The Radical League () was a progressive liberal

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, ...

in 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 ...

from its founding in 1892 until it merged with the left wing of the Liberal Union to form the Free-thinking Democratic League in 1901.

History

The Radical League originated out of the local progressive liberal caucus "Amsterdam". Leaders of this caucus initiated the formation of a national political party in July 1892, and this resulted in the founding of the Radical League on 9 November 1892. The foremost leader of the new party was the Amsterdam

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

Willem Treub. The party focused on the extension of universal suffrage as well as combating social deprivation. In 1893, the party won the

Leeuwarden Leeuwarden (; ; ; ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in Friesland, Netherlands, with a population of 127,073 (2023). It is the provincial capital and seat of the Provin ...

seat in a by-election. The newly elected MP was former Amsterdam alderman Carel Victor Gerritsen, who was also the husband of feminist Aletta Jacobs. In 1894 the party won two additional seats. They played a minor role in parliament. In 1897 they won an additional seat. The Radicals supported the progressive liberal Pierson cabinet, although they were not necessary for its majority. On 17 March 1901, the League merged with another group of progressive former Liberal Union members to form the Free-thinking Democratic League.

Ideology & issues

The League was a progressive liberal and radical democratic party, committed to implementation of

universal suffrage Universal suffrage or universal franchise ensures the right to vote for as many people bound by a government's laws as possible, as supported by the " one person, one vote" principle. For many, the term universal suffrage assumes the exclusion ...

and social laws. The party was inspired by ''kathedersocialisme'', the progressive politics professed by

latitudinarian Latitudinarians, or latitude men, were initially a group of 17th-century English theologiansclerics and academicsfrom the University of Cambridge who were moderate Anglicans (members of the Church of England). In particular, they believed that a ...

preachers. It championed democratisation of the political system by abolishing the

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 ...

and the implementation of a

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

. It favoured the nationalisation of crucial industries like the railways.

Election results

This table shows the League's results in elections to the House of Representatives.

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An ex ...

& Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1395

Local government

The party was particularly strong in Amsterdam. Treub was

there.

Electorate

The League's electorate centered on Amsterdam, where intellectuals, journalists, teachers and educated workers supported the party.

Pillarisation

The small and localised Radical League lacked a system of pillarised organisations around it. The weekly magazine ''De Amsterdammer'' ("The Amsterdammer") sympathised with the party however.

References

{{Defunct political parties in the Netherlands Netherlands 1892 Defunct political parties in the Netherlands Liberal parties in the Netherlands Political parties established in 1892 Radical parties Political parties disestablished in 1901 1892 establishments in the Netherlands 1901 disestablishments in the Netherlands