Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine
Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine | |
---|---|
Political position | Far-left[6][7][8][9] |
National affiliation | Left Opposition |
International affiliation | |
Colors | Red and blue |
Party flag | |
Website | |
vitrenko.org (archived) | |
The Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine (PSPU)[a] is a banned,[11] pro-Russian political party in Ukraine led by Nataliya Vitrenko. The party was represented in Ukraine's national parliament between 1998 and 2002. The party is considered neo-communist and wants to restore state ownership of industry and workers' democracy in Ukraine.[12] Due to ideological ties to Dugin, it has also been described by some observers as being National Bolshevik.[13][14]
The Progressive Socialist Party was described to have a "clearly leftist" platform.[15] Its campaign slogan was "We shall build a Soviet and Socialist Ukraine!". The party was considered Russophile, and campaigned for a "strategic partnership" of Ukraine with Russia and Belarus, while strongly rejecting the prospect of cooperating with either the European Union or NATO. The party was least popular in Western regions, but it had considerable support in South Ukraine.[15]
History
The party was created by Nataliya Vitrenko, a then dissident member of the Socialist Party of Ukraine (SPU) in April 1996.[16] She led a group of more radical SPU members who opposed what they regarded as revisionist tendencies in the Socialist Party. In October 1995 they had left that party.[16]
The Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine is a party that supports the
The party's parliamentary faction was dissolved in February 2000.[20]
At the legislative elections on 30 March 2002, the party established the Nataliya Vitrenko Bloc alliance, including the Party of Educators of Ukraine (Ukrainian: Партія Освітян України).[21] It won 3.22%[17] of the votes, little short of passing the 4% threshold needed to enter the Verkhovna Rada.[22] PSPU was a vocal opponent of President Leonid Kuchma but supported Viktor Yanukovych, Ukrainian prime minister since 2002, during the 2004 elections. After the Orange Revolution of 2004, the party joined the opposition to new president Viktor Yushchenko in a coalition with the "Derzhava" (State) party led by former Ukrainian prosecutor Gennady Vasilyev. In the March 2006 parliamentary elections, the party again failed to gain any seats in Parliament, participating as People's Opposition Bloc of Natalia Vitrenko winning 2,93%.[17] At the 2007 parliamentary elections the party failed once more to enter the parliament, its result dropped to 1,32%.[17]
In the run-up to the
During the 2010 Ukrainian local elections, the party only won three representatives in the Sevastopol municipality.[28]
The party did not participate in the 2012 parliamentary elections.[29]
In 2011, the PSPU decided to join the
The party did not participate in the 2014 parliamentary elections.[31]
The party took part in the October 2015 Ukrainian local elections as part of the umbrella party Left Opposition.[32]
In the 2020 local elections the party did not nominate candidates for deputies at all except for a candidate for mayor of Romny.[33]
On 20 March 2022, the PSPU was one of several political parties suspended by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, along with Derzhava, Left Opposition, Nashi, Opposition Bloc, Opposition Platform — For Life, Party of Shariy, Socialist Party of Ukraine, Union of Left Forces, and the Volodymyr Saldo Block.[34]
In June 2022 various court proceedings tried to ban the parties suspended on 20 March 2022.[35][36] The Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine was one of two parties that actively opposed its banning.[35][36] (The other party was Opposition Platform — For Life.[36]) On 27 September 2022, the final appeal against the party's ban was dismissed by the Supreme Court of Ukraine, meaning that the party was fully banned in Ukraine.[11]
Election results
Presidential elections
Presidency of Ukraine | ||||||
Election year | Candidate | First round | Second round | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. of overall votes |
% of overall vote |
No. of overall votes |
% of overall vote | |||
1999 | Nataliya Vitrenko | 2,886,972 | 10.97 | |||
2004 | Nataliya Vitrenko | 429,794 | 1.53 |
Rada electoral results
Verkhovna Rada (year links to election page) | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Votes | % | Seats | |||||
1998 | 1,075,118
|
4.05
|
17
| |||||
2002 | 836,198
|
3.23
|
0
| |||||
2006 | 743,704
|
2.93
|
0
| |||||
2007 | 309,008
|
1.33
|
0
|
Rada Election results maps
Ideology
The party favored Ukraine's full-scale entry in the
The Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine is considered a neo-communist party, defined as an East European socialist party that distances itself from reformist post-communist parties. The party supports the economic and social principles of communism while criticising the capitalist transition, post-Soviet democratisation and European integration.[37]
The party is considered to represent a distinctive, radical form of left-wing, socialist populism. The party describes itself as the only "true Marxist" party in Ukraine and campaigns on a strongly nostalgic, anti-Western platform. It accuses the
PSPU considers the economic transformation of Ukraine into a capitalist economy to be a social regression. The party calls for state ownership of the means of production and an economy based on social justice, described as the elimination of unemployment and the distribution of material goods to their direct creators. The party also calls for "a society in which the free development of each is a condition for the free development of all, committing itself to establishing workers' democracy in enterprises, guaranteeing state ownership of basic industries and halting the privatisation process and halting the decline of kolkhozes and sovkhozes".[12]
The party has close ties with the Eurasian Youth Union and its leader Aleksandr Dugin.[14]
Notes
References
- ^ "Ukraine's Defense Council stopped activity of several political parties: Zelenskyy".
- ^ Программа Прогрессивной социалистической партии Украины 15/09/2001
- ^ Туровский, Ростислав (2004). "Географические закономерности электорального транзита в посткоммунистических странах". Полития: Анализ. Хроника. Прогноз (in Russian). 4: 138.
- ^ ISBN 9783838260426.
- ^ ISBN 9780203154878.
