History
Venstre, or "the Left" in English, was founded in 1870 under the name Det Forenede Venstre (The United Left). It was formed through the merger of three parliamentary factions, all of whom had identified as leftist in the context of the time. From 1895–1910 it was known as Venstrereformpartiet (Left Reform Party), and after that as Venstre.
Venstre was traditionally a party advocating free trade and farmers' interests as opposed to the interests of the aristocracy which were the platform of the other conservative party Højre (The Right). This traditional landed basis resulted in a relative decline in influence due to the rapidly accelerating urbanisation of Danish society. Starting in the 1880s, the party began expanding into urban regions as well.
By the 1910s, the splitting off of the Social Liberals and the appearance of the Social Democrats had pushed Venstre toward the centre, and it often relied on its former Conservative adversaries for parliamentary support. After the 1960s Venstre was reoriented as a more classical liberal party. During the leadership of Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the party turned further to the right.
Read more about this topic: Venstre (Denmark)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“... all big changes in human history have been arrived at slowly and through many compromises.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962)
“The foregoing generations beheld God and nature face to face; we, through their eyes. Why should not we also enjoy an original relation to the universe? Why should not we have a poetry and philosophy of insight and not of tradition, and a religion by revelation to us, and not the history of theirs?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Free from public debt, at peace with all the world, and with no complicated interests to consult in our intercourse with foreign powers, the present may be hailed as the epoch in our history the most favorable for the settlement of those principles in our domestic policy which shall be best calculated to give stability to our Republic and secure the blessings of freedom to our citizens.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)