Establishment and organisation of Serbian political parties in the 19th century

Abstract

This paper discusses the chronology of the establishment and organisation of political parties in Serbia during the 1880s. The National Radical Party was established in January 1881 as the first organised political party in Serbia. Two other political parties, the Progressive and the Liberal Party, followed soon after. The establishment of the local committee in Belgrade in early December of 1881 marked the constitution of the National Radical Party. Other local committees were established throughout Serbia immediately after the first one. The local committees represented the basic organisational units of the Progressive Party with the General Committee based in Belgrade. The Statutes of the National Liberal Party, issued on 3/15 March 1883, defined the following bodies: General Committee, local committees, and the Party Meetings.