People's Party (interwar Romania)
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People's Party
Partidul Poporului |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| President |
Alexandru Averescu (1918–1938) P. P. Negulescu (1938) |
| Founder | Constantin Argetoianu, Matei B. Cantacuzino |
| Founded | April 3, 1918 |
| Dissolved | 1938 |
| Split from | Conservative Party |
| Succeeded by | National Renaissance Front |
| Headquarters | Calea Victoriei 39, Bucharest |
| Newspaper | Îndreptarea |
| Veterans' wing | Cultul Patriei |
| Ideology |
Conservatism Populism Social liberalism Fascism (minority) Republicanism (minority) |
| Political position | Right-wing |
| International affiliation | None |
| Colours | Yellow |
The People's Party (Romanian: Partidul Poporului, PP), originally People's League (Liga Poporului), was an eclectic, essentially populist, mass movement in Romania. Created by World War I hero Alexandru Averescu, it identified itself with the new politics of "Greater Romania" period, and existed for almost as long as Greater Romania did. The PP broke with the antiquated two-party system, creating a wide coalition of lobbies, and advertised itself as the new challenge to the National Liberal Party (PNL). The group was held together by Averescu's charisma, and was popularly known as partidul averescan, "the Averescan party".
In its early years, the League brought together members of the moribund Conservative Party and social reformers of diverse backgrounds, and secured for itself the votes of poor peasants and demobilized soldiers. Its platform appealed to antisemites and Jews, social liberals and fascists, loyalists and republicans. Averescu's doubts about staging a revolution, and to some degree the Averescans' rejection of political radicalism, meant that the League was pushed into a partnership with the PNL. Averescu's rise to power was confirmed in the 1920 election and then by his heavy-handed approach to labor unrest. The government initiated sweeping reforms, but was brought down when it rebelled against the PNL's paternalism.
Victorious in the 1926 election, the PP became a direct opponent of the National Peasants' Party, and lost the PNL's tactical support. It failed to regroup itself and, in 1932, was divided in half—its radical wing having become the National Agrarian Party. The PP continued as a marginal presence in political life, steadily losing votes to the fascist and antisemitic parties. It was officially dissolved along with all other democratic parties in early 1938, by which time it had been forced to register Averescu's own resignation.
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