Information AboutPolitieke Partij Radicalen |
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The Political Party of Radicals (PPR) was a Dutch Leftwing political party. It was founded in 1968 by members of the Catholic People's Party who opposed the conservative politics of their party. They were soon joined by young Protestants . In the beginning PPR was a Christian-radical party, which was very close to the Social Democrats . During the eighties the party began to develop a more green ideology and it began to cooperate with other small left parties. This led in 1989 to merger of the PPR, with the socialist PSP , the communist CPN and the Protestant EVP in GroenLinks . =History= THE SIXTIES AND SEVENTIES The PPR was founded on April 27 1968 by members of parliament for the Catholic People's party. They regretted that the KVP had announced that it would continue to cooperate with the Protestant-Christian ARP and CHU instead of with the social-democratic PvdA . They were soon joined by Catholics who had the same feelings. Although founded by Christian politicians the party denounced a direct relationship between religion and politics. Therefore they decided to drop any reference to Christianity from the party's name. They also did this to appeal to non-Christian voters. The party lacked a program of principles and instead focused on issues. Important issues for the party were Development Of The Third World , The Environment and Disarmament . These issues were also important for other groups worldwide, who came to found green parties. The party allied itself with the PvdA and the progressive liberal D66 in 1971 . In 1972 these parties won the elections and formed the cabinet Den Uyl . The PPR did exceptionally well in this election and went from 2 to 7 seats (of 150 total). Until 1977 the party was led by Bas De Gaay Fortman . The elections of 1977 however were a disaster. The PPR fell back to 2 seats and did not return to government. The alliance with the PvdA and D66 dissolved. THE EIGHTIES Before the elections of 1977 the PPR elected a new Lijsttrekker Ria Beckers . Under her leadership. It decided to become a Green Party and to cooperate with other small leftwing parties in parliament (the PSP and the CPN) instead of the PvdA. This led to considerable conflict within the party. On the local and Europe an level the parties began to propose combined lists of candidates. The parties organized demonstrations together especially against Nuclear Power and weapons. After the disastrous elections of 1986 the four parties merged in 1989 into GroenLinks . In 1991 the PPR officially ceased to exist. Until today the influence of the PPR on GroenLinks is significant. |
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