Liberal Party (Greece)

Liberal Party

Κόμμα Φιλελευθέρων
Liberal Party Κόμμα Φιλελευθέρων
Founder	Eleftherios Venizelos
Founded	22 August 1910; (114 years ago)
Dissolved	1961 (63 years ago)
Preceded by	Modernist Party (Greece); Barefoot Party (Crete)
Merged into	Centre Union
Ideology	Liberalism Economic; Imperialist; National; Greek nationalism; Republicanism; Venizelism
Political position	Centre
	Politics of Greece; Political parties; Elections;

The Liberal Party (Greek: Κόμμα Φιλελευθέρων [ˈkoma filelefˈθeɾon] ^ⓘ, literally "Party of Liberals") was a major political party in Greece during the early-to-mid 20th century. It was founded in August 1910 by Eleftherios Venizelos, winning a landslide victory in the November 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 as Prime Minister for a total of 12 years.

The party's platform was broadly modernising, liberal, social, and nationalist; a set of policies referred to as Venizelism in Greek politics. Though the party contained a social-democratic wing,^[6] it became increasingly anti-communist in the 1920s. Originally ambiguous on the issue of the Greek monarchy, the party became decidedly republican following the National Schism and went on to dominate the Second Hellenic Republic. Among its most well-known members, apart from Venizelos, were Alexandros Papanastasiou, Nikolaos Plastiras, Georgios Papandreou and Konstantinos Mitsotakis.

The party struggled to gain support following the 4th of August Regime and the Second World War, before merging into the Centre Union lead by Georgios Papandreou and other former Liberal Party members. Since its founding, the party used the anchor as an electoral symbol, similar to the one Venizelos had brought with him from Crete.^[7]

History

Founded as the Xipoliton ("barefoot") party in Crete (then an autonomous region of the Ottoman Empire), its early leaders were Kostis Mitsotakis (grandfather of Konstantinos Mitsotakis) and Eleftherios Venizelos. After the annexation of Crete by Greece, Venizelos moved to Athens and turned the party into a national one, under the Fileleftheron (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 the failed coup attempt led by Nikolaos Plastiras of 1935, although the organization remained active.

During World War II, a Greek government in exile was formed in Cairo, Egypt, with the assistance of the British. The government was formed almost entirely of prominent Liberals, including Georgios Papandreou and Sophoklis Venizelos, even as King 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 the Centre Union, which went on to win the 1963 and 1964 elections. Throughout its existence, the Liberal Party sought to hinder the rise of the Communist 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 the Balkan Wars and World War I), sometimes with the use of anti-communist legislation.^[8]^[9]

The Liberal Party merged into Center Union (Enosi Kentrou) in 1961, under the leadership of Georgios 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, see Liberal Party (Greece, modern).

Ideology

Representing the centrist elements of Greek society, and supported by the middle class and the populations of the New Lands, its main competitor was the People's Party. Increasingly the Liberal Party became associated with anti-monarchism and during the 1920s the Liberals established a republic which they led for most of its short-lived existence. The party carried the ideological legacy of Venizelism.

Electoral results

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)
1932	Parliamentary	391,521	33.4	98 / 250	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

Prominent members

(Name, highest office as a party member, year)

Eleftherios Venizelos, leader, Prime Minister (1910)
Georgios Kafantaris, Prime Minister (1924)
Andreas Michalakopoulos, Prime Minister (1924)
Sophoklis Venizelos, Prime Minister (1944)
Georgios Papandreou, Prime Minister (1946)
Konstantinos Mitsotakis, MP (1946)

Leaders

Eleftherios Venizelos, 1910–1936
Themistoklis Sophoulis, 1936–1948
Sophoklis Venizelos, 1948–1961

Splits of Liberal Party

15 April 1922 - 8 May 1929 : Democratic Union.

Leader : Alexandros Papanastasiou

In 1929 the party was renamed the Agricultural and Labour Party ^[12]

25 May 1928 - 28 August 1948 : Progressive Party ^[13]

Leader : Georgios Kafantaris

References

^ Συμπόσιο για τον Ελευθέριο Βενιζέλο. Benaki Museum. 1988. ISBN 9789602010655. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
^ ^a ^b Hatzivassiliou, Evanthis (2010), "Greek Liberalism in the Twentieth Century Dilemmas of Research", The Constantinos Karamanlis Institute for Democracy Yearbook 2010, Springer, p. 124
^ Varnava, Andrekos (2012), "British and Greek Liberalism and Imperialism", Liberal Imperialism in Europe, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 229–235, 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.
^ Roudometof, Victor (2002), Collective Memory, National Identity, and Ethnic Conflict: Greece, Bulgaria, and the Macedonian Question, Praeger Publishers, p. 98
^ The Constantinos Karamanlis Institute for Democracy Yearbook 2010. Springer. 2010. ISBN 9783642123740. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
^ Paschalis M. Kitromilides (2006). Eleftherios Venizelos - The Trials of Statesmanship. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 285–306. ISBN 9780748633647.
^ Helen Gardikas-Katsiadakis (2006). Eleftherios Venizelos - The Trials of Statesmanship. Edinburgh University Press. p. 99. ISBN 9780748633647.
^ Yildirim, Onus (2006). Diplomacy and Displacement: Reconsidering the Turco-Greek Exchange of Populations, 1922-1934. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9780415979825. Retrieved 30 May 2014.
^ Δελτίο Κέντρου Μικρασιατικών Σπουδών. Vol. 9. To Kentro. 1992. Retrieved 30 May 2014.
^ "Register of Senators and Deputies" (PDF). National Printing House, Hellenic Parliament. 1977. Retrieved 28 February 2013.
^ "Register of Senators and Deputies" (PDF). National Printing House, Hellenic Parliament. 1977. Retrieved 28 February 2013.
^ Εισηγείται στο δεύτερο συνέδριο του κόμματος στη Θεσσαλονίκη την οριστική αντικατάσταση του τίτλου «Δημοκρατική Ένωσις» από τον τίτλο «Αγροτικόν και Εργατικόν Κόμμα» (Proposes to the second party congress in Thessalonikithe definitive replacement of the title "Democratic Union" by the "Agricultural and Labour Party".) Nikolaou, Serafeim (2008). Αλέξανδρος Παπαναστασίου. Athens: The Hellenic Parliament Foundation. p. 4.
^ Καραγιάννης, Σωτήρης (1998), "Η αποχή του Προοδευτικού κόμματος από τις εκλογές της 31ης Μαρτίου 1946 και ο αντίκτυπός της στον κεντρώο χώρο", Ο Γεώργιος Καφαντάρης και η εποχή του (1873 - 1946) (Georgios Kafantaris and his era), Καρπενήσι, p. 116{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

