National Liberal Reich Party

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The National Liberal Reich Party (NLRP) was a group that was founded in June 1924 to bring together the forces of the German People's Party (DVP) with the German National People's Party (DNVP).

Opposition in the DVP against Stresemann

During the reign of Chancellor Gustav Stresemann and also at the time as Foreign Minister, a right-wing opposition to his policy developed within the DVP, but also in the party's Reichstag faction. This opposition was strongly supported by big industry circles.

These circles around Albert Vögler , Hugo Stinnes , Oskar Maretzky and Reinhold Georg Quaatz not only intended to merge all right-wing party groups, but also intended, with the DNVP, to overthrow the Stresemann government. In order to give these political endeavors an organizational basis, the National Liberal Association (NLV) was founded on March 12, 1924 .

NLV demands

The demands of the NLV consisted in the unification of all political, national and anti-socialist forces, whereby the tradition of the National Liberal Party should be linked. The basis should be the resolution of the Reichstag faction of the DVP of January 12, 1924, where a coalition of political forces from the center to the right was called for. One of the current points of politics should be the intensified struggle against the Social Democrats and, as a result, the termination of the coalition that existed in Prussia with the SPD .

Albert Vögler, Reinhold Georg Quaatz, Johann Becker and Moritz Klönne were represented on the NLV board . The board of the DVP saw this formation of the NLV as incompatible with the statutes of the party and decided on April 7, 1924 that the members of the NLV had to leave the DVP. The leading figures of the NLV reacted to this on April 9, 1924 with the intention of developing the NLV into a non-partisan organization.

NLV independence

At the same time, they set out their intentions in a programmatic declaration that clearly set out their basic goals. A strong government was to be formed which would lead the German people out of the state of national powerlessness and socialist disintegration . The way to this goal consists in resolute struggle against Marxism and against social democracy, which alienate the working class from the German nationality.

Furthermore, an elimination of the class struggle and a working and community of opinion between employers and employees was demanded. In the field of foreign policy, the policy of understanding with the Western powers and a new treatment of the so-called war guilt question should be called for. When the NLV took part in the Reichstag elections in May 1924 , it was unable to win a single mandate directly. Only Oskar Maretzky received a seat through a list connection.

Foundation of the NLRP

The party political goal of the NLV consisted in a union of DVP and DNVP, which could not be achieved. Therefore, the representatives of the NLV looked for a new solution, which they saw in the conversion of the NLV to the National Liberal Reich Party on June 22, 1924 in Berlin, with Maretzky being elected party chairman.

In accordance with the objectives of the NLRP, it did not nominate any candidates for the December 1924 Reichstag election . A call was made to voters to only elect candidates for the DVP who take a stand against social democracy and vote for a coalition with the DNVP. In February 1925, the Maretzky circles joined the DNVP.

A small group continued the political line of the NLRP until 1926, only to disband. In Bavaria there was a National Liberal State Party of Bavaria until November 1927 , which was based on the program of the NLRP. This state party also united with the DNVP.

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