Liberal Party

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Liberal Party

The first Liberal Party of Chile (Partido Liberal) consisted of a group of men who shared vague ideals rather than a cohesive ideology. Crushed by the Conservatives at the battle of Lircay in 1830, the party dissolved, and its supporters went to ground. The Manuel Bulnes administration (1841–1851) proved more benign than its predecessor, permitting a more open political atmosphere. A split in Conservative ranks provided the impetus and the leadership for the creation of the Liberal Party. The dissident Conservatives attracted the support of pre-1830 Liberals as well as a new generation of political mavericks, such as Francisco Bilbao and José Victorino Lastarria, who were strongly influenced by events in Europe, particularly the various revolutions of 1848. Together they founded the Liberal Party in 1849.

The newly created Liberals did not fare well. Twice, in 1851 and 1859, they participated in rebellions intended to bring political change to Chile. Displeased by the Manuel Montt administration (1851–1861), the Liberals began to side with Conservatives to form an antigovernment opposition. The conclusion of the Montt regime, however, brought the Liberals into increasing prominence and even into the José Joaquín Pérez administration's cabinet. Under their aegis the legislature gave rights to non-Catholics, reduced the powers of the president to suspend the Constitution, and limited his tenure to one term.

From 1871 to 1891, Liberal presidents ruled Chile, initiating legislation that amplified civil rights, reduced the power of the government, enfranchised more people, and secularized many institutions. The party, however, suffered on various occasions from numerous splits, which limited its effectiveness, often forcing it to forge coalitions in order to rule.

Like the Conservative Party, the Liberal Party did not hold its first convention until late: in September 1892, when it announced its support for the parliamentary system and free elections. Because of its propensity for internal disputes and lack of organization, the party lost much of its effectiveness during the first half of the parliamentary period. The Liberal Party rarely lived up to its name: other than calling for separation of church and state, it tended to concentrate on political change rather than demand substantive socioeconomic reforms. Even the Conservatives were more liberal.

The Liberals continued to splinter after 1925, with each faction often supporting different candidates. Periodically, Liberals participated in various cabinets, even working with Communists on one occasion, thereby indicating that political consistency was not their strong suit. Despite its problems, the Liberal Party still elected candidates largely from rural areas where it could control the peasant vote. For the same reasons the Conservatives lost congressional power—changes in the electoral law and an end to election fraud—the Liberals lost as well. By 1965 they had attracted but 7.3 percent of the congressional vote, electing only six deputies and five senators. Increasingly, the Liberal Party functioned as part of a coalition. Its last experience, working with Conservatives and Radicals to elect a congressional candidate, failed dismally. Recognizing the problems confronting it, in 1966 the Liberals joined the Conservatives, once their mortal foes, to create the National Party which lasted until the early 1990s.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sergio Guilisasti, Partidos políticos chilenos (1964), pp. 71-128.

Federico G. Gil, The Political System of Chile (1966), pp. 231-243, 252-256, 308-309.

James O. Morris, Elites, Intellectuals, and Consensus: A Study of the Social Question and the Industrial Relations System in Chile (1966), pp. 9, 101, 144-171, 180-184, 187, 217, 233-234.

Ben G. Burnett, Political Groups in Chile (1970), pp. 161-170, 178-181.

Karen L. Remmer, Party Competition in Argentina and Chile: Political Recruitment and Public Policy, 1890–1930 (1984), pp. 12-19, 23, 74-76, 80, 82, 85, 117-120.

Additional Bibliography

Collier, Simon. Chile: The Making of a Republic, 1830–1865: Politics and Ideas. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003.

Scully, Timothy. Rethinking the Center: Party Politics in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-century Chile. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1992.

Stuven, Ana María. La seducción de un orden: Las elites y la construcción de Chile en las polémicas culturales y políticas del siglo XIX. Santiago: Ediciones Universidad Católica de Chile, 2000.

William F. Sater

Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture