Progressive People's Party (Germany)

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The Progressive People's Party (German: Fortschrittliche Volkspartei, FVp) was a social liberal party of the late German Empire.

History

It was formed on 6 March 1910 as a merger of Free-minded People's Party, Free-minded Union and German People's Party in order to unify various fragmented liberal groups represented in parliament.

Already during the 1907 federal election, the two Free-minded parties had joined forces supporting Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow, who had promised to implement structural reforms. This disputed Bülow-Block led to the split-off of the left-wing Democratic Union (DV) under Rudolf Breitscheid and Theodor Barth. Nevertheless, after Bülow's resignation in 1909 the major social liberal parties were able to join in an effective union.

The Progressives demanded

The Progressives became a major force in German parliamentarism especially during World War I. Though the circles around Naumann initially defended a German-dominated Mitteleuropa concept, the moderate forces led by Ludwig Quidde demanding peace negotiations prevailed. In July 1917, the party joined with the Social Democratic Party and the Catholic Centre to form the Reichstag majority that would pass the famous Peace Resolution. However, the initiative was not taken up by the government of Chancellor Georg Michaelis. When the Progressive Friedrich von Payer became Vice-Chancellor in November, all opportunities were missed.

The party was disbanded in 1918 after the fall of the empire, with most of its members joining the new German Democratic Party (Deutsche Demokratische Partei) of the Weimar Republic, merging the Progressives with the left wing of the old National Liberal Party.

See also

• Contributions to liberal theory
• Liberal democracy
• Liberalism
• Liberalism in Germany
• Liberalism worldwide
• List of liberal parties