Serbian Progressive Party

The Serbian Progressive Party (; abbr. СНС or SNS) was a conservative liberal political party in the Kingdom of Serbia that existed from 1881 to 1919. History Origins The origin of the Progressive Party can be traced back to 1871. Their leadership mainly consisted of young Western-trained intellectuals who later took part in the Editorial Board of Serbian journal Videlo. This journal was established in January 1880 as an organ of political opposition against the government of Jovan Ristić, in power from October 1878 until November 3, 1880. In the first issue, Stojan Novaković declared: "The younger and generally more active forces of the former so-called conservative party united with the younger forces of the so-called liberal party around a program, the main part of which will be the fight against pseudo-liberalism and sincere work for the promotion of modern, truly liberal public foundations." The journal advocated freedom of speech, freedom of associations, full personal protection and protection of property rights, constitutional responsibility of cabinet ministers, access of experts to the National Assembly, full independence of the Judiciary, and autonomy of municipalities. In the field of foreign policy, the Progressive Party was not inclined to Russia contrary to the other two political parties in Serbia. It rather advocated close relations with Austria-Hungary. In the economy, the party advocated completely liberal reforms. In terms of political ideologies, the party was what may be termed as Serbian Whiggism. Occasionally faced to choose between democracy and various freedoms the progressivists were prone to advocate and enforce freedoms. This made them too closely tied to the ruler and quickly diminished their popularity among the electorate. Nonetheless, they encouraged and paved the way for the modernization of Serbia by introducing modern institutions and progressive laws.