[symposio-1] Συμπόσιο για τον Ελευθέριο Βενιζέλο. Benaki Museum. 1988. ISBN 9789602010655. Retrieved 28 May 2014.

[Hatzivassiliou-2] Hatzivassiliou, Evanthis (2010), "Greek Liberalism in the Twentieth Century Dilemmas of Research", The Constantinos Karamanlis Institute for Democracy Yearbook 2010, Springer, p. 124

[3] Varnava, Andrekos (2012), "British and Greek Liberalism and Imperialism", Liberal Imperialism in Europe, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 229–235, 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.

[4] Roudometof, Victor (2002), Collective Memory, National Identity, and Ethnic Conflict: Greece, Bulgaria, and the Macedonian Question, Praeger Publishers, p. 98

[CKID-5] The Constantinos Karamanlis Institute for Democracy Yearbook 2010. Springer. 2010. ISBN 9783642123740. Retrieved 28 May 2014.

[Kitromilides-6] Paschalis M. Kitromilides (2006). Eleftherios Venizelos - The Trials of Statesmanship. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 285–306. ISBN 9780748633647.

[Katsiadakis-7] Helen Gardikas-Katsiadakis (2006). Eleftherios Venizelos - The Trials of Statesmanship. Edinburgh University Press. p. 99. ISBN 9780748633647.

[Yildirim-8] Yildirim, Onus (2006). Diplomacy and Displacement: Reconsidering the Turco-Greek Exchange of Populations, 1922-1934. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9780415979825. Retrieved 30 May 2014.

[Kentro-9] Δελτίο Κέντρου Μικρασιατικών Σπουδών. Vol. 9. To Kentro. 1992. Retrieved 30 May 2014.

[parliament_register_1-10] "Register of Senators and Deputies" (PDF). National Printing House, Hellenic Parliament. 1977. Retrieved 28 February 2013.

[parliament_register_2-11] "Register of Senators and Deputies" (PDF). National Printing House, Hellenic Parliament. 1977. Retrieved 28 February 2013.

[12] Εισηγείται στο δεύτερο συνέδριο του κόμματος στη Θεσσαλονίκη την οριστική αντικατάσταση του τίτλου «Δημοκρατική Ένωσις» από τον τίτλο «Αγροτικόν και Εργατικόν Κόμμα» (Proposes to the second party congress in Thessalonikithe definitive replacement of the title "Democratic Union" by the "Agricultural and Labour Party".) Nikolaou, Serafeim (2008). Αλέξανδρος Παπαναστασίου. Athens: The Hellenic Parliament Foundation. p. 4.

[13] Καραγιάννης, Σωτήρης (1998), "Η αποχή του Προοδευτικού κόμματος από τις εκλογές της 31ης Μαρτίου 1946 και ο αντίκτυπός της στον κεντρώο χώρο", Ο Γεώργιος Καφαντάρης και η εποχή του (1873 - 1946) (Georgios Kafantaris and his era), Καρπενήσι, p. 116{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

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v t e Liberalism in Greece
Ideology	Centrism Modern Greek Enlightenment Republicanism Liberal nationalism Liberal democracy Venizelism Anti-nepotism Megali Idea Human rights Secularism Press freedom Land reform
Political Parties	Constitutional Party Modernist Party Liberal Party National Unionist Party Liberal Democratic Union National Progressive Center Union National Political Union Centre Union Centre Union – New Forces Democratic Centre Union (Greece) Union of the Democratic Centre Liberal Party (modern) Liberal Alliance (Greece) Union of Centrists The River
People	Adamantios Korais Theophilos Kairis Dionysios Solomos Alexandros Mavrokordatos Epameinondas Deligeorgis Charilaos Trikoupis Emmanuel Rhoides Ioannis Psycharis Konstantinos Raktivan Eleftherios Venizelos Pavlos Kountouriotis Nikolaos Plastiras Themistoklis Sofoulis Georgios Kafantaris Nikolaos Politis Georgios Kartalis Dimitrios Psarros Georgios Papandreou Sofoklis Venizelos Ioannis Zigdis Georgios Mavros
Historical events	Greek War of Independence First National Assembly at Epidaurus 3 September 1843 Revolution 23 October 1862 Revolution Theriso revolt Goudi coup Movement of National Defence National Schism 11 September 1922 Revolution 1935 Greek coup d'état attempt Greek Resistance Anti-Junta movement
Policies	Democratic education Free public education Modernization Progressivism