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Progressivism is a political attitude favoring or advocating changes or reform. Progressivism is often viewed in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies. The Progressive Movement began in cities with settlement workers and reformers who were interested in helping those facing harsh conditions at home and at work. The reformers spoke out about the need for laws regulating tenement housing and child labor. They also called for better working conditions for women.
In the United States, the term progressivism emerged in the late 19th century into the 20th century in reference to a more general response to the vast changes brought by industrialization: an alternative to both the traditional conservative response to social and economic issues and to the various more radical streams of socialism and anarchism which opposed them. Political parties, such as the Progressive Party, organized at the start of the 20th century, and progressivism made great strides under American presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Lyndon Baines Johnson [1].
Despite being associated with left-wing politics in the United States, the term "progressive" has occasionally been used by groups not particularly left-wing. The Progressive Democrats in the Republic of Ireland took the name "progressivism" despite being considered centre-right or classical liberal. The European Progressive Democrats was a mainly heterogeneous political group in the European Union. For most of the period from 1942–2003, the largest conservative party in Canada was the Progressive Conservative Party.
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In the past few years in Australia, the term "progressive" has been used to refer to what used to be called "The Third Way." The term is popular in Australia, and is often used in place of "social liberal." The term "liberalism" has become associated with free markets and small government; in other words "classical liberalism." Progressivism, however, means in part advocating a larger role for government, but one that does not involve central planning.
The Australian Greens, the third largest political party in the country, polling around 12%[2][3] with 5 senators, espouses progressive ideologies, together with grassroots democracy and participatory democracy.
Western Canada at the turn of the 20th century began to receive an influx of political ideas. The Progressive Party of Canada was founded in 1920 by Thomas Crerar, a former Minister of Agriculture in the Unionist government of Robert Borden. Crerar quit the Borden cabinet in 1919 because Minister of Finance Thomas White introduced a budget that did not pay sufficient attention to farmers' issues. Crerar became the first leader of the Progressive Party, and led it to win 65 seats in the 1921 general election, placing second, ahead of the well-established Conservative Party. The Progressives also had a close alignment with the provincial United Farmers parties in several provinces. However, the Progressives were not able to hold their caucus together well, and progressive-leaning MPs and voters soon deserted the Progressives for the Liberals and the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (later the New Democratic Party).
Dating back to 1854, Canada's oldest political party was the Conservative Party. However following that party's disastrous showing in the 1935 election, held during the depths of the Great Depression, the party was leaderless and lacked new ideas. The party drafted Manitoba Premier John Bracken, a long-time leader of that province's progressive "United Farmers" party, who agreed to become leader of the Conservatives on condition that the party add Progressive to its name. The party adopted the name "Progressive Conservative," which it kept until its dissolution in 2003. Despite the name change most former Progressives continued to support other parties.
In India, there are a large number of political parties which exist on either a state-wide or national basis. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) are the two political alliance in India, previously composed of leftist political parties that lean towards socialism and/or communism, but since economic reforms took place in 1991 both the national parties has established themselves as right wing reformist which lean towards more capitalism. Thus, the definition of "progressivism" may be interpreted differently in India, as communism was not a branch of thought that played any major role in the original western progressive movement. Furthermore, on a social level, the leftist parties in India do not espouse policies that would be considered progressive in the West, though policies in regards to caste system, worker's rights, and women's rights are far more progressive than the non-progressive Indian parties. The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Indian National Congress are currently the chief members of the NDA and UPA coalitions respectively.
The New Zealand Progressive Party led by Jim Anderton, states a particular focus on: the creation of jobs, full employment, the environment, free education and free healthcare and raising the legal age of alcohol consumption to 20.[4] The party was a junior member of the governing coalition in New Zealand from 2005 to 2008 during the second and third term of the fifth Labour Government of New Zealand. The coalition continues in opposition after the 2008 election[5].
The Progressive Green Party was formed in 1995 as an economically right-wing "blue-green" environmentalist party. After a poor showing in the 1996 election, the Party did not contest any further elections, and is now disbanded.
The Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine (Prohresivna Sotsjalistychna Partiya Ukrayiny/Progressivnaya Sotsialističeskaja Partiya Ukrajiny, Прогресивна соціалістична партія України) is a political party in Ukraine, created by Nataliya Vitrenko, a flamboyant former member of the Socialist Party of Ukraine in 1995. The Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine is a radical left-wing populist party that supports integration with Russia and Belarus as an alternative to the European Union. PSPU traditionally campaigns on an anti-NATO, anti-IMF and pro-Russian platform. During the 1998 parliamentary elections the party got 4% of the vote, and its candidate for the 1999 presidential elections, Nataliya Vitrenko, came 4th, receiving 10.97% of the vote in the first round.
