Rally for the Republic (Marirana)
Rally for the Republic Raggruppamento per la Repubblica | |
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| Abbreviation | RPR |
| Historical leader | Niccolò Pellegrini Silvano Brazzi Alessandro Costa Paolo Di Quintino |
| Founded | 7 October 1939 |
| Dissolved | 24 May 1972 |
| Headquarters | Aquinas |
| Ideology | Populism Liberalism Anti-clericalism |
| Political position | Centre |
| Colours | Red |
The Rally for the Republic (Vespasian: Raggruppamento per la Repubblica) was a populist political party that existed throughout the Sixth Republic of Marirana as one of the two main parties alongside the Anti-Revolutionary Party (PAR) until its dissolution following the 1972 military coup.
The PLR was founded after the Great War by former members of the pre-Castello Liberal Party and various other reformist policies. In the first post-war election the RPR won under Niccolò Pellegrini where they implemented strict anti-clerical and social reform policies. However the party soon moved to the political right coming into conflict with the left-wing partisan movement and refusing to implement its ambitious land reform programme; this led to the suicide of Pellegrini in 1944 and their defeat at the 1945 elections.
The party was repressed under president Jordi i Teixidor and became part of the opposition alongside the PAR. Following the fall of i Teixidor's regime the RPR alongside the PAR formulated the Pact of Democracy to prevent majoritarian rule - whichever candidate won the presidential election would appoint the runner-up as vice-president in a coalition government to stabilise democracy. As such despite the RPR only winning one more presidential election in 1958 when Silvano Brazzi became president they were able to exercise a significant amount of influence over the government during this period, with RPR members being continually in the office of vice-president.
The RPR's power was concentrated in urban areas (in contrast to the rural based PAR) and relied on local political machines to maintain its power. Its permanent presence in government meant the RPR became associated vast system of corruption and clientelism organised around the party. It was like the PAR considered ideologically moderate, being representative of urban interests rather than a coherent political ideology.
The RPR would soon distance themselves from their former populist rhetoric and started to represent the conservative interests of land owners and industrialists, often seeking to block the populist policies of the PAR especially that of its more left-wing led by Romano Emanuele Orlando. In 1965 president Michelozzi died leading to Paolo Di Quintino to ascend the presidency. With the PAR split at the time the pact of democracy was practically over; when Orlando won the 1968 presidential election the RPR went into "total opposition" to the new government, ultimately backing the military coup that overthrew the Orlando government. The new military government dissolved the RPR in 1973 resulting in many of its members joining the pro-regime Party of National Reconstruction.
When the party was founded in 1939 it emphasised liberalism, radicalism, nationalism and anti-clericalism. Over time the RPR advocated for anti-communism with their support being concentrated in urban areas.
History
Foundation
The Rally for the Republic traced its heritage to the anti-Castello partisan forces that fought on the side of the Grand Alliance against the Castello regime during the Great War. During the war partisan forces were split the left-wing supporters of Palmiro Lanza in the south and the more urban based forces of the three generals - Niccolò Pellegrini, Antonio Michelozzi and Jordi i Teixidor - in the north. The collapse of the Castello regime and subsequent occupation of Marirana by the Grand Alliance forces (led by Asteria) led to the two former partisan armies to be primed to lead the nation following the occupation.
However the new occupation government quickly descended into infighting over the status of land reform, with Lanza's leftists being unsatisfied with the proposals. This led to the start of the Lanzastra Rebellion from 1936-1941 which saw the partisan forces of Lanza declare war on the occupation government and launch a guerrilla war in opposition to the governing authorities.
As a result of the rebellion the Federation tightly controlled the path to democratisation. In preparation for the 1940 election Michelozzi created the Rally of the Republic party to unite the non-communist anti-Castello elements into a single party. The RPR's main competition came from fellow former partisan general Jordi i Teixidor's right-wing Republican Democratic Concentration (CDR). At the 1940 presidential election however Michelozzi was banned from running, resulting in him tapping fellow general Pellegrini to run for president expecting Pellegrini to defer to him once in office. Pellegrini ran on a populist platform promising to enact land reform and "attack the financial elite" - this led him to win a large landslide against i Teixidor and for the RPR to secure a majority in the parliamentary assembly.
Pellegrini presidency
Despite running on a populist platform, Pellegrini soon was confronted with the duel issues of an entrenched Asterian presence in the country thanks to the occupation and the ongoing insurgency from Lanza's partisan forces. Pellegrini attempted to appease the partisans with the promise of land reform, but after the proposal of Lanza invited strong disapproval from the parliamentary assembly and the military Pellegrini ordered federal armed forces to crush the partisan movement. Pellegrini continued to fight the partisan movement throughout his term until the death of Lanza in 1942; following the death of their leader the partisans dissipated as a force allowing the federal government to retake control.
Michelozzi - the creator of the party - expected to direct the policy of the RPR, but Pellegrini dissatisfied with the prospect of a subordinate role began promoting his own followers within the party and government and pursuing an independent line. In 1941 he had Michelozzi removed from the role of party chairman - although Michelozzi went into self-imposed exile his supporters broke off from the RPR and formed a new party, the Anti-Revolutionary Party (PAR).
