Ukrainian Social Democratic Party Українська соціал-демократична партія | |
|---|---|
| Chairperson | Mykola Hankevych [uk] |
| Founded | August 17, 1899 (1899-08-17) |
| Dissolved | September 1, 1939 (1939-09-01) |
| Split from | |
| Succeeded by | Ukrainian Socialist Party (1950) [uk] |
| 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 inGalicia. The party was founded in 1899 as anautonomous section of theGalician Social Democratic Party inAustrian Galicia and later became a separate party in 1907. During the briefWestern Ukrainian People's Republic (1918-1919) the party was briefly in government, before going into opposition. After the capture of Galicia by theSecond 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.
The Ukrainian Social Democratic Party emerged as a splinter group of theUkrainian Radical Party. Its first congress took place in 1903 in Lviv and was presided byMykola Hankevych and Semen Vityk. Until 1907 the party served as a section of the Polish Social Democratic Party of Galicia, itself a section of theSocial 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 inBukovina, theSocial Democratic Party of Bukovina, under its leader,Yosyp Bezpalko.
The Ukrainian Social Democratic Party had close ties to theSocial Democratic movement inDnieper Ukraine, then part of theRussian Empire.[1] The party was active mobilizing for the 1902peasant strikes inHusyatyn andTerebovlia counties. Until 1907 the party remained as a section of the Polish-dominated Galician party and
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 representativeselected to theAustrian 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 theUkrainian General Council, and adopted a pro-Austrian position during theGreat War.
Upondissolution of the Austria-Hungary in 1918 and establishment of theWestern Ukrainian People's Republic (ZUNR) the party became an independent Ukrainian party and joined theUkrainian National Council (parliament of the ZUNR). Its member Antin Chernetskyi served as thestate 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 secretaryDmytro Vitovsky, during thePolish-Ukrainian War the party's leader Semen Vityk sabotaged exports of oil from theDrohobych oil region, which led to the inability ofUkrainian forces to procure munition.[2]
During 1919-1920 the party's representativesVolodymyr Temnytsky, Yosyp Bezpalko and Volodymyr Starosolsky served in thegovernment of theUkrainian People's Republic.[1] In 1921 the part switched to a pro-Soviet line advocatingunification withSoviet Ukraine, while being hostile to the Polish government, as well as to the exiled government ofYevhen Petrushevych. SomeVolhynian USDP members were elected to theNational Sejm of Poland in 1922. By the early 1920s the party became infiltrated by members of theCommunist 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 theWorkers 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 theLabor and Socialist International and in December 1934 joined the Ukrainian Socialist Bloc that also included theUkrainian National Democratic Alliance and theUkrainian Socialist Radical Party.
Following the beginning of theSecond World War the party ceased its activities. Its emigré members later united with other groups to create theUkrainian Socialist Party.[1]
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 anAustro-Marxist orientation.[citation needed] It advocated the creation of an independent Ukrainian state.[contradictory] Among prominent supporters of Ukrainian independence who belonged to the party were Volodymyr Levynsky andYulian Bachynsky.[3]
The following publications served as the party's press organs:[1]
