The Free Anti Revolutionary Party (, VAR) was a Dutch

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

Reformed Reform is beneficial change. Reform, reformed or reforming may also refer to: Media * ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang * Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group * ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine Places * Reform, Al ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

, which existed from 1898 to 1903.

Party history

The VAR was founded as one of several parties that were founded in the 1890s, which all turned against the leadership and ideology of

Abraham Kuyper Abraham Kuyper ( , ; 29 October 1837 – 8 November 1920) was the Prime Minister of the Netherlands between 1901 and 1905, an influential neo-Calvinist pastor and a journalist. He established the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands, which upo ...

, the leader of the Protestant Anti Revolutionary Party. Kuyper had initiated a new political course for Protestantism in the Netherlands, which included cooperation with the

Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, in the

coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

, strategical support for extension of suffrage a rejection of

theocracy Theocracy is a form of autocracy or oligarchy in which one or more deity, deities are recognized as supreme ruling authorities, giving divine guidance to human intermediaries, with executive and legislative power, who manage the government's ...

in favour of a specific conception of state neutrality,

sphere sovereignty In neo-Calvinism, sphere sovereignty (), also known as differentiated responsibility, is the concept that each sphere (or sector) of life has its own distinct responsibilities and authority or competence, and stands equal to other spheres of lif ...

and a strong party organization and

party discipline The term party discipline is used in politics in two closely related, yet distinct, meanings. In a broad sense (also known as party cohesion), the discipline is adherence of the party members at large to an agreed system of political norms and ru ...

. The opposition against Kuyper was led by Alexander de Savorin Lohman. The elections of 1894 proved decisive. An important issue in the election was the extension of suffrage proposed by the

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

Johannes Tak van Poortvliet. After the election two anti-revolutionary parliamentary parties were formed one, led by Kuyper favoured the suffrage which was backed by the ARP, while the other led by De Savorin Lohman rejected it. With De Savorin Lohman many aristocrats and noblemen left the ARP, as did adherents of the

Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, , abbreviated NHK ) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the traditional denomination of the Dutch royal famil ...

, as opposed to the

Reformed Churches in the Netherlands The Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (, abbreviated ''Gereformeerde kerk'') was the second largest Protestant church in the Netherlands and one of the two major Calvinist denominations along with the Dutch Reformed Church since 1892 unti ...

, which was founded by Kuyper himself. The group around De Savorin Lohman sought to found a new party. In 1896, they set up a commission to found a new party. In September 1898 the Free Anti Revolutionary Party was founded. In the 1901 elections, the party won nine seats, four more than the five the free Anti Revolutionaries had won as individual candidates in 1897. The religious parties won a majority in this election, a cabinet was formed by ARP leader Kuyper, which the VAR supported without providing any ministers. In 1903, the VAR merged with the

Christian Historical Voters' League The Christian Historical Voters' League (, CHK) was a conservatism, conservative protestant political party in the Netherlands. Party history The CHK was founded in 1897. It was a continuation of the National Party, which was founded in 1888 but ...

to form the Christian Historical Party.

Name

The term anti-revolutionary was used to denote supporters of the main Protestant party, the Anti Revolutionary Party, which denounced the French Revolution. The dissenters against the organizational and political course of the ARP called themselves ''free antirevolutionaries'', implying that they upheld the Anti Revolutionary beliefs without being a member of the strong party organisation.

Ideology and issues

The VAR was a conservative Protestant party. It saw government as a God-given institution, which should act according to Biblical norms. Society should furthermore follow its historical course. Power should not be based on the opinion of the majority but on

authority Authority is commonly understood as the legitimate power of a person or group of other people. In a civil state, ''authority'' may be practiced by legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government,''The New Fontana Dictionary of M ...

. The VAR was formed as a result of dissent within the main Protestant party the Anti Revolutionary Party. Unlike that party the VAR did not recognize

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

as a legitimate religion. The party was strongly anti-papist. According to the VAR the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

was a Protestant nation. As such it was hostile to the Roman Catholic segment of society. It renounced the

between the Protestant Anti Revolutionary Party and the Catholic General League and more generally it rejected the antithesis between religious and non-religious parties. Catholic influences within society should be limited. The VAR advocated limited government. It supported only limited government interference in the economy and instead advocated

charity Charity may refer to: Common meanings * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...

to help the poor. Furthermore, the party opposed general suffrage.

Representation

This table shows the VAR's results in elections to the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

and

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

, as well as the party's political leadership: the fractievoorzitter. It also possible that the party leader is member of cabinet, if the VAR was part of the governing coalition, the "highest ranking" minister is listed.

Electorate

The electorate of the VAR was mainly constituted by adherents of the

from the upper class, especially

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...

land owner Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, re ...

s, high officers and high-ranking civil servants. It won and kept seats in several districts with large reformed populations,

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Zeeland Zeeland (; ), historically known in English by the Endonym and exonym, exonym Zealand, is the westernmost and least populous province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the southwest of the country, borders North Brabant to the east ...

Apeldoorn Apeldoorn (; Dutch Low Saxon: ) is a municipality and city in the province of Gelderland in the centre of the Netherlands. The municipality of Apeldoorn, including the villages of Beekbergen, Loenen (Apeldoorn), Loenen, Ugchelen and Hoenderloo ...

Gelderland Gelderland ( , ), also known as Guelders ( ) in English, is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands, located in the centre-east of the country. With a total area of of which is water, it is the largest province of the Nethe ...

Dokkum Dokkum is a Dutch fortified city in the municipality of Noardeast-Fryslân in the province of Friesland. It has 12,669 inhabitants (February 8, 2020). The fortifications of Dokkum are well preserved and are known as the ''bolwerken'' (bulwarks) ...

Friesland Friesland ( ; ; official ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia (), named after the Frisians, is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen (p ...

and

Katwijk Katwijk () is a coastal municipality and town in the province of South Holland, which is situated in the mid-western part of the Netherlands. The Oude Rijn (Utrecht and South Holland), Oude Rijn ("Old Rhine") river flows through the town and i ...

and

Schiedam Schiedam () is a large town and municipality in the west of the Netherlands. It is located in the Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan area, west of the city Rotterdam, east of the town Vlaardingen and south of the city Delft. In the south, Schi ...

South Holland South Holland ( ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.8 million as of January 2023 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely populated areas. ...

References

{{Defunct political parties in the Netherlands Protestant political parties Defunct political parties in the Netherlands Confessional parties in the Netherlands Political parties established in 1898 Political parties disestablished in 1903 Defunct Christian political parties Conservative parties in the Netherlands 1898 establishments in the Netherlands