Pellegrini's term soon became marked by a fierce campaign of anti-clericalism, with the RPR controlled legislature passing a limited version of land reform that stripped the church of much of their holdings. In 1942 the government passed a constitutional amendment which banned religious schools and emphasised division between the church and public life based on a strict laïcité basis. Pellegrini's anti-clerical and anti-leftist policies led him and the RPR to alienate significant sectors of society leading to Pellegrini and the RPR to govern in an increasingly authoritarian manner.
Pellegrini had long suffered from depression and alcoholism. Hated by both the left and the right and facing declining support in congress Pellegrini committed suicide in 1944, although his supporters suspected involvement from the Federation due to Pellegrini's advocacy of a neutral Marirana. Following Pellegrini's death his vice-president, Piero Galimberti ascended to the presidency who immediately pledged a "policy of reconciliation" in preparation for the 1945 presidential and legislative elections. To demonstrate his break with Pellegrini Galimberti implemented several policies that liberalised the economy leading to a significant influx of foreign investment into Marirana. These measures were unsuccessful in rehabilitating the RPR's unpopular image and in the 1945 presidential election Galimberti lost to i Teixidor's whose CDR won a convincing majority.
Pact of democracy
I Teixidor's government was majoritarian in character, suppressing parliamentary dissent. As the RPR was the main opposition party it was blamed for poor post-war reconstruction and conflict with the church, a reputation exploited by i Teixidor to encourage political violence against RPR cadres. The pro-Asterian nature of the i Teixidor government led to the government to increasingly launch authoritarian measures against the RPR.
In 1952 mass protests against the i Teixidor government led to the fall of the regime and a coalition government between the RPR and Sotirian democratic Anti-Revolutionary Party to take power under RPR president Emilio Štromajer. After several months of negotiations PAR leader Antonio Michelozzi (who returned to Marirana in 1952) and Štromajer signed the "Pact of Democracy" in preparation of new elections for 1953. The Pact - signed between the RPR and the PAR - stipulated that both parties would accept electoral results and to prevent single party government would work together to ensure a "democratic consensus". As the pact did not include only other major opposition force, the Collectivist Party of Marirana, the pact essentially monopolised government in the hands of the RPR and the PAR.
As a result of the pact RPR member Silvano Brazzi became vice-president in Michelozzi's term. During the Michelozzi government whose power was rooted in the lower classes thanks to his populist, pork barrel policies the RPR soon became the voice of industrialists, acquiring a reputation as an ideologically vague, moderate force.
The 1958 election saw Brazzi attain a victory on a platform of progressive reform - despite this he largely continued the policies of the Michelozzi government reaffirming the economic policy of import-substitution industrialisation and maintaining the clientalist, non-ideological system of governance. Brazzi who was from the progressive faction of the party implemented several reforms such as allowing universal suffrage for women and native people, desegregating schools on a gender and ethnic basis and bringing labour unions into corporate governance. His land reform bill - which would have re-appropriated unprofitable estates and redistributed them to predominantly native and mettico poor farmers - alienated both members of his own party and the PAR, leading to Brazzi to be the first president to be impeached, ostensibly on the grounds of abuse of power. This "judicial coup" led to the splintering of Brazzi's progressive faction as the RPR became a more conservative force, disavowing the progressive policies Brazzi had implemented as president.
The RPR would continue to serve as the junior partner to successive PAR governments as their support became more based regionally rather than nationally, with the party concentrating on maintaining its patronage network and representing sectional interests within government. Due to this approach of politics the pact soon became associated with corruption and a patronage based political system, but saw substantial stability. The RPR would lose the 1963 to the PAR consigning it to its role as a junior partner.
During the second Michelozzi presidency (wherein the president undertook the "leftist turn") the RPR became more estranged with what they felt was an increasingly left-wing PAR. Following the death of Michelozzi in 1965 RPR vice-president Paolo Di Quintino became president, where he subsequently adopted more pro-business policies.
Downfall
The assassination of Michelozzi was first thought to be a major benefit to the RPR as the PAR split between its left-wing (the Authentic Anti-Revolutionary Party led by Romano Emanuele Orlando) and its right-wing (the Intransigent Anti-Revolutionary Party led by Raimondo Zamparini). The collapse of the PAR however led to the de facto collapse of the pact of democracy, leading to di Quintino to remove PAR ministers from government and attempt to head a purely RPR administration. In the leadup to the 1968 election the RPR nominated Jürgen Ostwald as their candidate, utilising anti-communist rhetoric to gain support from moderate voters; however the RPR lost both the popular and electoral vote to the APAR's Romano Emanuele Orlando.
Whilst recognising the result, the collapse of the pact meant that following the assumption of Orlando to the presidency the RPR were in opposition proper for the first time in their existence. The RPR soon declared "total opposition" to the Orlando government, several times attempting to impeach him.
The leaders of the RPR supported the 1972 coup d'état, with several of their members including di Quintino joining the Party of National Reconstruction. The RPR was officially dissolved under section 13 of Decree 1034 which banned political parties in Marirana on the 24 May 1972.
Many of the RPR's members following the dictatorship joined the Democratic Alternative, Party of National Reconstruction and Socialist Party. Political analysts have stated that the majority of Marirana's current political parties were formed by former members of the RPR.