Liberal Party (redirected from Liberal parties)

Liberal party, Canadian political party

Liberal party, Canadian political party. Prior to confederation in 1867, reform parties advocating greater local participation in provincial governments, free trade, and increased separation of church and state existed in Canada West, Canada East, and the Maritime Provinces. After 1867 although the provincial reform parties dominated local politics in several provinces, they had problems establishing a viable national party. The only Liberal prime minister in the first three decades after Confederation was Alexander Mackenzie. The lack of a strong base in Quebec hampered national Liberal party efforts. However, opposition in Quebec to the execution of French-Canadian rebel Louis Riel, and the success of Wilfrid Laurier in moderating the traditional anticlericalism of the Quebec Liberal party, paved the way to national success. As prime minister at the turn of the century, Laurier provided the model for future Liberal party successes by forging a broad coalition based on an English-French alliance that appealed to middle-class interests. For most of the 20th cent., the Liberal party dominated Canadian politics. William Lyon Mackenzie King's long tenure as Liberal prime minister during most of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s successfully encompassed the diverse and sometimes contradictory interests of a wide English and French constituency. Under King's Liberal successor, Louis St. Laurent, the party lost most of its base in the western provinces. Under Lester Pearson, the party slowly rebuilt its electoral base, although for much of his tenure as prime minister in the 1960s he headed a minority government. Bilingualism, constitutional questions, and the status of Quebec dominated the tenure of Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who was succeeded briefly as prime minister by John Turner in 1984. Turner remained leader of the Liberal party until 1990, when he was briefly replaced by Herb Grey; later that year Jean Chrétien became Liberal party leader. In 1993 dissatisfaction with the economy returned the Liberals to power; they remained in power against a divided opposition after the 1997 and 2000 elections. Paul Martin became party leader and prime minister in 2003 and, despite being hurt by scandals, the Liberals remained in office as a minority government after the 2004 elections. In the 2006 elections the Liberals were again hurt by scandal. The Conservatives won a plurality of the seats, and Martin resigned as Liberal leader; Stéphane Dion succeeded him in the post.

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Liberal party, former British political party

Liberal party, former British political party, the dominant political party in Great Britain for much of the period from the mid-1800s to World War I.

Origins

The Liberal party was an outgrowth of the Whig party that, after the Reform Bill of 1832 (see Reform Acts), joined with the bulk of enfranchised industrialists and business classes to form a political alliance that, over the next few decades, came to be called the Liberal party. Much of the Liberal program was formulated by an important manufacturing middle-class element of the party known as the Radicals, who were strongly influenced by Jeremy Bentham. The Liberals distinguishing policies included free trade, low budgets, and religious liberty. Their anti-imperialism reflected confidence in Britain's economic supremacy. Most Liberals believed in the economic doctrines of laissez-faire and thought labor unions, factory acts, and substantial poor relief a threat to rapid industrialization.

Achievements in Power

Lord John Russell is credited with originating the party's name, and his government of 1846 is sometimes described as the first Liberal ministry. Whig peers like Lord Melbourne and Lord Palmerston, upholding the principle of aristocratic government, prevented further franchise reforms for over 30 years after the 1832 act. But Lord John Russell, William Gladstone, and John Bright (one of the Radicals) fought stubbornly for electoral reforms, even though the newly enfranchised masses might then insist on labor legislation opposed by the party. These leaders provided the impetus for the Reform Bill that their Conservative opponents passed in 1867.

The laissez-faire outlook and hegemony of the Liberal party were challenged in the last quarter of the 19th cent. When the party's program of electoral reform reached completion in 1884, Gladstone took up Irish Home Rule as a new cause. However, during the long period of depression from 1873 to 1893, many businessmen began to demand closer imperial ties. Because of the Home Rule issue, a large segment of businessmen, led by Joseph Chamberlain, along with English owners of Irish land, left the Liberal party in 1886 to form the Liberal-Unionists, who allied themselves with the Conservative party.

