Civic Union Гражданский союз | |
|---|---|
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| Abbreviation | GS (English) ГС (Russian) |
| Leader | Arkady Volsky |
| Founders | Arkady Volsky Nikolay Travkin Alexander Rutskoy |
| Founded | 21 June 1992 (1992-06-21) |
| Dissolved | November 1994 (1994-11) |
| Preceded by | Democratic Russia |
| Succeeded by | Russian Civil Union (Third Force) |
| Ideology | Association: Social democracy Anti-Yeltsinism Federalism Electoral bloc: Centrism |
| Political position | Association: Centre tocentre-left Electoral bloc: Centre |
| Member parties | VSO DPR (until May 1993) NP SR Smena |
TheCivic Union (Russian:Гражданский союз,Grazhdanskiy soyuz, GS) was a political alliance inRussia.
Civic Union was established on 21 June 1992 at the Forum of public organisations "Civic Union" as the political bloc ofcentrist forces. The bloc consisted ofAll-Russian Union "Renewal" (VSO),Democratic Party of Russia (DPR),People's Party "Free Russia" (NPSR), youth organisations of DPR and NPSR, parliamentary factionSmena — New Politics,Russian Union of Youth (RSM, legal successor toAll-Union Leninist Young Communist League) and several prominent public figures.[1]
At the Forum a policy document — "Area of Consent of the Civic Union" — was approved. Bloc's founders proposed "immediate and radical correction of social-economic policy" to rescue state-owned enterprises and to support the needs of the population, creation of "collegial body of theCommonwealth" to restore connections between formerSoviet republics, "Commonwealth citizenship" and "unified professional armed forces". Opposition to the political radicalism was also proclaimed, including a refusal to try legislative authorities' dissolution. A governing body — Political Council — was also elected, the Council comprised leaders of founding organisations:Arkady Volsky (VSO),Nikolay Travkin (DPR),Aleksandr Rutskoy (NPSR), Andrey Golovin (Smena),Andrey Bogdanov (Youth Union of DPR, MSDPR), Vyacheslav Lashchevsky (RSM) and Oleg Sokolov (Youth Movement "Free Russia", MDSR). In September coordinator of parliamentary factionsFree Russia,Non-partisan Deputies andLeft Centre joined the bloc, with representatives of Non-partisan Deputies, Left Centre andSovereignty and Equality elevated to the Political Council. The Political Consultative Council was created with 6 experts from each member organisation.
Officially, the agreement on bloc's establishment was signed at the Political Council session on 19 November 1992. At the same session coordinator of Sovereignty and Equality joined the bloc. In autumn a political programme was adopted, which proposedpremier-presidential system,administrative-territorial reform and reorganisation ofCommonwealth of Independent States into aconfederation. Civic Union's experts also developed an anti-crisis programme "Twelve steps away from the abyss", under which state-owned enterprises would return to governmental administration,protectionism would be used to support domestic producers, conversion of munitions facilities would be held and natural tax on extractive industries would be imposed.
In autumn 1992 Civic Union was among most powerful political forces in Russia. Especially, the bloc's power became evident at the VIICongress of People's Deputies of Russia (1—12 December 1992), when actingprime ministerYegor Gaidar was deposed and replaced withViktor Chernomyrdin.
On 9 February 1993 Civic Union's co-founders registered in theMinistry of Justice a politic-economic association with the same name. Board of founders consisted ofVasily Lipitsky (NPSR), Valery Khomyakov (DPR),Aleksandr Vladislavlev (VSO), Andrey Golovin (Smena), Vyacheslav Lashchevsky (RSM), Oleg Sokolov (MDSR) and Andrey Bogdanov (MSDPR). Viktor Yermakov was appointed as executive director. During 1993 severalcentre-left parties joined the association: Russian Social Democratic Centre ofOleg Rumyantsev,[2]Socialist Party of Workers andParty of Labour.
