The Constitution of the Kingdom of Serbia from 1888 (also known as the Radical Constitution) was the fourth constitution of Serbia that was in use from 1889 to 1894. It was adopted by the Great National Assembly, at its session on January 2, 1889 (December 21, 1888 according to the Gregorian calendar). In the Timok Rebellion of 1883, the conflict between the democratic aspirations of the masses and the absolutist aspirations of King Milan reached its climax. Numerous external and internal problems that called into question the future of the Obrenović dynasty on the throne forced the king to adopt that constitution.
The Constitution of 1888 elaborated the basic progressive ideas of the European constitutionalism of the time - the people's representative is an equal participant in legislature with the monarch; the parliament gets full budget rights, as well as the right to ask questions, interpellation in electoral and purely administrative matters¸ the Government is politically accountable to the parliament; elections are direct, and the parliamentary mandate is assigned according to the principle of proportional representation; civil rights are precisely regulated by the Constitution and are directly guaranteed by the Constitution; the judicial branch is independent; municipal, county and district self-government was introduced. At the same time, the broad masses of peasants were especially satisfied with the self-government of the districts, counties, and municipalities, which supported the radicals because the peasants were more bitter about centralism and the state police than they were enthusiastic about parliamentarism, which was still a new thing for them. The shadow on these democratic institutions is cast by the institution of qualified MPs, namely, two persons with special qualifications who are directly elected as MPs in each district. Those persons, in addition to the general conditions required for the election of MPs, also had to possess a university degree or a qualification specified in the Constitution. That was the price the radicals had to pay for opposing the progressives' proposal to introduce a second chamber into the National Assembly, the purpose of which was to limit the power of the majority. The right to vote was not universal; there was an obligatory tax census and other legal and constitutional restrictions.
Background In the late 1870s and early 1880s, three political parties were formed in Serbia: the People's Radical Party, the Liberal Party and the Serbian Progressive Party.
In Serbia, the formation of political parties began after the wars. Under the influence of the socialist ideas of Svetozar Marković, the radical party was formed, and conservative elements, which strived for reforms in Serbia in the spirit of the age, formed, together with some liberal dissidents, the progressive party.
After the adoption of the 1869 constitution, the Liberal Party, which was the only one that could create a serious opposition, became the ruling party. Newly created parties—progressives and radicals—dissatisfied with the existing situation put the reform of the constitution at the forefront of their political program.
In their proposal for a new constitution, the progressives advocated, among other things, giving the Parliament the power it has in countries with a parliamentary regime but with two chambers, both based on high censuses.
The radical party, whose origin was the socialist movement of Svetozar Marković, criticized the bureaucratic system from an economic point of view in the 1870s. But in the early 1880s, when they formally organized themselves as a political party, the radicals focused their attention on the relationship between the Government and the Assembly, seeking a new constitution that would give the Assembly supreme power.
On October 19, 1880, the Liberal Party of Jovan Ristić stepped down from power, and its place was taken by the Progressive Party, with whose support Prince Milan signed the so-called Secret Convention with Austria. According to it, Austria guarantees Prince Milan and his descendants the throne of Serbia, as well as diplomatic support in the event of Serbia's southward expansion. In return, Prince Milan promises that Serbia will not conduct any agitation in Bosnia and Herzegovina (already under Austrian occupation at that point) and that, without a prior agreement with Austria-Hungary, it will not conclude political agreements with other countries.
The People's Radical Party grew stronger and had the support of the vast majority of the peasant population, which made up nearly 90% of the country's population. The Liberal and Progressive parties had the support of merchants, rural householders, bankers, and industrialists. As early as 1882, there was a conflict between the People's Radical Party and the ruling Progressive Party and a serious parliamentary crisis. The collapse of the joint-stock company, Bontu's "General Union", which at the time of bankruptcy owed Serbia more than 34 million dinars (Serbia's budget at the time did not amount to more than 26 million) dealt a heavy blow to the progressive government and contributed to the growth in popularity of the radical opposition. It was the only topic for months. The government was considering resigning, but Prince Milan was against it. The government needed a victory to overshadow Bontu's bankruptcy, and because of this, the ministers requested that Serbia be proclaimed a kingdom. Prince Milan agreed, and the kingdom was proclaimed on February 22, 1882. This led to a short-lived jubilance among the people, but after a few days, the opposition set an ultimatum to the government to respond to the interpellation about Bontu's demise within 24 hours. When the government refused, the opposition (radicals and liberals) left the assembly and thus left it without a quorum (which was then 3/4 of the total number of MPs). Attempts to fill the vacant seats in by-elections failed, as radical MPs were twice re-elected to the assembly. However, after the second election, the progressive government annulled all the votes received by the excluded MPs, and those who received the most votes behind them entered the assembly. Some of the MPs who entered the assembly based on this principle did not receive more than two votes, which is why they earned the name "two-votes", and the whole assembly "two-votes parliament".
