Political Party of Radicals Politieke Partij Radikalen
Abbreviation	PPR
Leader	Jacques Aarden (1968–1972) Bas de Gaay Fortman (1972–1977) Ria Beckers (1977–1989)
Chairperson	Pieter Bogaers (1968–1969) Bram van Ojik (1988–1990)
Founders	Jacques Aarden Pieter Bogaers Harry van Doorn Annie Kessel Paul Janssen
Founded	27 April 1968 (1968-04-27)
Dissolved	31 December 1990 (1990-12-31)
Split from	Catholic People's Party
Merged into	GroenLinks
Headquarters	The Hague
Youth wing	Politieke Partij Radikalen jongeren
Think tank	Centrum voor Staatkundige Vorming
Ideology	Christian left Green politics Progressivism
Political position	Left-wing[1]
National affiliation	Rainbow (1989–1990)
European Parliament group	Rainbow Group
Colours	Dark blue
Politics of the Netherlands Political parties Elections

ThePolitical Party of Radicals (Dutch:Politieke Partij Radikalen, PPR) was aprogressive Christian^[2] (radicaal-christelijke^[3]) andgreenpolitical party in the Netherlands. The PPR played a relatively small role in Dutch politics and merged with other left-wing parties to formGroenLinks in 1991.

The foundation of the PPR is linked to formation of theDe Jong cabinet and theChristian Democratic Appeal (CDA).

After the1967 general election, it became clear that acentre-right cabinet would be formed by theAnti-Revolutionary Party (ARP) andChristian Historical Union (CHU), theCatholic People's Party (KVP) and thePeople's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD).Progressive forces within the KVP and ARP had hoped for the formation of acentre-left cabinet with theLabour Party (PvdA) without the participation of the CHU and the VVD.

In March 1967, a group of "regret voters" (ARP members who regretted voting ARP) published an advertisement in the Protestant newspaperTrouw, aimed at the leadership of the party. They claimed that the left-wing, so calledevangelisch-radicaal, ideal of the ARP could not be realised in a cabinet with the VVD. In April, the group began to meet regularly with dissidents from the KVP in the Hotel Americain, which gave the group the name "Americain Group". The group includedWilhelm de Gaay Fortman, prominent ARP politician, his sonBas de Gaay Fortman,Jo Cals, former KVP prime minister, andRuud Lubbers, member of the KVP and futureprime minister. In May, the group became a formal organisation, the Working Group Christian Radicals, which was oriented at making their mother parties more progressive. They had some success in the KVP, which was seeking new allies and a new image, after it had lost the1967 general election.

In February 1968, the leaders of the KVP,Norbert Schmelzer, ARP,Barend Biesheuvel and CHU,Jur Mellema made a public appearance, stating that the three parties wanted to work together more closely. The cooperation would eventually lead to the formation of theChristian Democratic Appeal (CDA) in 1974. With that appearance, the hopes of the Christian Radicals within the KVP that a progressive alliance with the Labour Party would be formed were shattered.

On 27 April 1968, part of the group of Catholic radicals left the KVP and formed the Political Party of Radicals (PRP).^[4] Prominent radicals, like Lubbers and Cals, did not join the party. A group of three radical KVP MPs led byJacques Aarden left the KVP parliamentary party and formed their own group-Aarden, the parliamentary party of the PPR. The party is joined by some prominent "regret-voters" from the ARP, most prominently Bas de Gaay Fortman.

The party began to cooperate closely with the Labour Party (PvdA), the newly foundedDemocrats 66 (D66) and initially with the left-wingPacifist Socialist Party (PSP) in the so-called Progressive Accords (PAK). The parties proposed common election manifestos and formed theDen Uyl shadow cabinet. The PSP left the alliance before the negotiations ended, because the alliance was notsocialist enough. The PPR participated in the1971 general election as part of the PAK. The PPR won only two seats, while the PAK as a whole won only 52 seats, a third of parliament. Jacques Aarden led the party in parliament. Some prominent members left the PPR, because they thought the party had failed. Thefirst Biesheuvel cabinet was formed by the ARP, KVP, CHU, VVD and theDemocratic Socialists '70.