1993 was characterised with deepening of the political crisis and radicalisation of parliamentary opposition. As the result, tensions arose between hardline centrists (Vladislavlev, parts of DPR and NPSR) and opposition-leaning members (Smena — New Politics, parts of NPSR and DPR), which led to the decline in Union's influence on the people's deputies. After theApril 1993 referendum the bloc started to fall apart: in May DPR decided to pull out its representatives and in August members of VSO left the Civic Union's leadership. In the middle of 1993 moderate wing of the bloc clashed withVice PresidentAleksandr Rutskoy due to the latter's partnership with radical anti-Yeltsin opposition, which was not in line with the bloc's declared centrist position. During theOctober 1993 political crisis association's leadership supported a "zero option": mutual repeal ofpresidential andparliamentary decrees aimed at each other and span presidential and parliamentary elections. Vice President Rutskoy, unhappy with the bloc's peaceful stance, left the Civic Union. As the result, 1993 constitutional crisis brought an ed to Civic Union's original form.
In October 1993 association "Civic Union" became a co-founder of the electoral blocFuture of Russia–New Names (BR-NI), However, several members of the association's leadership led byArkady Volsky andAleksandr Volsky decided to run in theupcoming legislative election separately and created electoral bloc "Civic Union in the Name of Stability, Justice and Progress". The bloc was joined by Civic Union's executive committee chairmanVasily Lipitsky. Seven organisations were co-founders of the Civic Union electoral bloc:
Civi Union's party list was approved in 21 October 1993. The federal list was headed byRSPP presidentArkady Volsky, general director ofKamazNikolay Bekh andVSO co-chairmanAleksandr Vladislavlev. Several prominent figures joined the bloc, including juristOleg Rumyantsev, former first secretary ofVLKSMViktor Mironenko, admiralVladimir Chernavin, singerIosif Kobzon, former Vice Chairman of theSupreme Soviet of RussiaVladimir Ispravnikov, economistsIgor Yurgens andIosif Diskin, philosopherAleksandr Tsipko, journalistsPavel Voshchanov andAnatoly Yurkov, former chairman of theSoviet of the UnionKonstantin Lubenchenko, sociologistFyodor Burlatsky, generalValery Ochirov, cosmonautSvetlana Savitskaya and businessmanAlisher Usmanov.[3]
A total of 78 directors of enterprises, 29 chairmen of unions of industrialists and entrepreneurs and 35 businessmen joined Civic Union party list. Civic Union also received support from multiple industrial and financial organisations, including concernGoryachev, concern DeKo, JSCDiamonds of Russia — Sakha, Telebank and commercial bank Moskva. The bloc could receive some administrative support, as several regional officials joined Civic Union:President of IngushetiaRuslan Aushev (later withdrew), vice premiers ofKabardino-Balkaria,Khakassia andUdmurtia, deputy governors ofAstrakhan Oblast,Oryol Oblast,Rostov Oblast andSmolensk Oblast.[4]
In the general election on 12 December 1993 Civic Union won only 1.93% of popular vote and placed 10th among 13 political parties and blocs, failing to cross a 5% threshold. However, 10 Civic Union candidates won in single-mandate constituencies:
In addition, 11 Civic Union-supported candidates were elected to theState Duma:
As at least 35 deputies could create a faction in the State Duma, Civic Union-aligned deputies joined different factions. Seven members ofMark Goryachev's Financial-Industrial Group joinedPRES, another seven —New Regional Politics deputies' group, andCPRF,APR,Women of Russia,Yabloko andUnion of 12 December were joined by one member each.Vasily Lipitsky andAndrey Zakharov remainedIndependent for the rest of their term.
In the concurrent election to theFederation Council 4 candidates supported by the Civic Union were elected: former chairman ofMossovietNikolay Gonchar, First DeputyGovernor of Moscow OblastAnatoly Dolgolaptev,Governor of Irkutsk OblastYury Nozhikov and former federalMinister of IndustryAleksandr Titkin (inTula Oblast).
In November 1994 representatives of the Civic Union,All-Russian Union "Renewal" and newly-formed Party of Majority establishedRussian Civil Union (Third Force). The new bloc unified mainly small political parties and eventually disintegrated by 1996.[6] In the1995 electionArkady Volsky became the leader ofTrade Unions and Industrialists – Union of Labour, whileAleksandr Vladislavlev was included into theForward, Russia! party list.[7]
| Election | Leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Rank | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Arkady Volsky | 1,038,193 | 1.93 | 10 / 450 | 10th | Opposition |