Farmers' League (german: Bund der Landwirte, BdL, cs, Německý svaz zemědělců) was an ethnic

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

agrarian

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. Ideologically the party was moderately conservative, having its base in the Sudetenland countryside. Giovanni Capoccia.
Defending Democracy: Reactions to Extremism in Interwar Europe
'.

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005. p. 76 The party was led by

Franz Spina Franz Spina (5 October 1868 in Markt Türnau, Austria-Hungary – 17 September 1938 in Prague, Czechoslovakia) was German-Czechoslovakian right-wing and activist politician of the First Republic Era. Franz Spina was chairman of Bund der Landwirt ...

. '' Landjugend'' was the youth wing of the party.Capoccia, Giovanni.
Defending Democracy: Reactions to Extremism in Interwar Europe
'.

: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005. p. 82 In the 1920 election, the party won 11 seats (3.9% of the nationwide vote).Capoccia, Giovanni.
Defending Democracy: Reactions to Extremism in Interwar Europe
'.

: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005. p. 75 In the 1925 election, BdL won 24 parliamentary seats (8% of the vote). Following the election, BdL joined the Czechoslovak government. Spina became a national minister. After having entered the government the party began cooperation with the Czechoslovak agrarians. In the 1929 election, the BdL parliamentary presence was halved. The party got 12 seats, having got 4% of the national vote. After the DNP and DNSAP had been banned in October 1933, the political atmosphere in Sudetenland changed. The BdL came under pressure from rightwing radicals in ''Landjugend'', and formed a movement called ''Landstand'' led by Gustav Hacker (the leader of ''Landjugend''). ''Landstand'' was formed with the intention of enabling cooperation with the ''Sudetendeutsche Heimatfront'' (SHF). Through the creation of ''Landstand'', it is possible that BdL sought to pre-empt competition from SHF in the Sudetenland countryside. BdL hoped to achieve a division of labour between ''Landstand'' and SHF, thinking that SHF would mobilize urban populace and BdL/''Landstand'' would retain their dominance over rural German politics. These overtures to the SHF caused rifts in the Czechoslovak government. The DSAP (German Social Democrats), who were also in the government, were particularly worried and called upon BdL to differentiate themselves from 'the fascists'. In the end, BdL was side-lined as the Czechoslovak agrarians began to cooperate directly with SHF. ''Landstand'' became a short-lived movement. In the 1935 election, BdL gathered 1.7% of the national vote. The party got five parliamentary seats. The party suffered badly from the competition from the

Sudeten German Party The Sudeten German Party (german: Sudetendeutsche Partei, SdP, cs, Sudetoněmecká strana) was created by Konrad Henlein under the name ''Sudetendeutsche Heimatfront'' ("Front of the Sudeten German Homeland") on 1 October 1933, some months afte ...

(SdP), the new incarnation of SHF. After the election, BdL began to reorient itself towards cooperation with democratic forces, declaring their support to

Edvard Beneš Edvard Beneš (; 28 May 1884 – 3 September 1948) was a Czech politician and statesman who served as the president of Czechoslovakia from 1935 to 1938, and again from 1945 to 1948. He also led the Czechoslovak government-in-exile 1939 to 194 ...

as president just before the election. But the party suffered continuously from defections from its ranks. In the new scenario, BdL was divided into two fractions. One led by Hackner, who had become chairman of the party, and another led by Spina. After the '' Anschluß'' of

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, Hacker called on all BdL members to join SdP. The situation in BdL became more and more chaotic. On March 22, 1938, Hacker proclaimed himself as the '

plenipotentiary A ''plenipotentiary'' (from the Latin ''plenus'' "full" and ''potens'' "powerful") is a diplomat who has full powers—authorization to sign a treaty or convention on behalf of his or her sovereign. When used as a noun more generally, the wor ...

' of BdL, and went on to declare the party to merged into SdP. The Spina-led fraction tried to regroup, but failed to reconstruct the BdL.Capoccia, Giovanni.
Defending Democracy: Reactions to Extremism in Interwar Europe
'.

: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005. p. 89

Footnotes

References

* {{Authority control German diaspora political parties Interwar minority parties in Czechoslovakia Defunct agrarian political parties