Serbian Progressive Party (historical)

The Serbian Progressive Party was a liberal

Liberalism

Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...

political party

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

in Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

that existed from 1881 to 1919.

Origins

The origin of the Progressive Party can be traced back to a political grouping known as "Young Conservatives" that had existed from 1871. Their leadership mainly consisted of young Western trained intellectuals who latter took part in the Editorial Board of Serbian journal Videlo. This journal was established in January 1880 as an organ of political opposition against the government of Jovan Ristić

Jovan Ristic

Jovan Ristić, or Ristitch was a Serbian statesman and diplomat....

, in power from October 1878 till November 3, 1880). The journal advocated freedom of speech, freedom of associations, full personal protection and protection of property rights, constitutional responsibility of cabinet ministers, access of experts to the National Assembly, full independence of the Judiciary, and autonomy of municipalities. In the field of foreign policy the Progressive Party was not inclined to Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

contrary to the other two political parties in Serbia. It rather advocated close relations with Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...

. In economy the party advocated completely liberal reforms. In terms of political ideologies the party was what may be termed as a conservative liberalism. Occasionally faced to choose between democracy and various freedoms the progressivists were prone to advocate and enforce freedoms. This made them too closely tied to the ruler and quickly diminished their popularity among electorate. Nonetheless they encouraged and paved the way for the modernization of Serbia by introducing modern institutions and progressive laws.

The 1880s

The Progressive Party was founded in January 1881. It did not have a clear leader but was rather headed by a quartet consisting of: Milan Piroćanac

Milan Pirocanac

Milan Piroćanac , was a prominent Serbian statesman and politician, leader and founder of the Progressive party , and a Prime Minister of the Principality, later Kingdom of Serbia in the 19th century.- Life and career :Piroćanac was born into a family originally from the Pirot area in...

, Milutin Garašanin, Stojan Novaković

Stojan Novakovic

Stojan Novaković , was a Serbian literary critic, scholar, politician and diplomat, and the foremost Serbian historian of nineteenth century, holding the post of Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Serbia on two occasions.He was born in the western Serbian city of Šabac and died in the southern city of...

and Čedomilj Mijatović

Cedomilj Mijatovic

Čedomilj Mijatović was a Serbian statesman, economist, historian, writer, politician, diplomat and one of the...

. The party was in power in 1880s and was openly favoured by Prince/King Milan Obrenović

Milan Obrenovic

Milan Obrenović may refer to:* Milan Obrenović II, Prince of Serbia * Milan Obrenović IV...

. Party’s opponents viewed the progressivists as a personal party of the king.

The party advocated freedom of speech

Freedom of speech

Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...

, freedom of associations, full personal protection and protection of property rights, constitutional responsibility of cabinet ministers, access of experts to the National Assembly, full independence of the Judiciary, autonomy of municipalities and free market

Free market

A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...

economy. In the field of foreign policy the Progressive Party was not inclined to Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

contrary to the other two political parties in Serbia

Serbia

. It rather advocated close relations with Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary

. Occasionally faced to choose between democracy and various freedoms the progressivists were prone to advocate and enforce freedoms. This made them too closely tied to the ruler and quickly diminished their popularity among electorate. Nonetheless they encouraged and paved the way for the modernisation of Serbia by introducing modern institutions and progressive laws.

The first progressivist government was led by Milan Piroćanac from November 2, 1880 till October 3, 1883. In that period he was an unofficial leader of the party. The next Progressivist Government was formed in February 1884 by Milutin Garašanin who thus became a new party leader. He formed three successive but short governments (February 19, 1884 – June 13, 1887). Afterwards the Progressive party was subjected to serious persecutions by its rivals in 1887, and in 1889 after the abdication of King Milan Obrenović. Since Serbia had almost universal male suffrage since 1869, the Progressivists could not win any free elections since their electoral base was only in few towns and total Serbian urban population was in 1900 around 14%. Their victory in 1884 was achieved due to the previous state of emergency introduced to suppress the Timok rebellion in October/November 1883. In late 1880s the Progressive party lost its position in Serbia and it never fully recovered.

Decline

The new Serbian king Aleksandar Obrenović

Aleksandar Obrenovic

Not to be confused with Alexander I of Yugoslavia.Alexander I or Aleksandar Obrenović was king of Serbia from 1889 to 1903 when he and his wife, Queen Draga, were assassinated by a group of Army officers, led by Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijević-Accession:In 1889 Alexander's father, King Milan,...

succeeded his father in 1889 but was not of legal age and therefore a Regency was established headed by Jovan Ristić. In 1894 king Alexander staged a coup and took all power. Afterwards he occasionally used Progressivist politicians to fill in places in subsequent governments. However, by the time of the death of Milutin Garašanin in 1898 the party ceased to exist in organisational terms.

It was renewed in 1906 and was headed by Stojan Novaković. It remained a small party which played an important role during the Annexation Crisis (1908-1909). After the World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, the party merged into the Democratic Party

Democratic Party (Yugoslavia)

The Yugoslav Democratic Party, State Party of Serbian, Croatian and Slovene Democrats and Democratic Party was the name of a series of social-liberal political parties that existed in succession in the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and the Kingdom...

Origins

The 1880s

Decline

Further reading