Democratic Party (Belhavia)
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Democratic Party | |
|---|---|
| Founder | Tal Goldberg |
| Founded | February 24, 1891 |
| Dissolved | November 22, 1922 |
| Merged into | Liberal Democratic Party with the Liberal Party |
| Headquarters | Raffen (formerly) |
| Student wing | Students for Democracy (defunct) |
| Youth wing | Democratic Youth of Belhavia (defunct) |
| Ideology | Populism Agrarianism Republicanism (suspected) Internal Factions: Left-wing populism Right-wing populism Radicalism Bimetallism |
| Political position | Left |
| Religion | Self-identified mainly as Reform Jews |
| Colors | Silver |
| Slogan | "Rise, O Farmer! O'Worker! O'Common Man! Rise and Demand Justice!" |
The Democratic Party, also commonly called the Democrats or the Silverbacks (colloquially), is a currently defunct and relatively short-lived historical left-wing, populist, and radical political party in Belhavia in the middle and late 3rd Party System (1858 - 1955).
It arose amid frustration in the period of the 1870s - 1890s over the poor social and working conditions of the Industrial Revolution, as well as the general feeling among the rural, underdeveloped farmlands of Middle Belhavia that corruption caused by northern, urban, industrial elites were subverting their ethno-religious protections as Jews.
Both the dominant Federalists and their loyal opposition, the Liberals, were viewed as suspect due to the Democrats' inherent anti-elitism. Both were regarded as bought and sold by amorphous elites, whether the gentry and nobility or emerging industrial magnates and the nouveau riche. In early 1891, these discontents created a party, a faction of which were thought to be anti-monarchist republican radicals (illegal under the White Terror laws). The Democrats contested the 1892 elections, gaining local and provincial seats. In 1894, fueled by some popular support in rural provinces, they burst into the Imperial Senate. They had their strongest support in the 1890s, but waned as they cut primarily into the Liberals' voter coalition, aiding the Federalists. In 1900, the Liberals ousted the Federalists to take the majority after a series of corruption and malfeasance scandals in the 1890s.
Throughout the early 1900s, the Democrats never had more than 4 seats in the Imperial Senate, but their caucus was able to ply itself as a swing bloc, albeit a radical one. After the 1922 midterm elections, the party's leadership decided to merge with the Liberals into the Liberal Democratic Party.
During its existence, it was opposed on the right by the Federalist Party and on the center-right by the Liberal Party, and briefly (1918 - 1922) by the Fascist Party on the far right.