Liberal Party (Delkora)

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Liberal Party

Liberale Parti
LeaderAdric Azengaard
ChairpersonNilay Tahir
Founded1833
HeadquartersNorenstal
NewspaperBefrierne
Youth wingLiberale Ungdom
Women's wingLiberale Kvinder
Membership (2019)Decrease 2,701,873
Ideology
Political positionCentre-left
Colours  Yellow
Anthem"Landet"
Chamber of Representatives
134 / 500
Chamber of Nobles
46 / 200
First ministers
2 / 7
State parliaments
223 / 1,150
County councils
789 / 2,317
Municipal councils
12,663 / 47,580
Election symbol
L

The Liberal Party (Delkoran: Liberale Parti) is a political party in Delkora. It is one of Delkora's oldest parties, and a major force in Delkoran politics. Its leader Adric Azengaard is the current Chancellor of Delkora.

With roots dating back to the 19th century, the Liberals were one of the two major parties of the first party system, opposing the Conservative Party. They were a big tent party, supported by farmers, workers, and the middle class. The party suffered a decline after National Labor displaced it as the largest left-wing party, and it served as a centrist kingmaker during the second party system.

Factional conflict between classical liberals and social democrats culminated in the 1940 split. The classical liberals split off to form the Reform Party, leaving the Liberal Party in the hands of the social democrats. It was transformed into a solidly centre-left social democratic party, becoming close allies of National Labor. During this period, it gained a notable geolibertarian element, making it a competitor for the Agrarian Party in rural areas.

The Liberal Party won a plurality in the Chamber of Representatives in 2018, and is currently in office as part of a traffic light coalition with National Labor and the Greens. At the state level, it currently heads the governments of Førelskov and Norvia.

History

Early years

The Liberal Party emerged from the constitutional convention following the Delkoran Civil War, its membership consisting mainly of townspeople, peasants, and freehold farmers who had opposed the Royalists during the war. The party was dominant in politics until the middle of the century, being perceived in the popular imagination as "the party of the revolution." Indeed, all of the Liberal Chancellors who held office during this period had played prominent roles in the war.

In its early years, the party was broadly classical liberal in its ideological orientation. Liberal governments of this era succeeded in eliminating the last vestiges of feudal land tenure, limiting the power of the nobility, and sought to purge the Vallyar Order of supporters of the old regime. They supported free trade and were generally opposed to tariffs, in addition to favoring low taxation and spending. They opposed the creation of a large standing army, instead supporting the old militia system.

Although the Liberals initially enjoyed the backing of Delkora's burgeoning labor movement, the unwillingness of Liberal governments to take significant action to improve working conditions in factories, increase wages, or otherwise respond to deteriorating social conditions in the cities led to an erosion of their support among the urban working-class.

The left–right struggle

During the second party system, the Liberals drifted into the role of a centrist kingmaker, and were largely supplanted as the left opposition by National Labor. Its decline in influence prompted the emergence of two factions: the social democratic Venstre ("left") and classical liberal Højre ("right").

Conflict between the two factions erupted, paralleling National Labor's own conservative–radical civil war. A series of alternating leaders from each faction kept the Liberals in coalition governments, at the cost of a growing reputation as unprincipled opportunists.

Sofia Westergaard's election as party leader in 1932 challenged the party's unprincipled image. She adopted a leftist platform, calling for expansion of the welfare state and public works programs. The party won the 1932 and 1936 federal elections, their first victories in nearly a century, and Westergaard formed a coalition with National Labor and the Progressive Party.

Westergaard's time in office saw the passage of a social democratic agenda, and she became famous for her forcefulness in carrying it out: she blockaded Banderhus to ensure passage of universal healthcare, and used federal powers to push states to reform local government. She spent much of her tenure fighting Højre just as much as the right-wing opposition, and relying on her National Labor and Progressive partners to pass legislation.

The Venstre–Højre battle culminated in the Liberal Party split of 1940. Højre broke away under Julius Mathiesen, establishing the Reform Party. Venstre remained in the Liberal Party, and accepted a merger with the Progressives, solidifying its new social democratic character. Mergers with the Left Republicans and Democratic Farmers' Party would follow in 1944 and 1948.

For the next decade, the two rivals fought claims to be the rightful continuation of the party: the Liberals often stood for office as "Progressive Liberals" (Fremskridtsliberale), and Reform as "Reform Liberals" (Reformliberale). Ultimately, the Liberals triumphed, with Reform ultimately being swept out of federal and state legislatures by the end of the 1950s.

Westergaard devoted her efforts in opposition to strengthening the party's social democratic standing. She vocally condemned the policies of Veidnar Albendor and ensuing 1950s depression, but was often frustrated with Jørgen Löfgren's conservative leadership of National Labor. In some elections in the late 1940s–early 1950s, the Liberals' party manifestos were more radical than National Labor's, then controlled by its own conservative wing. The party gained a significant geolibertarian element, and its identification with land reform and taxation made it the Agrarians' main left-wing challenger for rural votes.

