Komma Fileleftheron/Ethnikos Synaspismos

The **Liberals’ Party** (Italian: *Κόμμα Φιλελευθέρων* , **ΚΦ/KF**) is a liberal political party in Greece. It has been the most influential party in shaping the political landscape of the country. With factionalism within however, it has dissolved into a closely-linked coalition of parties, called the **Ethnikos Synaspismos (National Coalition)**. It has existed from 1910 to 1932.

## History

### Before the War

The Komma Phileleftheron was founded by Eleftherios Venizelos on August 1910, after a resounding electoral victory elevated him at the head of the government of the Kingdom of Greece. Originally a ‘Personality Party’, meaning a party based on the support of great politicians instead of specific polices, the party strived for the goals of reforming the flawed constitutional monarchy, modernizing the country along the lines of capitalism and allying Greece with Britain.

In February 1915, Venizelos broke with the king over whether or not should Greece get involved in the Great War, Venizelos resigned.  In the resulting elections of May, however, Venizelos was was reelected and considered the outcome as approval of his foreign policy by the people. In the meantime, British and French troops disembarked and occupied Thessaloniki, with the approval of the prime minister. With the king infuriated and not backing down, Venizelos abdicated again, and didn’t participated in the next elections. The resulting occupation sparked a coup d'état in Thessaloniki, supported by the Entente forces stationed there and by pro-Venizelist military officials, in the 16th of August 1915. Venizelos sided with the coup plotters and on the 26th of September, he formed a provisional government, named the Government of National Defense, sparking the National Schism.

### After the War

Due to British intervention in the negotiations following the end of the war, a policy of Ottoman stability was favoured instead of satisfying Greek irredentism. The relatively disappointing rewards from the war led to large drop of support from the war-weary populace. In the face of lack of confidence in the government, both inside and outside the halls of parliament, the government was forced to resign and snap elections on September saw the conservative Laikon Komma win substantially more seats than the Liberals (251 against 118), despite only a short plurality (50,31% against 49,26%), due to electoral idiosyncrasies. This defeat prompted Venizelos to temporarily abandon politics and move to Paris.

In his absence, the differing factions within the party began fracturing. While the Venizelist ‘united front’ only consisted of the main party and the agrarian AEK, Andreas Michalakopoulos would split to form the Komma Syntiritikon Fileleftheron (Party of Conservative Liberals), while Georgios Kafantari split to form the Komma Proodeftikon Fileleftheron (Party of Progressive Liberals). The main party would come under the leadership of Themistoklis Sofoulis, representing orthodox Venizelism. The parties would continue to work together though, similarly to how the AEK worked with the main party before, thus making the split more akin to intra-party factionalism.

### The 2nd Republic

While Venizelos were in charge of the KF, he represented a moderate stance when dealing with the monarchy, preferring to enact and perpetuate reforms within the system and work with the monarchy (f.e. at the eve of the Goudi Movement, Venizelos urged the revolutionaries to act with the purpose of revising the constitution, rather than drafting a new one). His absence, as well as the death of king Alexander in 1920 and the subsequent enthroning of his Anti-Venizelist brother, George II, helped the radicalization of the liberals towards anti-monarchist lines. Such influence was disproportionately felt in the army, eventually leading in Venizelist elements in the army, led by Nikolaos Plastiras and Stylanos Gonatas, attempting to overthrow the government, put the liberals in power and establish a Republic in early 1924. Since the coup plotters were going to succeed due to most of the army still belonging to the Venizelist camp, after the forced resignations of monarchist officers during the first World War, the parliament asked the king to flee from the country, in order to avoid bloodshed.

