Political Party of Radicals
Political Party of Radicals Politieke Partij Radikalen | |
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Elections |
The Political Party of Radicals (
History
Before 1968
The foundation of the PPR is linked to formation of the De Jong cabinet and the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA).
After the
In March 1967 a group of "regret voters" (ARP-members who regretted voting ARP) published an advertisement in the Protestant newspaper
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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 co-operation would eventually lead to the formation of the Christian 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.
1968–1977
On 27 April 1968 part of the group of Catholic radicals left the KVP and formed the Political Party of Radicals (PRP).
The party began to co-operate closely with the Labour Party (PvdA), the newly founded Democrats 66 (D66) and initially with the left-wing Pacifist Socialist Party (PSP) in the so-called Progressive Accords (PAK). The parties proposed common election manifestos and formed a shadow cabinet. The PSP left the alliance before the negotiations ended, because the alliance was not socialist enough. The PPR participated in the 1971 general election as part of the PAK. The PPR won only two seats, while the PAK wins only 52 seats, a third of parliament. Jacques Aarden led the party in parliament. Some prominent members left the PPR, because they think the party has failed. The Biesheuvel cabinet was formed by the ARP, KVP, CHU, VVD and the Democratic Socialists '70.
In the
1977–1989
Before the 1977 elections Bas de Gaay Fortman was replaced as political leader by Ria Beckers. The election results were especially disastrous: the party lost four seats: this is attributed to the political competition between PvdA Prime Minister Joop den Uyl and his Christian Democrat competitor Dries van Agt, which caused many PSP-sympathisers to vote for Den Uyl, and also the anti-KVP/ARP resolution adopted by the congress, which made serious participation in cabinet impossible.
In 1979, following the first direct elections to the European Parliament, the PRP was involved with the Coordination 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 American nuclear 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 two mass 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 co-operation with the PvdA. Many of the party's founders and former ministers, such as Erik Jurgens were part of this group. Others wanted to co-operate with the Pacifist Socialist Party and the Communist 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 former Provo and Kabouter Roel van Duijn were important exponents of this group. At the party congress of 1981 the party voted on these options, which were colour-coded: the Red option (cooperation with the PSP and CPN), the Blue option (co-operation with the 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 the 1981 general election it kept its three seats. After the elections a CDA/PvdA/D66 cabinet was formed – a continuation of the Den Uyl cabinet without the PPR. The cabinet fell after several months in the subsequent 1982 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 co-operated mainly in municipal and provincial elections and legislatures, because a higher percentage of votes is necessary to gain seats in such elections. In the 1984 European election the PPR, CPN and PSP formed the Green Progressive Accord that entered with one list in the European elections. They won one seat, which rotated between the PSP and PPR. Party-members also met each other in grassroots extraparliamentary protest against nuclear power and nuclear weapons. Both the PSP and CPN were unwilling to co-operate intensively with the PPR, which was slightly larger in seats and which they saw as a non-socialist party.
After 1989
In 1989 the PSP initiated talks with the PPR and the PSP. Their initiative was supported by an open letter from members of
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Green politics |
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The PPR left a considerable mark on GreenLeft. In particular the green, environmentalist ideals of the PPR still play an important role.
Name
The name "Political Party of Radicals" referenced the origin of the party, it was founded by the so-called Christian 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.
Ideology and issues
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 early
During its existence the party changed from a Christian ally of the
Representation
This table the PPR's results in elections to the
Year | HoR
|
S
|
EP | SP
|
Lijsttrekker
|
Fractievoorzitter
|
Party Chair
|
Membership | Cabinet |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1968 | 3* | 0 | n/a | 0 | no elections | Jacques Aarden
