Liberal Party (Greece)

This article is about the historical Liberal Party dissolved in 1961. For the contemporary Liberal Party, see Liberal Party (Greece, modern).

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.

Liberal Party Κόμμα Φιλελευθέρων
Founder	Eleftherios Venizelos
Founded	22 August 1910[1] (115 years ago)
Dissolved	1961 (64 years ago)
Preceded by	Modernist Party (Greece) Barefoot Party (Crete)
Merged into	Centre Union
Ideology	Liberalism[2] Economic Imperialist[3] Fiscal conservatism Patriotism[4] Republicanism Venizelism[2]
Political position	Centre[5]
Politics of Greece Political parties Elections

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 led 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 "Party of the Barefeet" (Κόμμα των Ξυπολήτων) 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.

Caricature of Venizelos with the anchor, symbol of the party

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.

A man posing with a list of National Liberal Club parliamentary candidates for the Athens and Piraeus constituencies, c. 1920.

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)
					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 the 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

See also

• Venizelism
• Eleftherios Venizelos
• History of Modern Greece