In losing office, the divided Liberals became stronger advocates of labor legislation. They came to depend more heavily upon the support of special groups like the Irish, labor, and nonconformists. The party was once more victorious in 1892 and again, under Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, in 1906. Herbert Asquith (see Oxford and Asquith, Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st earl of), a Liberal imperialist, became prime minister in 1908, to be followed by the flamboyant David Lloyd George during World War I.

Decline

By 1914 the Liberal government had passed substantial welfare legislation but, unwilling to adopt a full socialist program, the Liberals began to lose support to the new Labour party. The party's stubborn adherence to the doctrine of free trade, arguments between the Lloyd George and Asquith factions of the party, long years of depression, the Irish problem, growing labor radicalism, and the rise of a working-class party all account for the rapid postwar decline of the Liberals.

During the 1920s they were still a strong element in Parliament, and several, notably Sir John Simon, were members of the National government of the 1930s. During the 30s, however, their parliamentary representation fell rapidly, and in no election between the end of World War II and the 1980s did they return more than a handful of candidates. In 1981 the Liberal party entered into an alliance with the newly formed Social Democratic party; together they won 22 seats in the House of Commons in 1987. In 1988 the parties merged to become the Social and Liberal Democratic party (now the Liberal Democrats).

Bibliography

See R. B. McCallum, The Liberal Party from Earl Grey to Asquith (1963); T. Wilson, The Downfall of the Liberal Party, 1914–1935 (1966); R. I. Douglas, The History of the Liberal Party, 1895–1970 (1971); R. Eccleshall, British Liberation (1986).

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Liberal party, U.S. political party

Liberal party, in U.S. history, political party formed in 1944 in New York City by a group of anti-Communist trade unionists and liberals who withdrew from the American Labor party when that party became pro-Communist. Among those responsible for its creation was Reinhold Niebuhr. The original party platform called for a strong United Nations, extended civil rights, and support of the American trade-union movement. Rather than attempting to elect its own candidates, the Liberal party generally seeks to influence the candidate choice of the major parties by promises of support or nonsupport. Although the party operates almost entirely in New York state, its endorsement of presidential candidates is sometimes significant. In its first year of existence it was responsible for Franklin Delano Roosevelt's carrying New York state and in the 1960 presidential election it provided New York's margin of victory for John F. Kennedy. In state and local elections the party sometimes nominates its own candidates. In 1969, John Lindsay, having lost the Republican nomination, won reelection as mayor of New York City on the Liberal ticket; the Liberal party has also elected its own U.S. congressman, a president of the New York City Council, and numerous other local officials. Although the Liberal party has generally supported Democratic candidates, it claims to stand for broader social and economic reforms than the Democratic party. Criticized for having too close ties with the Democratic party, its support of John Lindsay, the Republican mayoral candidate in 1965, and of Republican Senator Jacob Javits, tended to quell such criticism. In 1980 it split the progressive vote when Alfonse D'Amato won the Republican endorsement and Javits ran as a Liberal. Since the 1980 election the party has largely declined in political importance in New York State.

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Liberal Party

British political party that emerged in the mid-19th century as the successor to the Whigs. It was the major party in opposition to the Conservative Party until 1918, after which it was supplanted by the Labour Party. It was initially supported by the middle class that was enfranchised by the Reform Bill of 1832. Earl Russell's administration in 1846 is sometimes regarded as the first Liberal government, but the first unequivocally Liberal government was formed in 1868 by William E. Gladstone. Under Gladstone, until 1894, the party's hallmark was reform; after 1884 it espoused Irish Home Rule. It championed individualism, private enterprise, human rights, and promotion of social justice; wary of imperial expansion, it was pacific and internationalist. During World War I it split into two camps, centred on H.H. Asquith and David Lloyd George. It continued as a minor party until 1988, when it merged with the Social Democratic Party to form the Liberal Democratic Party.

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Liberal Party

1. one of the former major political parties in Britain; in 1988 merged with the Social Democratic Party to form the Social and Liberal Democrats; renamed the Liberal Democrats in 1989

2. one of the major political parties in Australia, a conservative party, generally opposed to the Labor Party

3. one of the major political parties in Canada, generally representing viewpoints between those of the Progressive Conservative Party and the New Democratic Party

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Liberal Party 

(Liberalna Partiia), a party in Bulgaria founded in 1879 during discussions of a draft constitution for the Bulgarian principality at the Turnovo Constituent Assembly.

