The Farmers' Assemblies () was a conservative political party in

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

. Led by

Konstantin Päts Konstantin Päts ( – 18 January 1956) was an Estonian statesman and the country's president from 1938 to 1940. Päts was one of the most influential politicians of the independent democratic Republic of Estonia, and during the two decades p ...

, it was one of the ruling parties during most of the interwar period.

History

The Rural League (''Maarahva Liit'') was formed in 1917 following an article in the ''

Postimees is an Estonian daily newspaper established on 5 June 1857, by Johann Voldemar Jannsen. In 1891, it became the first daily newspaper in Estonia. Its current editor-in-chief is Priit Hõbemägi. The paper has approximately 250 employees. ''P ...

'' newspaper by members of the Southern Estonian Farmers' Central Society, which called for the rural population to form political groups to represent themselves.Vincent E McHale (1983) ''Political parties of Europe'', Greenwood Press, p378 The new party published the ''Maaliit'' newspaper. In the Provincial Assembly elections later in the year the League received 22% of the vote and emerged as the largest party in the Assembly, holding 13 of the 62 seats. After the elections the party became part of the Democratic Bloc alongside the Estonian Democratic Party and the Estonian Radical Democratic Party. The Bloc received around 23% of the vote in the February 1918 Constituent Assembly elections, which was cancelled. At the time the League was considering inviting the

German Army The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...

to occupy Estonia to ward off Russian Bolsheviks.

then joined the League to prevent this idea being implemented, and became its leader. In the 1919 Constituent Assembly elections, the League performed poorly, winning only eight of the 120 seats and finishing in fourth place. The Estonian Labour Party government subsequently enacted radical land reforms that redistributed land to landless farmers. This policy was opposed by the Rural League, who saw a large increase in support in the 1920 elections amongst the new landowners who had drifted to the right following their gains. The results saw the League finish second with 21 of the 100 seats in the

Riigikogu The Riigikogu (, from Estonian ''riigi-'', "of the state", and ''kogu'', "assembly") is the unicameral parliament of Estonia. In addition to approving legislation, the Parliament appoints high officials, including the prime minister and chi ...

, and Päts became

Head of State A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 "

he head of state He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

being an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

. In 1921 the party was reorganised, and renamed the Farmers' Assemblies, with the ''Maaliit'' newspaper renamed ''Kaja''.McHale, p379 In 1923 a split saw some liberal members leave the party to form the

Settlers' Party The Settlers' Party () was a political party in Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across ...

. The 1923 elections saw the party become the largest in the Riigikogu, winning 23 seats. Päts remained Head of State. The 1926 elections saw the party retain its 23 seats. Although the

Estonian Socialist Workers' Party The Estonian Socialist Workers' Party (, ''ESTP'') was a political party in Estonia. History The party was established in 1925 as a merger of the Estonian Social Democratic Workers' Party and former members of the Independent Socialist Workers ...

became the largest faction in the Riigikogu, Farmers' Assemblies member

Jaan Teemant Jaan may refer to: *Jaan (given name) * ''Jaan'' (album), an Indian pop album by Sonu Nigam * ''Jaan'' (film), a 1996 Bollywood action film directed by Raj Kanwar *Gauhar Jaan (1873–1930), Indian singer and dancer *" Jaan Atki", a 2016 Punjabi s ...

remained Head of State, having taken office in December 1925. The party remained the second largest faction in the Riigikogu following the 1929 elections, in which it won 24 seats.

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An ex ...

& Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p586 However,

Otto Strandman Otto August Strandman (; – 5 February 1941) was an Estonian politician, who served as Prime Minister (1919) and State Elder of Estonia (1929–1931). Strandman was one of the leaders of the centre-left Estonian Labour Party, that saw its ...

of the Labour Party was able to form a government. Prior to the 1932 elections the party merged with the

to form the Union of Settlers and Smallholders,Nohlen & Stöver, p579 with the new party winning 42 of the 100 seats. In 1933 a large conservative faction of the Farmers' Assemblies left the Union to re-establish the party. The activities of political parties were suspended on 6 March 1935, but during the Soviet occupation the party continued in exile in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

.McHale, p380

References

{{Estonian political parties Conservative parties in Estonia Defunct political parties in Estonia Political parties established in 1917 1917 establishments in Estonia 1935 disestablishments in Estonia Banned political parties