powerfulsocial-democratic party.
During the nineteenth century, the Radicals in France were the political group of the far-left, relative to the centre-left "opportunists" (Gambetta: conservative-liberal and republican), the centre-rightOrléanists (conservative-liberal and monarchist), the far-rightLegitimists (anti-liberal monarchist), and the supporters of a republican military dictatorship, theBonapartists.
Following theNapoleonic Wars and until1848, it was technically illegal to advocaterepublicanism openly. Some republicans reconciled themselves to pursuing liberalism through the socially-conservative monarchy—the 'opportunists'. Those who remained intransigent in believing that the French Revolution needed to be completed through a republican regime based on parliamentary democracy and universal suffrage therefore tended to call themselves "Radicals" – a term meaning 'Purists'.
Under the Second Republic (1848–1852), the Radicals, on a platform of seeking a "social and democratic republic", sat together in parliament in a group namedThe Mountain. WhenLouis-Napoléon Bonaparte launched hismilitary coup, Radicals across France rose up in insurrection to defend the democratic republic. This experience would mark French Radicalism for the next century, prompting permanent vigilance against all those who – fromMarshall Mac-Mahon toGeneral De Gaulle – were suspected of seeking to overthrow the constitutional, parliamentary regime.
After the return to parliamentary democracy in 1871, the Radicals emerged as a significant political force: led byGeorges Clemenceau, they claimed that the socially-conservative liberal republicanism ofLéon Gambetta andJules Ferry had drifted away from the ideals of the French Revolution, and that the Radicals were the true heirs to 1791. In 1881, they put forward their programme of broad social reforms: from then on, the tactic of the main Radical Party was to have 'no enemies to the left' of the Republic, allying with any group that sought social reform while accepting the legality of the parliamentary republic.
The Radicals were not yet a political party as they sat together in parliament out of kinship, but they possessed minimal organisation outside of parliament. The first half of the Third Republic saw several events that caused them to fear a far-right takeover of parliament that might end democracy, as Louis-Napoléon had:Marshall Mac-Mahon's self-coup in 1876, theGeneral Boulanger crisis in the 1880s, theDreyfus Affair in the 1890s. The Radicals were swept to power first in acoalition government (1899) then ingovernments of their own from 1902. They finally managed to implement their long-standing programme of reforms, such as theseparation of Church and State, or the introduction ofsecret ballotting. In order to ensure that their legacy would remain unreversed, they unified the local Radical committees into an elector party: theRadical-Socialist Party, the first major modern political party in French history.
Intellectuals played a powerful role. A major spokesman of radicalism wasÉmile Chartier (1868–1951), who wrote under the pseudonym "Alain." He was a leading theorist of radicalism, and his influence extended through the Third and Fourth Republics. He stressed individualism, seeking to defend the citizen against the state. He warned against all forms of power – military, clerical, and economic. To oppose them he exalted the small farmer, the small shopkeeper, the small town, and the little man. He idealized country life and saw Paris as a dangerous font of power.[16]
The Radical–Socialist Party was the main governmental party of theThird Republic between 1901 and 1919, and dominated government again between 1924 and 1926, 1932–1933 and 1937–1940; the centre-right governments dominated by the conservative-liberal centre-right often gave a portfolio to a Radical, who would join cabinet in a personal capacity as the most left-leaning minister.
The party itself was discredited after 1940, due to fact that many (though not all) of its parliamentarians had voted to establish theVichy regime. Under the dictatorship several prominent Radicals, such as the young left-leaning former education ministerJean Zay, and the influential editorialistMaurice Sarraut (brother to the more famous Radical party leaderAlbert), were assassinated bythe regime's paramilitary police, while others, notablyJean Moulin, participated in theresistance movement torestore the Republic.
TheDemocratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance was established afterWorld War II to combine the politics of French Radicalism with credibility derived from members' activism in theFrench resistance.
In the 1950s,Pierre Mendès-France attempted to rebuild the Radical Party as an alternative to both the Christian-democraticMRP, while also leading the opposition toGaullism which he feared to be another attempt at a right-wing coup. During this period the Radicals frequently governed as part of acoalition of centrist parties, spanning from the Socialists to the Christian-democrats.
Ultimately the installation of theFifth Republic in 1958, and the subsequent emergence of a two-party system based on the Socialist and Gaullist movements, destroyed the niche for an autonomous Radical party. The Radical Party split into various tendencies. Its leading personality, Mendès-France himself, left in 1961 in protest at the party's acceptance of De Gaulle's military coup and joined the small social-democraticUnified Socialist Party. A decade later, a second faction advocated maintaining an alliance with the Socialist-dominated coalition of the left; it broke away in 1972 to form theRadical Party of the Left, which maintains close ties to the Socialist Party. The remainder of the original Radical Party became a de facto liberal-conservative party of the centre-right: renamed as the'Valoisien' Radical Party, it advocated alliances with the rest of the liberal centre-right, participating first in the pro-Giscard d'EstaingUnion for French Democracy (1972), then with theconservativeUnion for a Popular Movement (2002).