The popularity that the radicals gained among the people was the reason for harsh attacks and persecution by the ruling Progressive Party and King Milan, who used all legal and illegal means against the radicals. In the atmosphere of intensified fights among the parties and the king's profound intolerance towards the radicals, in the fall of 1883, the Timok Rebellion broke out in eastern Serbia, which Milan used to deal with the Radical Party and its most prominent leaders.
Encouraged by the new situation and freed from the trepidations of the radicals, the king makes another risky international move. In November 1885, with the justification that he was protecting the balance of power in the Balkans, he declared war on Bulgaria, which shortly before that, in September of the same year, annexed Eastern Rumelia, an autonomous province of the Ottoman Empire, with a Christian general governor. Insufficiently armed, unprepared, and exhausted in the previous wars (1876–78), the Serbian army suffered defeat at Slivnica and then at Pirot. With the Treaty of Bucharest and the mediation of Austria, the territorial status quo was established. Defeat in the war with Bulgaria made the position of King Milan difficult, and he thought about abdication. The opposition, which had calmed down after the Timok Rebellion, had raised its voice again. To re-establish the authority of his dynasty, which was undermined by the unpopular war with Bulgaria, Milan needed the support of the Radical Party. For these reasons, a coalition government of liberals and radicals was formed (in June 1887) in place of the previous progressive one, and from September, it was purely radical.
With the proclamation of October 14, 1888, King Milan ordered elections for the Great National Assembly in order to change the constitution. The king also made it known that the new constitution must be a joint work of all parties and that he will approve only that on what all parties agree on. The new constitution was confirmed and published on December 22, 1888.
The Constitutional Committee, which was appointed on October 15, was tasked with preparing the draft of the new constitution. The king kept the position of chairman of the committee for himself, while Jovan Ristić, Milutin Garašanin and Sava Grujić were appointed as vice-chairmen of the board. From the ranks of this committee, which numbered over 80 people, a Short Committee of 12 members was elected, which worked from October 22 to November 24. The new Constitution, which was adopted and published on December 22, 1888, was based mainly on the draft given by the Short Committee.
The Peoples Radical Party The Radical Party was the first to organize. In its statutes, which were created in 1881, the most important thing is that, in addition to one main board that sat in Belgrade, there are also local boards throughout the country. Until then, no party had one of these local committees; however, only with the help of such committees could the party enter into closer ties with the people and draw them into its organization.
Since the statutes of the radical party were finished, its agitators dispersed throughout the country to interpret the party's program and to give the first instructions for the formation of local committees. Only after the ground had been prepared in this way did they start enrolling peasants in the radical party. At first, the enrollment process was not easy. It was a new thing for the peasant. During the police state of the Defender of the Constitution and Prince Mihailo, the peasants were told that it was not their place to lead politics and criticize the actions of the government. It is his duty to listen to and respect the government.
When the radicals started calling the peasants to join their party, the peasants were afraid that the police wouldn't take them into questioning, and that they wouldn't end up in prison because they wanted to engage in politics publicly.
Radicals were the first to carry out party recruitment of peasants en masse, first to go with party lists from place to place, and first to establish local committees as a kind of party enforcer, which would keep the peasant mass under constant supervision and leadership.
Among the people, Pera Todorović has the most credit for the creation of a radical party. One of the dearest students of Svetozar Marković and the main collaborator of his political newspaper "Тhe Public", Todorović, much more than Pašić, was considered Marković's successor and the guardian of his doctrine.
Todorović did not imagine the radical party as an ordinary party. For him, as for the Russian revolutionaries, politics was a matter of faith.
In his memoirs, Todorović writes that radicalism showed all the signs of religious fanaticism, and that it did not take long for it to become a "powerful religious sect", which would cross the borders of our country and spread throughout the Balkans.
Clashes of King Milan and the Radicals