The Farmers' Party (, ŪP) was a liberal political party in inter-war

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

History

The party was established as the Democratic National Freedom League (''Demokratinė tautos laisvės santara'' known simply as ''Santara'' and its members as ''santarininkai'') in March 1917 by Lithuanian refugees in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. The party initially advocated for Lithuanian autonomy within the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. Its members were liberal intelligentsia, including future Ministers of Justice

Petras Leonas Petras Leonas (1864–1938) was a Lithuanian attorney and politician, the first Minister of Justice of the newly independent Lithuania in 1918. After graduating from Moscow University in 1889, Leonas held a government job at various courts in S ...

and

Stasys Šilingas Baron Stasys Šilingas (11 November 1885 – 13 November 1962) was a prominent lawyer and statesman in interwar Lithuania. When the independence of Lithuania was proclaimed on February 16, 1918, Šilingas served first as vice-president and then ...

, diplomats Vaclovas Sidzikauskas and

Jurgis Baltrušaitis Jurgis Baltrušaitis (2 May 1873 – 3 January 1944) was a Lithuanian Symbolist poet and translator who wrote in Lithuanian and Russian, and was an exponent of iconology. He was the father of art historian and critic Jurgis Baltrušaitis Jr. ...

. In 1917–1920, they published newspaper ''Santara'' in St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Kaunas. The party gained just 2,591 votes in the 1920 parliamentary elections and did not participate in the

1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic), Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éirean ...

or 1923 elections but had members in almost every government in 1918–1922. In 1925, it became the Farmers' Party and published weekly ''Ūkininkų balsas'' (Voice of Farmers) until 1928. It won two seats in the

1926 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1926. Africa * 1926 Egyptian parliamentary election * 1926 Lagos by-election * 1926 Northern Rhodesian general election * 1926 South West African legislative election Asia * 1926 Hong Kong sanitary boa ...

(

Rapolas Skipitis Rapolas Skipitis (31 January 1887 – 23 February 1976) was a Lithuanian attorney and politician. In 1920–1922, he was Ministry of the Interior (Lithuania), Minister of the Interior and was later elected to the Second Seimas, Second and Third ...

and

Jonas Pranas Aleksa Jonas Pranas Aleksa (5 December 1879 – 22 April 1955) was a Lithuanian politician, agronomist, sociologist, and economist. He was the Minister of Agriculture in the cabinets of four Prime Ministers: Kazys Grinius, Ernestas Galvanauskas, August ...

), forming part of the government coalition with the

Lithuanian Popular Peasants' Union The Lithuanian Popular Peasants' Union (, LVLS) was a centre-left political party in Lithuania between 1922 and 1936. The party's leaders included the third President Kazys Grinius and three-term Prime Minister Mykolas Sleževičius. History Th ...

and the

Social Democratic Party of Lithuania The Social Democratic Party of Lithuania (, LSDP) is a centre-left and social democratic political party in Lithuania. Founded as an underground Marxist organisation in 1896, it is the oldest extant party in Lithuania. During the time of the ...

.McHale, p. 487 Following the 1926 coup, the party was a member of

Antanas Smetona Antanas Smetona (; 10 August 1874 – 9 January 1944) was a Lithuanian intellectual, journalist and politician. He served as the first president of Lithuania from 1919 to 1920 and later as the authoritarian head of state from 1926 until the Occu ...

's coalition government alongside the

Lithuanian Nationalist Union The Lithuanian Nationalist Union ( or LTS), also known as the Nationalists (), was the ruling political party in Lithuania during the authoritarian regime of President Antanas Smetona from 1926 to 1940. The party was established in 1924 but was n ...

and the Christian Democratic Bloc. Aleksa became Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Communications. The party pulled out of the coalition around May 1927, but Aleksa disobeyed and remained minister until 1935. The party was banned later in 1928.

Ideology

The party held had secular and liberal platform, and unlike other agrarian parties, advocated religious tolerance. It sought to support the interests of agriculture and industry, as well as measures to develop Lithuanian culture. The party envisioned itself as a mediator between the political right and left.

References

{{Authority control Defunct political parties in Lithuania Political parties established in 1917 Political parties disestablished in 1928 Agrarian parties in Lithuania Defunct agrarian political parties