The Traditional Parties represented a coalition of classes that identified with anti-Venizelism, as a reaction to the attitude of the state bourgeoisie class and other pre-capitalist social elements to the attempted modernization and the political hegemony of the mercantile middle classes.

The Popular Party was the one to express anti-Venizelist ideas most clearly. It was founded in 1915 (then called the National Party, and renamed the Popular Party in 1920) by Dimitrios Gounaris, the most important representative of anti-Venizelism originating from the bloc of the old Trikoupist-Theotokist party. The ideological components of the Popular Party can be traced to the speech of its founder in 1912. In this speech one can trace the defence of the old party system and the 'doctrine of the supremacy of the people', which constituted its basic ideology, its ideas regarding the social classes, the state and its role.