Организационно изграждане на Радославистката партия (1894–1899)
Organizational Building of the Radoslavist Party (1894–1899)

Summary/Abstract: In 1895–1899, the Liberal (Radoslavist) Party based its activity on a programme and intensified its propaganda. In December 1894 a new statute was approved in accordance with which were set up the provincial structures of the party that began to take the shape of a modern political organization. Of all the major political forces in the late 19th c. the Liberal Party of Dr V. Radoslavov was the first to hold regular party congresses where it formulated its objectives and elected its leadership. If may be definitely stated that the period under review a considerable part of the Bulgarian politicians received their lessons in organizational life from the Radoslavists. In building up their Party the liberal Radoslavists did not observe the hierarchy of the country’s administrative division but, relying on the size of their membership, tried to set up as many sections as possible. Radoslavov’s goal was to form in each inhabited locality a nucleus of his followers through whom to oppose the government. This policy had its negative aspects too: the indiscriminate “admission” of followers led to an instability of the social basis of the sections, weak discipline and centrifugal processes, as a result of which the Radoslavists suffered several failures at municipal and parliamentary elections. This compelled their leadership to seek an alliance with other opposition forces, trampling for the sake of power upon some of the programme principles. Notwithstanding the efforts of its leadership, at the end of the 19th century the Radoslavist Party had not much outstripped the other political parties in an organizational respect. The attempts to turn it into a party of a European type were consistent but the results constituted only a small step forward in the conditions of Bulgarian political reality.

• Details
• Contents