The party's founding and moderate success in Korea's hostile political environment is considered a large result of Bong-am's personal charisma.
The Progressive Party advocated peaceful unification with North Korea, through strengthening the country's democratic forces and winning in a unified Korean election.
Cho called for both anti-communist and anti-authoritarian politics, as well as advocating for social welfare policies for the peasants and urban poor.
[5] In fact, scholars in South Korea evaluated that the Progressive Party and Cho Bong-am were not German "social democracy" but an American "progressive liberalism" route, which was also reported by The Chosun Ilbo, South Korea's right-wing conservative journalist.
(At that time, in South Korean politics, the term "liberal" was often used by right-wing conservative and Minjudangkye forces in a similar sense to "anti-communist".