German Radical Party Explained

German Radical Party
Colorcode:
  1. b23a25
Leader:Karl Hermann Wolf
Ideology:Pan-Germanism
Austro-German nationalism
Anti-slavic sentiment
Anti-clericalism
Moderate antisemitism
Right-wing populism
Country:Austro-Hungary
Native Name:Deutschradicale Partei
Founded:1902
Dissolved:1920
Split:Alldeutschen Vereinigung
Merged:Greater German People's Party
German National Party (Czechoslovakia)
Position:Right-wing to Far-right
National:Deutscher Nationalverband

The German Radical Party (German: Deutschradicale Partei), until 1907 the All-German Free Party (Freialldeutsche Partei), was a German nationalist political party in Austria-Hungary, active mainly in Bohemia.

History

After the Alldeutschen Vereinigung's electoral success in the Reichstag elections in 1901, there was a split between party leader Georg von Schönerer and the moderate Karl Hermann Wolf. Although von Schönerer placed racist and anti-Semitic ideology at the center of his politics and was strongly opposed to the Habsburg Monarchy and the Catholic Church, for Wolf and many other supporters of the Alldeutschen Vereinigung the German-Czech national conflict was the priority. In addition, there were personal disagreements between Wolf and von Schönerer. In 1902 Wolf finally broke away from the Alldeutschen Vereinigung and founded the All-German Free Party, in which he could count on the support of German-speaking followers from Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia, as well as some Alldeutschen Vereinigung deputies in the Reichstag. For example, five members of the Moravian Regional Assembly joined the new party.

While the All-German Free Party continued to represent a völkisch polity of German nationality, their anti-Semitic attitude was more relaxed, and the destruction of the Habsburg monarchy was no longer openly demanded. Rather, All-German Free Party saw itself as representing the interests of the German-speaking people in the Habsburg Monarchy, and therefore did not shy away from soliciting Jewish votes.

The All-German Free Party was always more successful in elections than the Alldeutschen Vereinigung and, together with the German Agrarian Party, became the strongest pan-Germanist party in Bohemia. Following the electoral success of the All-German Free Party in the 1907 Reichsrat elections, the party changed its name to the "German Radical Party" that same year. From 1910 he worked with other German national parties in the Reichsrat in the German National Association. In 1920 the German Radical Party finally merged with the Greater German People's Party.

References