Bondevennernes Selskab
Bondevennernes Selskab ( Danish for "Society of Farmers 'Friends"), or farmers' friends for short , was a party in Denmark in the 19th century.
The society was founded on May 5, 1846 by the two state deputies Johan Christian Drewsen and Balthasar Christensen at the request of teacher Gleerup, who was chairman of the Holbæk Amt Landkommunalforening . Other men from the very beginning were Orla Lehmann and Anton Frederik Tscherning .
The aim of the farmer friends was to “acquire comprehensive and precise information” about the living conditions of the rural population and “to work for the emancipation of the peasant class and equality with the other social classes”. Other program demands were the improvement of popular education, general conscription , freedom of trade , the improvement of the situation of the small farmers , the agricultural workers and the replacement of the interest peasants with their own landed property.
The society was divided into district and district associations. The first board was elected for three years.
The farmer friends quickly achieved considerable expansion and gained influence. By mid-1847 they had over 5,500 members, later this number rose to over 10,000. In the election for the Constituent Assembly ( Den grundlovgivende Rigsforsamling ) after the March Revolution in 1848, the peasant friends fought for the constitution of Denmark, against the resistance of the conservative Højre, to give parliament more rights and to expand the circle of eligible voters. After that, the farmers' friends established themselves as a parliamentary group in the Reichstag. However, as a result of the Danish constitutional struggles, it suffered a sharp decline from the mid-1850s.
From December 2, 1859 to February 24, 1860, the farmers' friends formed the Rotwitt government . Important reforms aimed at by the Bauernfreunde were implemented in 1860/61 with the law for the betterment of interest farmers under the national liberal minister DG Monrad .
The Society of Farmers' Friends continued into the 1860s and was never formally dissolved.