German Free-minded Party

The German Free-minded Party (German: Deutsche Freisinnige Partei, DFP) was a short-lived liberal party in the German Empire, founded as a result of the merger of the German Progress Party and Liberal Union, an 1880 split-off of the National Liberal Party, on 5 March 1884.

Policies

The economists Ludwig Bamberger and Georg von Siemens, as well as the social liberal politician Eugen Richter were among the prime movers of the fusion, in the view of the coming accession of considered "liberal" Crown Prince Frederick William to the throne (which took place only in 1888). Richter aspired to build up a strong united liberal force in the Reichstag parliament, similar to the British Liberal Party under William Ewart Gladstone. The DFP supported the extension of parliamentarism in the German constitutional monarchy, separation of church and state as well as Jewish emancipation.

Under party chairman Franz August Schenk von Stauffenberg with his deputies Albert Hänel and Rudolf Virchow however, the Free-minded Party received disappointing 17.6% of the votes in the 1884 election, representing a drop of 3.6% from the combined parties' results in the previous 1881 election. The main beneficiaries of this defection were the conservative forces, supporting the protectionist, colonist and anti-socialist policies of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. In the 1887 election, the DFP again lost half of their seats, dropping down to 32 Reichstag mandates. Though urged by his wife Princess Royal Victoria, Crown Prince Frederick William did not dare to meet trouble with Bismarck by openly taking the party's side. His early death in 1888 and the accession of his son William II terminated all liberal hopes.

During the decay, the differences between "Progressives" and center-right liberals became inconsolable. Upon Bismarck's demission in 1890, the party members lost their common adversary. In 1893 the party split in conflict over Chancellor Caprivi's policies into the Free-minded People's Party and the Free-minded Union. A re-union took place in 1910, when both further weakened liberal parties merged with the German People's Party to form the Progressive People's Party.

Notable members

Members of the Free-minded Party at the Reichstag foyer, 1889

• Ludwig Bamberger
• Theodor Barth
• Max von Forckenbeck
• Albert Hänel
• Max Hirsch
• Albert Kalthoff
• Ludwig Loewe
• Theodor Mommsen
• Eugen Richter
• Georg von Siemens
• Rudolf Virchow

See also

• Liberalism in Germany
• Liberalism
• Liberalism by country
• List of liberal theorists
• Liberal democracy

References

Tillich, Paul; Translated by Franklin Sherman (1957). The Socialist Decision. Harper & Row. p. 57.  Cite uses deprecated parameters (help)

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