In the1972 general election, the parties tried again. The PAK now won 56 seats and the PPR 7. Former ARP politicianBas de Gaay Fortman led the party in the elections. A continuation of the first Biesheuvel cabinet, which fell within one year was excluded. The only possibility was a centre-left government with the PAK parties and the Christian democratic parties. The PAK parties refused this possibility and wanted to form a PAK minority cabinet. A compromise was found in the progressiveDen Uyl cabinet, anextraparliamentary cabinet comprising PvdA, D66 and PPR and progressive individuals from the ARP and the KVP, including former Radicals such as Lubbers and Wilhelm de Gaay Fortman. The PPR supplied two ministers,Harry van Doorn as Minister for Culture, Recreation and Social Work, andBoy Trip asMinister without Portfolio for Science, as well as onestate secretary, Michel van Hulten, for Transport, Public Works and Water Management. The fact that the PPR was cooperating with the ARP and KVP, which many members of the party had just left, led to considerable upheaval within the party. The party convention adopted a resolution stating that the party would not cooperate with these parties in the next cabinet.

Before the 1977 elections, Bas de Gaay Fortman was replaced as political leader byRia Beckers. The election results were especially disastrous: the party lost four seats. This was attributed to the political competition between PvdA Prime MinisterJoop den Uyl and his Christian Democrat competitorDries van Agt, which caused many PPR sympathisers to vote for Den Uyl, and also the anti-KVP/ARP resolution adopted by the convention, which made serious participation in cabinet impossible.

In 1979, following thefirst direct election to the European Parliament, the PRP was involved with theCoordination of European Green and Radical Parties (CEGRP) and its unsuccessful efforts to create a single pan-European platform for green and radical politics.^[5]

In the early 1980s, the placement of Americannuclear weapons became an important political issue. The PPR was involved in the organisation of national demonstrations against nuclear weapons and more than 80% of the members of the PPR attended one of the twomass protests against the placement nuclear weapons of 1981 and 1983.^[6]

The party began to debate its political course: some members (known as the Godebald-group) wanted to continue cooperation with the PvdA. Many of the party's founders and former ministers, such asErik Jurgens were part of this group. Others wanted to cooperate with the Pacifist Socialist Party and theCommunist Party of the Netherlands. They were called the Wageningen Group. Another group wanted to reform the party's course and continue as an independent green party:Bas de Gaay Fortman and formerProvo andKabouterRoel van Duijn were important exponents of this group. At the party convention of 1981, the party voted on these options, which were colour-coded: the Red option (cooperation with the PSP and CPN), the Blue option (cooperation with D66 and the PvdA) and the Green option (independent green party). An alliance was struck between the Reds and Greens. The party decided to break its alliance with D66 and the PvdA and try to form an alliance with the PSP and CPN, which would have a strong green identity. In the1981 general election it kept its three seats. After the election a CDA–PvdA–D66 cabinet was formed – a continuation of theDen Uyl cabinet without the PPR. The cabinet fell after several months in the subsequent1982 election where the party lost one seat. In 1985 CDA dissident Stef Dijkman joined the PPR parliamentary party. He had split from the CDA in 1983 together with Nico Sholten, who joined the PvdA parliamentary party.

In the 1980s, the cooperation between PPR, CPN and PSP began to take shape. The parties cooperated mainly in municipal and provincial elections and councils, because a higher percentage of votes is necessary to gain seats in such elections. The three parties contested the1984 European Parliament election with a combined candidate list with the nameGreen Progressive Accord. They won one seat, which rotated between the PSP and PPR. Party members also met each other in grassroots extraparliamentary protest againstnuclear power and nuclear weapons. Both the PSP and CPN were unwilling to cooperate intensively with the PPR, which was slightly larger in seats and which they saw as a non-socialist party.

In 1989, the PSP initiated talks with the PPR and the PSP. Their initiative was supported by an open letter from members oftrade unions,environmental movements and the arts which called for one progressive formation to the left of the PvdA. After long negotiations, which were pressured by the fall of thesecond Lubbers cabinet and the subsequent earlier elections, the party entered in the1989 general election as part of GroenLinks. They were joined by theEvangelical People's Party (EVP). Ria Beckers waslead candidate and she became chair of the GroenLinks parliamentary party. In 1991 the PPR dissolved itself into GroenLinks when GroenLinks became a formal political party.^[2] In the same year, GroenLinks' only MEP, former PPR-chair, Verbeek announced that he would not give up his seat in the European Parliament, to allow a former member of the PSP to enter the European Parliament. He would continue as an independent and would be lead candidate forThe Greens in the1994 European election, without success.

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The PPR left a considerable mark on GroenLinks. In particular the green, environmentalist ideals of the PPR still play an important role.

The name "Political Party of Radicals" referenced the origin of the party, it was founded by the so-calledChristian Radicals: progressive Catholics. Because they wanted to open their party to all Christians as well as to non-Christians, the dropped the reference to Christianity in their name.