|
Pieter Bogaers | 2000 | opposition |
1969 | 3* | 1 | n/a | 0 | no elections | Jacques Aarden | Erik Jurgens | 3000 | opposition |
1970 | 0 | 1 | n/a | 9+9** | no elections | Jacques Aarden | J.J.G Tonnaer | 4000 | opposition |
1971 | 2 | 2 | n/a | 9+9** | Multiple including Jacques Aarden and Bas de Gaay Fortman | Jacques Aarden | D. Coppes | 4284 | opposition |
1972 | 7 | 2 | n/a | 9+9** | Bas de Gaay Fortman | Bas de Gaay Fortman | D. Coppes | 3800 | Harry van Doorn |
1973 | 7 | 2 | n/a | 9+9** | no elections | Bas de Gaay Fortman | W. van dam | 6300 | Harry van Doorn |
1974 | 7 | 4 | n/a | 32+2** | no elections | Bas de Gaay Fortman | Ria Beckers | 11000 | Harry van Doorn |
1975 | 7 | 4 | n/a | 32+2** | no elections | Bas de Gaay Fortman | Ria Beckers | 12800 | Harry van Doorn |
1976 | 7 | 4 | n/a | 32+2** | no elections | Bas de Gaay Fortman | Ria Beckers | 131000 | Harry van Doorn |
1977 | 3 | 5 | n/a | 32+2** | Ria Beckers | Ria Beckers | Herman Verbeek | 134000 | opposition |
1978 | 3 | 5 | n/a | 6+2** | no elections | Ria Beckers | Herman Verbeek | 12600 | opposition |
1979 | 3 | 5 | n/a | 6+2** | no elections | Ria Beckers | Herman Verbeek | 12325 | opposition |
1980 | 3 | 3 | n/a | 6+2** | no elections | Ria Beckers | Herman Verbeek | 11500 | opposition |
1981 | 3 | 1 | n/a | 6+2** | Ria Beckers | Ria Beckers | Wim de Boer | 11567 | opposition |
1982 | 2 | 1 | n/a | 11+1**+3*** | Ria Beckers | Ria Beckers | Wim de Boer | 11063 | opposition |
1983 | 2 | 1 | n/a | 11+1**+3*** | no elections | Ria Beckers | Wim de Boer | 8934 | opposition |
1984 | 2 | 1 | 1*** | 11+1**+3*** | no elections | Ria Beckers | Wim de Boer | 8305 | opposition |
1985 | 3**** | 1 | 1*** | 11+1**+3*** | no elections | Ria Beckers | J. van der Plaat | 7848 | opposition |
1986 | 2 | 2 | 1*** | 11+1**+4*** | Ria Beckers | Ria Beckers | J. van der Plaat | 6151 | opposition |
1987 | 2 | 1 | 0*** | 10+3*** | no elections | Ria Beckers | J. van der Plaat | 5901 | opposition |
1988 | 2 | 1 | 0*** | 10+3*** | no elections | Ria Beckers | Bram van Ojik | 5785 | opposition |
1989 | 2***** | 1***** | 1***** | 13***** | Ria Beckers #1 of the GreenLeft
|
Ria Beckers leader of GreenLeft |
Bram van Ojik | 5823 | opposition |
1990 | 2***** | 1***** | 1***** | 13***** | no elections | Ria Beckers | Bram van Ojik | unknown | opposition |
*: Group Van Aarden, who split from the Catholic People's Party in 1968; no formal ties with the PPR. **: elected on combined PvdA/PPR lists (estimate). ***: elected on combined PPR/CPN/PSP or PPR/PSP lists (estimate). ****: joined by group Dijkman. *****: cooperating in GreenLeft parliamentary parties.
Municipal and Provincial Government
The PPR supplied several
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).
Province | Result (seats) |
---|---|
Groningen | 1 |
Friesland
|
1** |
Drenthe | 1** |
Overijssel | 1 |
Gelderland | 2 |
Utrecht | 1* |
North Holland | 2 |
South Holland | 2** |
Zeeland | 1 |
North Brabant | 1 |
Limburg | 2 |
*: elected on combined PvdA/PPR lists (estimate). **: elected on combined PPR/CPN/PSP or PPR/PSP lists (estimate).
Electorate
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).
Organisation
Organisational structure
The highest organ of the PPR was the
Linked organisations
The PPR published its own magazine which was called Radicals Paper (Dutch: Radikalenkrant) between 1968 and 1973 and 1982 and 1990 and PPR Action Paper (Dutch: PPR aktiekrant; PPRAK) between 1973 and 1981.
The PPRs youth was organised in the Political Party of Radicals Youth (Dutch: Politieke Partij Radicalen Jeugd; PPRJ) In 1991 the PPRJ merged into DWARS GreenLeft youth.
In the 1980s the scientific institute of the PPR cooperated strongly with the scientific institutes of the PSP and CPN. They published De Helling together since 1987. The Rode Draad was published since 1985 it was a magazine for municipal and provincial councillors of both the PSP, PPR and CPN.
International cooperation
Since 1979 the party cooperated with other Green and left-wing parties in organisations like
Relationships to other parties
Cooperation has been an important theme for the PPR as the party was founded as party of left-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 the Den Uyl cabinet. After the elections of 1977, when the PPR lost a lot of seats, and 1981 when the PPR was excluded from the second 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 extra-parliamentary protest the relations with the reforming CPN and PSP became better. In 1989 this resulted in the formation of the
Logos
See also
References
- ISBN 978-90-04-26036-8.
- Parlement.com. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-134-84403-6.
- ISBN 978-0-7146-3361-9.
- ISBN 978-1-134-85145-4.
- ^ Lucardie P. et al. Verloren Illusie, Geslaagde Fusie? GroenLinks in Historisch and Politicologische Perspectief 1999, Leiden: DSWO-press; p.45