Radical Party (Chile)

The Radical Party ( Partido Radical ) was an existing 1863-1994 political party in Chile. It emerged from the radical wing of the Chilean Liberal Party and united in 1994 with the Social Democrats.

Precursor of the radical movement was founded in 1850 " Society for equality" ( Sociedad de la Igualdad ), a liberal political circles, which consisted primarily of European-trained, middle-class intellectuals of the younger generation.

The party was founded under the leadership of Manuel Antonio Matta from a liberal group formed within the platform of opposition and critical of the government parliamentarians, who is also the to 1863 Exiles charismatic social revolutionary Pedro León Gallo joined. As a founding date is the first choice radicals Congress ( Asamblea Radical Electoral) of 27 December 1863 in Copiapo. This was preceded by the creation of the magazine La Voz de Chile ( "The Voice of Chile " ) in May 1862, and was able to inspire a broad public for the main demands of radicalism: the abolition of ecclesiastical education, universal suffrage, decentralization of administration, the then authoritarian by the President was led, citizen participation in political decisions and reform of the Chilean Constitution of 1833.

In the beginning, the objective pursued by the radicals target a sharp separation of church and state and passionately advocated call for radical curbing of the political and social influence of the Catholic Church played the most important role in the public debate. The new party saw itself primarily as a mouthpiece of the left-liberal, secular and anticlerical set bourgeoisie that formed the majority of the emerging bourgeoisie in Chile and a conservative- reactionary religious and political leadership faced. Later, the party also attracted the lower middle classes in the rapidly growing cities and expanded their program to include the requirement of a welfare state. In the 1918 elections, the Radical Party was the second strongest political force in the country and worked up in the 1960s, the primary authors of various government training.

The following Presidents of Chile belonged to the Radical Party: Juan Esteban Montero (1931 /32), Pedro Aguirre Cerda ( 1938-41 ), Juan Antonio Ríos ( 1942-46 ) and Gabriel González Videla ( 1946-52 ). Especially Montero Ríos, however, were party and internally because of their role during the dictatorial regime of President Carlos Ibáñez and Carlos Dávila and because of their proximity to the right-wing circles very controversial. Both had held ministerial posts in authoritarian governments and Ríos had even been excluded for years from the party in the 30's and also tried during his reign frequently to limit the influence of his party on government policy.

The Radical Party worked closely with the socialist parties and was a member of the Socialist International. It participated in the electoral alliances Frente Popular ( "Popular Front" ) of 1936 and the Unidad Popular ( "Popular Unity" ) of 1969. Meanwhile candidate Salvador Allende was in 1970 as winner of the presidential elections forth and ruled until the military coup of 1973. The Radical Party was the moderate wing of the Popular Unity to officially known it in 1972, however, to socialism, historical materialism and class struggle.

With its merger with the Social Democratic Party of Chile ( Partido Socialdemócrata de Chile), which had been founded in 1973 by followers of a moderate center-left politics, the Radical Party was on 18 August 1994 in " Radicals and the Social Democratic Party " ( Partido Radical Social Demócrata ) (on PRSD ), which sees itself as the party of the center-left and currently provides five MPs and four senators in the Chilean National Congress.