The party did not have a manifesto of principles, instead election manifestos which addressed current issues guided the party's behaviour.

Although the party had Christian roots, it denounced a direct relationship between religion and politics. The party can be seen as an earlygreen party with apost-materialist agenda consisting ofenvironmental protection,third worlddevelopment,nuclear disarmament,democratisation of the economy andgrass roots democracy. The party favoured the implementation of abasic income.

During its existence, the party changed from a Christian ally of theLabour Party (PvdA) with its roots in the Catholictrade union movement to a party on the left of the PvdA with links to the environmental movement. Several decisions were important in this, but especially the 1981 congress in which the party decided not to cooperate, but try to found apolitical alliance left of the PvdA with a green program.

Election	Lead candidate	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Government
1971	various[a]	116,065	1.8	2 / 150	New	Opposition
1972	Bas de Gaay Fortman	354,829	4.8	7 / 150	5	In government
1977	Ria Beckers	140,910	1.7	3 / 150	4	Opposition
1981		171,042	2.0	3 / 150	0	Opposition
1982		136,446	1.7	2 / 150	1	Opposition
1986		115,203	1.3	2 / 150	0	Opposition

This table the PPR's results in elections to theSenate,European Parliament 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. It also possible that the leader of the PPR is a member of cabinet, therefore its participation in cabinets is also listed: if the PPR was in cabinet the highest ranking minister is listed. The membership of PPR and the party chair is also represented.

*: elected on combined PvdA/PPR lists (estimate).**: elected on combined PPR/CPN/PSP or PPR/PSP lists (estimate).***: cooperating in GroenLinks parliamentary parties.

The PPR supplied severalmunicipal andprovincial councillors. In the 1970s it also cooperated in theNorth Hollandprovincial executive and in several local executives such as Amsterdam.

In the following figure one can see the election results of the provincial election of 1982 per province. It shows that the support for the party was distributed equally throughout the country, with a slight tendency to the West (North, Utrecht and South Holland) and South (Brabant and Limburg).

*: elected on combined PvdA/PPR lists (estimate).**: elected on combined PPR/CPN/PSP or PPR/PSP lists (estimate).

The PPRs electorate consisted of young, well educated voters, who often had a Catholic or Protestant background. The electorate was slightly more concentrated in the West (North, Utrecht and South Holland) and South (Brabant and Limburg).

The highest organ of the PPR was theparty convention, which convened once a year. It appointed the party board, decided the order of candidates on candidate lists for the House of Representatives, Senate and European Parliament and had the final say over the party programme.

The PPR published its own magazine which was calledRadicals Paper (Dutch:Radikalenkrant) between 1968 and 1973 and 1982 and 1990 andPPR Action Paper (Dutch:PPR aktiekrant; PPRAK) between 1973 and 1981.

The PPR's youth was organised in thePolitical Party of Radicals Youth (Dutch:Politieke Partij Radicalen Jeugd; PPRJ). In 1991 the PPRJ merged intoDWARS GroenLinks youth.

In the 1980s the scientific institute of the PPR cooperated strongly with the scientific institutes of the PSP and CPN. They publishedDe Helling together since 1987. TheRode Draad was published since 1985 it was a magazine for municipal and provincial councillors of both the PSP, PPR and CPN.

Since 1979 the party cooperated with other green and left-wing parties in organisations likeGrael, which later became theEuropean Green Party.

Cooperation was an important theme for the PPR as the party was founded as a party ofleft-wing Christians who wanted to cooperate with the PvdA, which later became committed to forming a political alliance left of the PvdA.

Between 1971 and 1977 the relations with PvdA and Democrats 66 were especially close. The three parties formed the core of theDen Uyl cabinet. After the elections of 1977, when the PPR lost a lot of seats, and 1981 when the PPR was excluded from thesecond Van Agt cabinet.

The relations with the CPN and PSP started out badly, as the CPN and the PSP saw the party as a reformist, non-socialist party. After 1981, when the PPR had committed itself to extraparliamentary protest, the relations with the reforming CPN and PSP became better. In 1989 this resulted in the formation ofGroenLinks.

• Rainbow (Netherlands)

• Political Party of Radicals
• 1968 establishments in the Netherlands
• 1991 disestablishments in the Netherlands
• Christianity and environmentalism
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• Christian radicals
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• Defunct political parties in the Netherlands
• Green political parties in the Netherlands
• GroenLinks
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