The Republican Party of Farmers and Peasants (, , RSZML) was a

centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

agrarian party of

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

, seen as representing big business and agriculture. In the period up to 1935 it was the biggest and most influential political party in the country. Led by

Antonín Švehla Antonín Švehla (15 April 1873, in Hostivař – 12 December 1933 in Prague) was a Czechoslovak politician. He served three terms as the Interior Minister and three terms as the prime minister of Czechoslovakia. He is regarded as one of the ...

and Milan Hodža, the party influenced Czechoslovak politics between

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It participated in the Pětka coalition governments, and it was a member of the

International Agrarian Bureau The International Agrarian Bureau (IAB; , ), commonly known as the Green International (''Zelená Internacionála'', ''Internationale Verte''), was founded in 1921 by the agrarian parties of Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Yugoslavia. The cre ...

History

The party was established in 1922 as a merger of the Czech Agrarian Party and the Slovak National Republican and Peasant Party.Vincent E McHale (1983) ''Political parties of Europe'', Greenwood Press, p151 In the 1925 elections it won 45 of the 300 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, becoming the largest party in Parliament. In the same year it introduced an agrarian tariff which was seen as protecting the producers interest, motivated by the country's agrarian crisis. It is argued that it helped the Hungarians more than it did the Slovaks. Prime Minister Udržal was a member of the party, but he lost its support, which meant that he failed to hold his coalition together. Internal struggles within the party grew and the coalition government failed in July 1932. It was consistently the strongest party, forming and dominating coalitions. It moved beyond its original agrarian base to reach middle-class voters.Sharon Werning Rivera, "Historical cleavages or transition mode? Influences on the emerging party systems in Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia." ''Party Politics'' (1996) 2#2 : 177-208. Other important figures were Josef Žďářský (Party President 1905-1909),

(Party President 1909-1933 and Prime Minister 1922-1926, 1926-1929),

František Udržal František Udržal () (3 January 1866 in Dolní Roveň, Kingdom of Bohemia – 25 April 1938 in Prague) was a Czechoslovak politician. A member and leader of the powerful Agrarian Party, his political career started as a member of the local ...

(Prime Minister 1929-1932),

Jan Malypetr Jan Malypetr (21 December 1873 in Klobuky – 27 September 1947 in Slaný) was a Czechoslovak politician. As prime minister during the Great Depression he strong-armed Czechoslovakia into a more rapid economic recovery than elsewhere in Europe. ...

(Prime Minister 1932-1935) and Milan Hodža (Prime Minister 1935-1938) as well as

Rudolf Beran Rudolf Beran (28 December 1887 – 23 April 1954) was a Czechs, Czech politician who served as prime minister of Czechoslovakia before its occupation by Nazi Germany and shortly thereafter, before it was declared a Protectorate of Bohemia and Mor ...

(Party President 1935-1938 and Prime Minister 1938-1939). The party was not allowed to reorganize after World War II.

Electoral results

References

"Between Interest Representation and Governingthrough Parliamentary Democracy"
(2000). Slavic Research Center,

Hokkaido University , or , is a public research university in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. Founded in 1918, it is the fifth-oldest government-authorised university in Japan and one of the former Imperial Universities. The university finds its roots in Sapporo A ...

, 11 Sept. 2007 *Janos, Andrew C. East Central Europe. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 2000. * Miroslav Mareš, Pavel Pšeja
Agrarian and Peasant Parties in the Czech Republic: History, Presence and Central European Context
{{Authority control Political parties in Czechoslovakia Defunct agrarian political parties in Czechoslovakia Political parties established in 1922