Irish republicanism was influenced by American and French radicalism. Typical of these classical Radicals are 19th century such as the United Irishmen in the 1790s,Young Irelanders in the 1840s,Fenian Brotherhood in the 1880s, as well asSinn Féin, andFianna Fáil in the 1920s.[17][18]
Japan's radical-liberalism during theEmpire of Japan was dissident because it resisted the government's political oppression of republicanism.Rikken Minseitō, who supported the Empire of Japan's system at the time, were classified as "conservative".[19] Therefore, the radical liberal movement during the Japanese Empire was not separated fromsocialism andanarchism unlike the West at that time.Kōtoku Shūsui was a representative Japanese radical liberal.[20]
After World War II, Japan's left-wing liberalism emerged as a "peace movement" and was largely led by theJapan Socialist Party.[21]
Since Japanese conservatism was influenced byShintoism, Japan's radical liberalism anddemocratic socialism against it were influenced byChristianity.[22]
One of the trends of the American radical movement was theJacksonian democracy, which advocated political egalitarianism among white men.[23]
Radicalism was represented by theRadical Republicans, especially the Stalwarts, more commonly known as Radical Republican. A collection of abolitionist and democratic reformers, some of whom were fervent supporters of trade unionism and in opposition to wage labor such as Benjamin Wade.
Later political expressions of classical Radicalism centered around thePopulist Party, composed of rural western and southern farmers who were proponents of policies such as railroad nationalization, free silver, expansion of voting rights and labor reform.
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In continentalEurope andLatin America, as for instance in France,Italy,Spain,Chile andArgentina (Radical Civic Union), Radicalism developed as an ideology in the 19th century to indicate those who supported at least in theory arepublican form of government, universal male suffrage and, particularly,anti-clerical policies.
In German-speaking countries, this current is known asFreisinn (literally "free mind", or "freethought"), as inGerman Freeminded Party from 1884 to 1893, thenEugen Richter'sFreeminded People's Party; and theFree Democratic Party of Switzerland.
TheFreethinker parties, located mainly in the Netherlands, Scandinavia and German-speaking countries, included:
In Mediterranean Europe, Radical parties were often labelled 'Democratic' or 'Republican' parties:
Radicalism had played a pivotal role in the birth and development of parliamentarism and the construction of the modern Serbian state leading to the Yugoslavian unification. ThePeople's Radical Party formed in 1881 was the strongest political party and was in power in theKingdom of Serbia more than all others together. The 1888 Constitution of the Kingdom of Serbia that defined it as an independent nation and formalised parliamentary democracy was among the most advanced in the entire world due to Radical contribution and it is known asThe Radical Constitution. In 1902, a crack had occurred in which theIndependent Radical Party left and "the Olde" remained in the party, leading the original People's Radical Party to stray far from progressivism and into right-wing nationalism and conservatism. In the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the Independent Radicals united with the rest of the Serbian opposition and the liberal and civic groups in the rest of the new country, forming theYugoslav Democratic Party, while several Republican dissidents formed a Republican Party. The NRS had promoted Serb nationalism and put itself as the defender of Serb national interests. Democrats and Radicals were the dominant political parties, especially since the exclusion of the Communists. Later far-right parties such as theYugoslav Radical Union and theSerbian Radical Party adopted the title "radical" as allusion to NRS.
In Montenegro, aPeople's Party was formed in 1907 as the country's first political party and remained the largest in the period of country's parliamentary history until the Yugoslavian unification. Later, aTrue People's Party was formed, which never got widespread popular support and whose bigger part had joined the original NS, but the difference was not ideological and instead was opposition and support of the Crown and sometimes in foreign relations to Serbia (the clubbists were the crown's dissidents and supporters of the people as well as Serbia as a regional power and brotherly ally—the rightists were generally anti-democratic and autocratic monarchist and also distrustful to the Serbian government's acts on the national plan).
... Yet we are sufficiently outside classical radicalism or classical liberal Utopianism to draw a few conclusions. ...
その結果、政友会、民政党による保守二大政党対立時代が出現した。 (As a result, by the Seiyukai and the Minseito, an era of confrontation between the two conservative major parties had emerged.)
While Kōtoku's audience declined as repression increased, his fame/notoriety first as a radical liberal, then as a socialist and pacifist, and ultimately as an anarcho-communist only grew.
... of the debate is the left/liberal "peace movement" currently led by Japanese academics, including legal scholars, and more recently by students, but which until the end of the Cold War was spearheaded by the Japan Socialist Party.
It is no accident that Japanese radical liberalism and democratic socialism were both closely connected in their beginnings with the Christian movement in Japan. The first Japanese Socialist Party was born in an Americansponsored Christian church in Tokyo, and the majority of its members were Christians with intimate American connections.
... which was one of the recurrent themes in European and in particular American radicalism : Jacksonian democrats were ...