New Kingdom

The 1959 federal election inaugurated a new era for the party. Although it lost a small amount of support due to National Labor's landslide victory, it actually finished second, becoming the official opposition. Westergaard retired from the leadership after a record 27-year tenure, and was succeeded by her protégé Osvald Bjerg.

The Liberals supported the New Kingdom program advanced by Mette Elvensar and Geirbjørn Feldengaard. Bjerg proved astute at balancing cooperation with National Labor and building a distinctive image for the Liberals. Throughout the 1960s, they consistently finished second in federal elections, owing to enduring voter resentment of the Conservative–Agrarian record, resulting in the ironic situation of the official opposition party being in an unofficial coalition with National Labor.

The coalition was formalised in 1975, after National Labor lost their majority, and the Liberals were displaced by a revived Conservative Party led by its moderate wing.

Resurgence

Throughout the 1980s and 90s, the party established itself as a major force in the southern states, but generally struggled to make breakthroughs elsewhere and consistently came in a distant third in federal elections. The party's apparent stagnation led to debates between a moderate faction that favored a centrist course, and a left faction led by Erika Klausen that continued in the political tradition of Westergaard and Bjerg.

In 1998, Klausen was ousted as party leader by the moderate Rengar Thomassen. Under his leadership, the party declined to support a Green-led minority government following the 2002 federal election, a move that was seen as a rebuff of the left and which was widely unpopular among the party's younger supporters. Adric Azengaard, a prominent member of the left faction, was among Thomassen's most vocal opponents, and went on to successfully beat him in a 2010 leadership election.

Under Azengaard's leadership, the party reaffirmed its leftist credentials and sought to repair the damage that had been done to its youth base under Thomassen. These efforts culminated in the 2012 state elections, which saw a "yellow wave" in which Liberal-led governments were swept into office in three states. The party saw its membership grow considerably over the next two years, and in 2014 it won its first federal plurality since 1936. Azengaard subsequently negotiated Delkora's first traffic light coalition.

Organization

The Liberal Party is composed of seven state parties, each divided into county chapters. In contrast to National Labor's system of instantly-revocable delegates, members of the County Committees and State Central Committees are elected for fixed terms by their respective constituencies and are not bound to voting instructions. The National Executive Committee is elected at the annual Liberal Party Convention by delegates representing the state, county, and constituency branches of the party. The NEC in turn appoints the party's Chairperson. The Federal Leader is elected by a nationwide vote of Liberal Party members.

Internal culture

The Liberal Party's anthem is "Landet" (The Land), whose chorus translates as:

The Land! the Land!
'twas the gods who gave the Land!
The Land! the Land!
the ground on which we stand!
Why should we be beggars,
with the ballot in our hand?
The gods gave the Land to the People!"

It is one of Delkora's best-known party anthems. Geirbjørn Feldengaard, who grew up in a Liberal family, praised it as one of the best political songs he'd heard — "full of democratic spirit and designed to terrorise the landlords".

Another well-known party song is "Uden de nye liberale ville der ikke være et nyt rige" (Without the New Liberals, There Wouldn't be a New Kingdom), which emphasises the social democratic program of Westergaard's government as a predecessor to the New Kingdom and mocks the Højre faction's breakaway in 1940.

The party's newspaper, Befrierne, is affiliated with Liberale Ungdom, and has often published articles critical of the party leadership and taking radical stances. It has a supplement, Radikal Bulletin, consiting mainly of sketches, in-jokes, and irreverent takes on political issues and contemporary news.

A traditional event at the Liberal Party Convention is Det Liberale Sangstemme (The Liberals' Singing Voice), consisting of attendees singing around a piano, mainly drawing from the Befrierne songbook.

The party's youth wing, Liberale Ungdom, is known for having a stronger radical character than the rest of the party. During the 1960s, it was nicknamed the "Red Guard", with many young Liberals identifying as libertarian socialists, while the 1970s saw the emergence of the "Green Guard", which advocated green politics and an alliance with the Green Party.

Base of support

Historically, the Liberal Party has been closely associated with the Delkoran middle class. Especially since the 1930s, it has often been characterized as a party representing the more progressive segments of the professional-managerial class. Similarly, the party also has strong support among academics and intellectuals. In 2018, 72% of registered party members held an undergraduate degree, while 43% held an advanced degree. That year, the most common reported occupation among members was teachers, followed by lawyers and doctors. Liberal Party members tend to be young relative to the memberships of other parties, with the average age in 2018 being 34.

Geographically, this base of support translates into strong support in suburban areas and certain affluent sections of the major cities. Since the 1940s, when the party developed a notable geolibertarian element and it absorbed the Democratic Farmers' Party, it has become competitive in many rural areas, especially in the southern states, where it is often the primary centre-left alternative to Conservative-Agrarian governments.

Ideology

List of leaders

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