Party of Independence and '48
독립당 (헝가리)
A Hungarian nationalist opposition party formed in 1884 by the merger of the Independence Party and the '48 Independence Party. Opposing the Compromise of 1867 and upholding the independence line of the 1848 revolution, it was the main opposition to the ruling Liberal Party from 1896. It won the 1905 and 1906 elections as part of the allied opposition and was active until 1918.
In depth
According to the Hungarian source, on 29 September 1884 the Independence Party led by Lajos Mocsáry and the '48 Independence Party led by Dániel Irányi merged as the Party of Independence and '48. Its two predecessors had been active since 1874. The new party took over the nationalist, civic-radical outlook of the '48 party but softened its stance on relations with Austria, accepting a personal union instead of full independence, which led to sharp internal conflicts and repeated splits. The English source says Lajos Kossuth was its spiritual leader until his death in 1894.
Its first chairman was Dániel Irányi, followed by Gyula Justh in 1893 and Ferenc Kossuth in 1895. From 1884 a faction led by Gábor Ugron sought to curb the party's radical elements; it broke away as a separate party of the same name in 1890 and again in 1894, rejoining in January 1905. In 1893, in a dispute over church policy, Károly Eötvös and 22 others left to found the Independence People's Party.
During the crisis of 1905–1906 the reunited party joined the allied opposition, whose victory broke the Liberal Party's hegemony that had lasted since 1875. But the conflict between supporters and opponents of the 1867 Compromise resurfaced, splitting it in 1907–1909 into the Left Party, the Justh Party and the Kossuth Party, and after losing the 1910 election it returned to opposition.
On 14 June 1913 the factions reunited as the United Party of '48 and Independence. The Hungarian source says that after Ferenc Kossuth's death in 1914 Albert Apponyi became its last chairman, while also stating that in 1916 its 'then chairman' Mihály Károlyi left to found the Károlyi Party. Early in 1918 it joined the '48 Constitution Party; it was banned under the Soviet Republic and never re-established in that form. In 1922 Tivadar Batthyány and others founded the Independence, '48 and Kossuth Party, which claimed to continue it.