People's Party (Kingdom of Croatia)

People's Party
Narodna stranka
Founder Ljudevit Gaj
Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski
Ivan Mažuranić
Founded 1841
Dissolved 1918
Newspaper Narodne novine
Ideology Liberalism
Politics of Croatia
Political parties
Elections

People's Party (Croatian: Narodna stranka) was a political party in the Habsburg Kingdom of Croatia and the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia.

It was founded in 1841 based on Croatian Illyrian movement. Because the movement did not distinguish Croats from other South Slavs and instead called them all Illyrians, the party was named the Illyrian Party or the People's Party (Ilirska stranka, Narodna stranka) when it was formed in late 1841, and it participated in the councils of the Varaždin County and the Bjelovar-Križevci County.[1] It was one of the two parties in the 1843 session of the Croatian Parliament.[2]

Some of its champions from this time included Janko Drašković, Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski, Josip Juraj Strossmayer and Ivan Mažuranić.

In 1861, the People's Party sent 58 deputies in the Croatian Parliament out of a total of 106.[3] It went under the name People's Liberal Party (Croatian: Narodna liberalna stranka).

Also in 1861, in the Kingdom of Dalmatia, their sister party in Dalmatia was founded.

Later in the 19th century, the party developed a more Magyar-oriented stance, which eventually caused a faction to form the Independent People's Party (Croatian: Neodvisna narodna stranka) in 1880, led by Matija Mrazović and 22 other parliamentary representatives.[4] The party journal was Obzor, giving rise to their members nickname obzoraši. The People's Party remained in power but enabled a policy of Magyarization, which resulted in major discontent with ban Khuen Hedervary in 1903.

In 1905, the Independent People's Party joined the Croatian-Serbian Coalition (Hrvatsko-srpska koalicija), together with the Party of Rights, as well as the Independents and the Radicals.

The People's Party was technically active until 1918, when Austro-Hungary ceased to exist after World War I.

The People's Party was not reformed in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. An unrelated people's party, the Pučka stranka, was created in 1919, but it was a right-wing party, with different aims and origins to the original People's Party. It in turn ceased to exist on January 21, 1929.

The Croatian People's Party, founded in 1990, claims lineage from the People's Party.[5]

References

  1. Horvat 1906, p. 65.
  2. Horvat 1906, p. 77.
  3. Horvat 1906, p. 204.
  4. Horvat 1906, p. 289.
  5. "Tko smo mi - Povijest HNS-a" [Who we are - History of HNS]. Official website. Croatian People's Party - Liberal Democrats. Retrieved 2011-10-11.

Sources

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