In the following elections, the Venizelists managed to secure a large majority in the National Congress established to draft a new constitution. In the following referendum, the people ratified the results of the Congress, although the validity of it was challenged by the monarchist opposition. With the victory in the home front, Venizelos was invited to replace Plastiras and form the 1st government of the newfound republic. The following years saw repeated Venizelist victories in an unstable political scene, with Venizelos, Papanastasiou and Michalakopoulos forming subsequent governments (with only Venizelos’ surviving more than a year). Such political factionalism within the legislative power and the people led to general Pangalos exploiting the situation and demanding Michalakopoulos to surrender the reigns of power to him. With the intervention of the President, he agreed and the general was sworn as Prime Minister. In the following months, the parliament was abolished and most Venizelists lost their power. It wasn’t until general Kondylis, then allied to Michalakopoulos, acted against Pangalos’ brutish miscalculations and restored the parliament. Since then, there have been 2 consecutive governments by the liberals, by Kafantaris from 1926 to 1928 and again by Venizelos from 1928 to 1932.

## Factions

Ever since Venizelos went into exile, the KF and its coalition has divided into factions formed along several disagreements about policy, the largest being the Conservative Venizelists, the Orthodox Venizelists, the Progressive Venizelists and the Agrarians. Though only the Orthodox faction remains in the main party, all work closely in a ‘Venizelist Coalition’ making their withdraw not impact its power within Greek politics. Therefore, they are represented as factions within the coalition, rather than different parties following their own agenda.

### Syntiritikoi Fileleftheroi (Conservative Liberals)

The Conservative Liberals (KSF) emerged as the right-wing of the liberals in the absence of Venizelos. Led by the politician and current minister of foreign affairs Antreas Michalakopoulos. One of the most important differences with the major party is on the multitude of labour laws and regulations created in previous years. Furthermore, there is a disagreement concerning the redistribution of land, supporting exemptions for rich, “productive” peasants.  While he was necessary in drafting and enforcing laws both for labour laws and land reform during the earlier days of the KF, his most recent government adhered by this principle, with anti-labour laws and brutish union-and-protest-busting. When concerning the issue of the monarchy, they fall in line with the orthodox faction, meaning they support the Republic but place emphasis on stability and cooperation. Should the conservatives win, they’ll attempt to work within the monarchy.

### Orthodoxoi Fileleftheroi (Orthodox Liberals)

The Orthodox Liberals (KF) represent the main, centrist wing of the liberals. While at first represented by Georgios Kafantaris, when he split from the party in 1924 the leadership of the party fell to Themistoklis Sofoulis and then later to Venizelos himself. They have spearheaded the modernization of Greece with the signing of labour laws such as safety regulations and the Papanastasiou contract, but leaving the free market to handle the rest. Furthermore, from large pressure from farmers, they support the redistribution of land with notable exemptions and compensation payed by farmers. Many reforms have been passed by the recent governments they have formed, but several labour laws have been ignored and/or abolished and land redistribution has been too slow. Most importantly they support the Republic but place emphasis on stability and cooperation. Should the conservatives win, they’ll attempt to work within the monarchy.

### Proodeftikoi Fileleftheroi (Progressive Liberals)

The Progressive Liberals are the centre-left wing of the liberals. They are led by the distinguished politician and presidential candidate Georgios Kafantaris. They split from the party in 1924, later than the conservatives, since they are closer to the orthodox liberals than the other factions. They support combating the effects of inflation on workers and restoring several defunct labour laws, as well as intervening in the constant drop of wages for them throughout Venizelist history. Aside from that, they have no disagreements with the orthodox liberals.

### Agrotikoi (Agrarians)

The Agrarians are the furthest left of the liberals and the only faction to work in the Liberal coalition before Venizelos left to Paris. Led by former Prime Minister and influential politician Alexandros Papanastasiou (and Alexandros Mylonas before the Farmers’ Democratic Party was absorbed into the AEK), they represent the continuation of the Sociologist Enterprise and the chief social-democratic party of Greece. They support the establishment of a welfare state as well as multiple labour reforms. They also believe in democracy, supporting an uncompromising stance with any Greek monarchy, promoting a policy of continuous republicanism. Most importantly, they support aiding the peasantry and expanding redistribution, abolishing exceptions and placing part of the burden of compensation on the state.

## Electoral results

Senate Elections
 1929
Venizelos

Note: represented here is the coalition, not the main party