The leaders of the Liberal Party were P. Karavelov, P. Slaveikov, D. Tsankov, V. Radoslavov, and S. Stambolov. It joined together representatives of the peasantry, petite and middle bourgeoisie, and intelligentsia. In contradistinction to the Conservative Party, the Liberal Party sought the adoption of a democratic constitution. The ruling party from March 1880 to April 1881, it passed a number of important laws (including laws on administrative, judicial, and financial questions and on the organization of a system of education). After the coup d’etat of Apr. 27, 1881, carried out by Alexander of Battenberg, and the abolition of the Turnovo Constitution of 1879, the Liberal Party led the fight for the restoration of the constitution. During the 1880’s it split into a number of factions, which formed independent parties in the late 1880’s and 1890’s: the Democratic Party (Karavelists), the Popular Liberal Party (Stambolovists), the Progressive Liberal Party (Tsankovists), and the Liberal Party of Radoslavov (Radoslavists). From 1899 to 1901 and 1913 to 1918 the Liberal Party of Radoslavov (in coalition with the Popular Liberal and Young Liberal parties) was in power. The chauvinistic, pro-German policies of the Radoslavists helped to draw Bulgaria into the Second Balkan War (June-August 1913) and then, on the side of Germany, into World War I. In 1920 the Liberal Party of Radoslavov joined the National Liberal Party, which was founded in 1920 and collapsed in the early 1930’s.

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Liberal Party 

(To Komma Ton Philelentheron), a party in Greece founded in 1910 by E. Venizelos.

The Liberal Party represented the interests of the big commercial-industrial bourgeoisie and powerful landowners. The party was in power in the years 1910–15 (with interruptions), 1916–20, 1924–25 (with interruptions), 1926–28 (in a coalition with the Progressive Party), 1928–32, 1933, 1944, 1945–46, 1947–49, and 1950–51. Between 1910 and 1915, Prime Minister Venizelos (leader of the Liberal Party from 1910 to 1935) carried out moderate tax, land, and administrative reforms. He participated in the creation of the Balkan Alliance of 1912. During World War I the Liberal Party was on the side of the Entente. Party leaders drew Greece into the anti-Soviet intervention (January-April 1919) and an annexationist war against Turkey (1919–22). They facilitated the restoration of the monarchy (October 1935) and the establishment of a fascist dictatorship (Aug. 4, 1936). During the occupation of Greece by fascist German forces (1941–44) the leaders of the Liberal Party adopted a wait-and-see attitude. Liberals constituted the core of the Center Union (founded in 1961), which was in power from 1963 to 1965.

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Liberal Party 

(Szabadelvü Párt; also known as the 1867 Party), a party in Hungary founded on Mar. 1, 1875, through the unification of Deák’s Party and the Left Center Party (founded in 1867), headed by K. Tisza, who became the leaders of the Liberal Party.

The Liberal Party represented the interests of the middle-level and large landowners and the big bourgeoisie of Hungary. Party policy was directed toward the continuation of the Austro-Hungarian Agreement of 1867 (the source of the name “1867 Party”); this agreement transformed the Hapsburg empire into a dual monarchy, opened the way to Magyarization of the national minorities, and was the basis for imperialist expansion in the Balkans. The party supported the alliance of the Hapsburg monarchy with Germany. The Liberal Party was in power from 1875 to 1905. Defeated in the parliamentary elections of January 1905, the party dissolved itself (Apr. 11, 1906). The National Labor Party, which was founded in 1910 (and existed until October 1918 under the leadership of I. Tisza), was the de facto successor of the Liberal Party. It was in power from 1910 to 1918.

REFERENCES

Islamov, T. M. Politicheskaia bor’ba v Vengrii v nachale XX v. Moscow, 1958.
Kondor, Viktoria M. Az 1875—öpártfúzió. Budapest, 1959.