- ISBN 83-88544-63-2.
Ekstremizm lewicowy reprezentowany jest w Europie Wschodniej głównie przez partie neokomunistyczne, odróżniające się i najczęściej dystansujące się od zreformowanych ugrupowań postkomunistycznych. W Czechach, Rosji, na Słowacji i Ukrainie istnieją formacje opowiadające się za pryncypiami ekonomicznymi i społecznymi komunizmu (przy werbalnym odcięciu się od niektórych błędów przeszłości), kładące akcent na krytykę kapitalistycznego modelu rozwoju, przyjętego po 1989 r., negatywną ocenę procesu politycznej, gospodarczej i militarnej integracji Europy oraz protestujące przeciwko globalizacji. Zaliczymy do nich przede wszystkim: Komunistyczną Partię Federacji Rosyjskiej (KPRF), Komunistyczną Partię Ukrainy (KPU) i Socjalistyczną Partię Ukrainy (SPU), Komunistyczną Partię Czech i Moraw, Komunistyczną Partię Słowacji (KSĆM), Łotewską Partię Socjalistyczną (LSP), Serbską Partię Socjalistyczną oraz ukraińską Progresywną Partię Socjalistyczną (SPS).
[Left-wing extremism is represented in Eastern Europe mainly by neo-communist parties, differentiating themselves and most often distancing themselves from reformist post-communist groupings. In the Czech Republic, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine, there are formations advocating the economic and social principles of communism (while verbally distancing themselves from some of the errors of the past), emphasising criticism of the capitalist development model adopted after 1989, negatively assessing the process of political, economic and military integration of Europe and protesting against globalisation. These include, above all: Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), Communist Party of Ukraine (KPU) and Socialist Party of Ukraine (SPU), Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia, Communist Party of Slovakia (KSĆM), Latvian Socialist Party (LSP), Serbian Socialist Party and the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine (SPS).] - ISBN 978-83-011-4622-1.
W niektórych elekcjach wzięły udział także inne partie, które mogą być określone mianem skrajnej lewicy. Mamy tu na myśli Związek Robotników Słowacji (ZRS), ukraińską Progresywną Partię Socjalistyczną (SPS) oraz polską Samoobronę.
[Other parties that can be described as extreme left also took part in some elections. We are referring to the Union of Workers of Slovakia (ZRS), the Ukrainian Progressive Socialist Party (SPS) and the Polish Self-Defence.] - ISBN 9781317498773.
The SPU suffered a split in 1996 when far left members left and formed the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine (PSPU).
- .
At the beginning of the insurgency, the major anti-Ukrainian forces were the militant Luhansk Guard (Luganskaya gvardiya, LG) made up of the remnants of the marginal Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine (Prohresyvna sotsialistychna partiya Ukraiiny, PSPU), a far-left group competitive with the KPU several years earlier.
- ^ Romanian, Russian fascists ally against Ukraine, Moldova, Kyiv Post (10 August 2009)
- ^ a b (in Ukrainian) The Supreme Court finally banned Natalia Vitrenko's party, Chesno (27 September 2022)
- ^ ISBN 83-88544-63-2.
- ISBN 9781440835032.
- ^ .
- ^ .
- ^ a b (in Ukrainian) УКРАЇНА ПАРТІЙНА. ЧАСТИНА V. СОЦІАЛІСТИЧНА ПАРТІЯ УКРАЇНИ SOCIALIST PARTY OF UKRAINE, ZN.UA (7 March 2002)
- ^ a b c d (in Ukrainian) Прогресивна соціалістична партія України, Databases ASD
- ISBN 978-0-7656-1811-5, page 161
- ^ Election watch Ukraine (Presidential), CNN (2003)
- ISBN 9637326995(page 353)
- ^ (in Ukrainian) Партія "Єдина Україна", Databases ASD
- ISBN 978-3790811896(page 184)
- ^ Communists say leftist bloc will call for referendum on NATO and Russian language status, Kyiv Post (24 September 2009)
- ^ (in Ukrainian) Лівий блок як спосіб втриматися у великій політиці, BBC World Service (18 August 2009)
- ^ CEC registers two more candidates for Ukraine's president, Interfax-Ukraine (6 November 2009)
- Natalia Vitrenko(11 November 2009)
- ^ a b Progressive Socialists reelect Vitrenko as party leader, Kyiv Post (27 June 2010)
- Ukrayinska Pravda(8 November 2010)
- Central Election Commission of Ukraine
- ^ "Прогрессивная социалистическая партия Украины присоединилась к". ИА REGNUM.
- Central Election Commission of Ukraine
- ^ (in Russian) The communists go to the polls in the "Left Opposition" – the leader of the Communist Party, RIA Novosti Ukraine (13 August 2015)
Five Ukrainian parties, 13 NGOs unite into Left Opposition, Interfax-Ukraine (15 June 2015) - ^ (in Ukrainian) Why did the Supreme Court ban Vitrenko's party?, Chesno (29 September 2022)
- ^ "NSDC bans pro-Russian parties in Ukraine". Ukrinform. 20 March 2022. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
- ^ a b (in Ukrainian) The court banned the activities of the parties "Bloc of Volodymyr Saldo" and "Derzhava" – Chesno, Lb.ua (14 June 2022)
- ^ Ukrayinska Pravda(20 June 2022)
- ISBN 978-83-011-4622-1.
- ^ Kichorowska Kebalo, Martha (2011). Personal Narratives of Women's Leadership and Community Activism in Cherkasy Oblast (PhD thesis). The City University of New York. p. 224-225.
External links
- (in Russian and English) Official party website
- (in Russian) "People's Opposition" pro-Vitrenko website