Ukrainian Social Democratic Party (1899)
Ukrainian Social Democratic Party Українська соціал-демократична партія | |
|---|---|
| Chairperson | Mykola Hankevych |
| Founded | August 17, 1899 |
| Dissolved | September 1, 1939 |
| Split from | |
| Succeeded by | Ukrainian Socialist Party (1950) |
| Headquarters | Lviv |
| Ideology | |
| International affiliation | Labour and Socialist International (1933-1939) |
| Slogan | «Наша ціль є вільна держава українського люду — Українська Республіка» (English: "Our goal is a free state of the Ukrainian people - the Ukrainian Republic") |
Ukrainian Social Democratic Party (USDP; Ukrainian: Українська соціал-демократична партія, romanized: Ukrainska sotsial-demokratychna partiia) was a political party in Galicia. The party was founded in 1899 as an autonomous section of the Galician Social Democratic Party in Austrian Galicia and later became a separate party in 1907. During the brief Western Ukrainian People's Republic (1918-1919) the party was briefly in government, before going into opposition. After the capture of Galicia by the Second Polish Republic, the party became part of the constitutional Ukrainian resistance to Polish rule before being banned and mostly being subsumed into other socialist movements.
History
Section of the Galician Social Democratic Party under Austria
The Ukrainian Social Democratic Party emerged as a splinter group of the Ukrainian Radical Party. Its first congress took place in 1903 in Lviv and was presided by Mykola Hankevych and Semen Vityk. Until 1907 the party served as a section of the Polish Social Democratic Party of Galicia, itself a section of the Social Democratic Party of Austria.[1] During that period Hankevych headed the Lviv city committee of the Social Democratic Party of Galicia. In 1906, the party was amalgamated with its affiliate in Bukovina, the Social Democratic Party of Bukovina, under its leader, Yosyp Bezpalko.
The Ukrainian Social Democratic Party had close ties to the Social Democratic movement in Dnieper Ukraine, then part of the Russian Empire.[1] The party was active mobilizing for the 1902 peasant strikes in Husyatyn and Terebovlia counties. Until 1907 the party remained as a section of the Polish-dominated Galician party and
Separate party
In June 1907, under the pressure of a new generation of its members, the USDP officially seceded from Galician Social Democratic Party at a party conference.[1] The split allowed the USDP civil organization "Liberty" (Volya) to be more active in urban communities rather than to remain outside of cities. During the same year the party had two of its representatives elected to the Austrian parliament.[1]
In 1911 an independentist fraction led by Lev Hankevych, Volodymyr Starosolsky, Porfyr Buniak and I. Kvasnytsia seceded from the party. The split continued until a party congress in March 1914.[1]
In 1914 the party joined the Ukrainian General Council, and adopted a pro-Austrian position during the Great War.
Upon dissolution of the Austria-Hungary in 1918 and establishment of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic (ZUNR) the party became an independent Ukrainian party and joined the Ukrainian National Council (parliament of the ZUNR). Its member Antin Chernetskyi served as the state secretary of labour in the republic's government. However, in December 1918 the party left the coalition government,[1] creating the socialist opposition known as the Peasants and Workers Union. According to the memoirs of Kyrylo Tryliovskyi, a personal acquaintance of ZUNR's military secretary Dmytro Vitovsky, during the Polish-Ukrainian War the party's leader Semen Vityk sabotaged exports of oil from the Drohobych oil region, which led to the inability of Ukrainian forces to procure munition.[2]
During 1919-1920 the party's representatives Volodymyr Temnytsky, Yosyp Bezpalko and Volodymyr Starosolsky served in the government of the Ukrainian People's Republic.[1] In 1921 the part switched to a pro-Soviet line advocating unification with Soviet Ukraine, while being hostile to the Polish government, as well as to the exiled government of Yevhen Petrushevych. Some Volhynian USDP members were elected to the National Sejm of Poland in 1922. By the early 1920s the party became infiltrated by members of the Communist Party of Western Ukraine and at its sixth Congress in Lviv in March 1923 changed its political platform to Communism, removing its older leaders including Mykola Hankevych.
The Polish authorities outlawed the party on January 30, 1924 as one that caused a threat to peace and order. After the ban, many USDP cadres joined the underground faction of Communist Party of Western Ukraine.[3] Other members who did not join the communists became involved in the Workers Community as a public cultural and educational society. In 1928, the party was revived by Lev Hankevych's "Forward" group (Vperid). In 1933 it joined the Labor and Socialist International and in December 1934 joined the Ukrainian Socialist Bloc that also included the Ukrainian National Democratic Alliance and the Ukrainian Socialist Radical Party.
Following the beginning of the Second World War the party ceased its activities. Its emigré members later united with other groups to create the Ukrainian Socialist Party.[1]
Ideology
The party supported the labour movement of Ukrainian workers and took part in strike actions in villages, contributing to the spread of pro-independence ideology among the youth.[1] Ideologically the party had an Austro-Marxist orientation. It advocated the creation of an independent Ukrainian state. Among prominent supporters of Ukrainian independence who belonged to the party were Volodymyr Levynsky and Yulian Bachynsky.[3]
Publications
The following publications served as the party's press organs:[1]
- Volia (Ukrainian: Воля, romanized: Liberty; biweekly, 1900-1907);
- Zemlia i Volia (Ukrainian: Земля і воля, romanized: Land and Liberty; 1907-1912, 1919-1924);
- Vpered (Ukrainian: Вперед, romanized: Forward; 1912-1913, 1918-1924);
- Pratsia (Ukrainian: Праця, romanized: Labour).