In the legislative 2002 parliamentary election, the party established the Nataliya Vitrenko Bloc alliance, including the Partija Osvitjan Ukrajiny. It received 3.22% of the votes, below the 4% threshold needed to enter the Verkhovna Rada. PSPU was a vocal opponent of President Leonid Kuchma but supported Viktor Yanukovych, Ukrainian prime minister since 2002, during the 2004 presidential elections. After the Orange Revolution of 2004, the party joined the opposition to the new president Viktor Yushchenko in a coalition with the "Derzhava" (State) party led by former Ukrainian prosecutor Gennady Vasilyev.
In the 2006 parliamentary elections, the party again failed to gain seats in the parliament, participating as People's Opposition Bloc of Natalia Vitrenko. At the 2007 parliamentary elections the party failed once more to enter the parliament.
In the United States there have been several periods where progressive political parties have developed. The first of these was around the turn of the 20th century. This period notably included the emergence of the Progressive Party, founded in 1912 by President Theodore Roosevelt. This progressive party was the most successful third party in modern American history. The Progressive Party founded in 1924 and the Progressive Party founded in 1948 were less successful than the 1912 version. There are also two notable state progressive parties: the Wisconsin Progressive Party and the Vermont Progressive Party. The latter is still in operation and currently has several high ranking positions in state government.
Some think-tanks such as the CEE Council have argued that early 20th century progressive US academics such as Reverend James Augustin Brown Scherer and Rabbi Judah Magnes were contrarian thinkers who foresaw the eventual decline of European colonialism in the Middle-East and Asia and the correlated rise of America- notably through the development of US institutions of higher learning abroad.[6]
Today, most progressive politicians in the United States associate with the Democratic Party or the Green Party US. In the US Congress there exists the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which is often in opposition to the more conservative Democrats, who form the Blue Dogs caucus. Some of the more notable progressive members of Congress have included Barack Obama, Dennis Kucinich, Barney Frank, Bernie Sanders, Sherrod Brown, Maxine Waters, John Lewis, and Paul Wellstone.
The Labour Party refers to itself as a progressive political party, and claims to be the sole progressive party in the UK. The current coalition between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats also claims to be progressive.
The Progressive Party was the name of a defunct municipal political organisation that operated in Scottish local government in the 20th century based around the Unionist Party, Scottish Liberals and Independents.
National political parties were rarely active in local politics but the rise of Labour Party led to a process of party politicisation of local government. At first Labour were opposed by the Progressives before other national political parties entered local government elections on a significant scale.
The Progressives formed as a loose alliance of unofficial Liberals, Unionists and independents. Apart from a distinct focus on their urban localities the other essence of the Progressive groupings was opposition to Labour policies and control, plus a desire to avoid splitting the anti-Labour vote.
Progressive groupings formed in Edinburgh in 1928 and Glasgow in 1936 before spreading to other cities and towns. Their members were mainly drawn from small businessmen opposed to the introduction of what they saw as municipal socialism and Labour control. They dominated Scottish local politics for almost 50 years and as late as 1972 Edinburgh council was made up of 21 Progressives, 9 Conservatives, 33 Labour and 5 Liberals.
The term "progressive" is today often used in place of "liberal." Although the two are related in some ways, they are separate and distinct political ideologies and should not be used interchangeably. The reason for this confusion might partly be rooted in the political spectrum being two-dimensional; social liberalism is a tenet of modern progressivism, whereas economic liberalism (and its associated deregulation) is not. According to John Halpin, senior advisor on the staff of the Center for American Progress, "Progressivism is an orientation towards politics. It's not a long-standing ideology like liberalism, but an historically-grounded concept... that accepts the world as dynamic." Progressives see progressivism as an attitude towards the world of politics that is broader than conservatism vs. liberalism, and as an attempt to break free from what they consider to be a false and divisive dichotomy.[7][8]
Cultural Liberalism is ultimately founded on the belief that the major purpose of the government is to protect rights. Liberals are often called "left-wing", in contrast to "right-wing" conservatives. The progressive school, as a unique branch of contemporary political thought, tends to advocate certain center-left or left-wing views that may conflict with mainstream liberal views, despite the fact that modern liberalism and progressivism may still both support many of the same policies (such as the concept of war as a general last resort).
American progressives tend to support international economics: they advocate progressive taxation and oppose the growing influence of corporations. Progressives are in agreement on an international scale with left-liberalism in that they support organized labor and trade unions, they usually wish to introduce a living wage, and they often support the creation of a universal health care system. Yet progressives tend to be more concerned with environmentalism than mainstream liberals In the United States, liberals and progressives are often conflated, and in general are the primary voters of the Democratic Party which has a "large tent" policy, combining similar if not congruent ideologies into large voting blocs. Many progressives also support the Green Party or local parties such as the Vermont Progressive Party. In Canada, liberals usually support the national Liberal Party while progressives usually support the New Democratic Party, which traditionally has had provincial electorial success in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia.