The Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party (, LSDSP) is a
social-democratic
Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, socia ...
political party in Latvia and the second oldest existing Latvian political party after the
Latvian Farmers' Union. It is currently represented with two seats in the
parliament of Latvia as a part of the
Union of Greens and Farmers alliance after an absence of 20 years. The party tends to hold a less
Russophilic view than the
Social Democratic Party "Harmony"
The Social Democratic Party "Harmony" (; , S),The party officially translates its name as ''Social Democratic Party "Concord"''. also commonly referred to as Harmony (''Saskaņa''), is a social-democratic political party in Latvia. It was the larg ...
.
History
Founding, interwar Latvia, under authoritarianism and occupation
The Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party was founded on 17 June 1918, by
Menshevik
The Mensheviks ('the Minority') were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903. Mensheviks held more moderate and reformist ...
elements who had been expelled from the
Social Democracy of the Latvian Territory in 1915. Once Latvia became independent, LSDSP was one of the two most influential political parties (along with the
Latvian Farmers' Union). LSDSP held 57 out of 150 seats in the
1920 Constitutional Assembly (Satversmes Sapulce). It won the most seats in each of four
parliamentary election
A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...
s of that period (31 out of 100 in
1922
Events
January
* January 7 – Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic), Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes.
* January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éirean ...
, 33 in
1925
Events January
* January 1 – The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria (1925–1930), State of Syria.
* January 3 – Benito Mussolini m ...
, 26 in
1928
Events January
* January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly demonstrating that DNA is the genetic material.
* January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris B ...
and 21 in
1931
Events
January
* January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics.
* January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa.
* January 22 – Sir I ...
). The leader of the LSDSP,
Pauls Kalniņš, was speaker of the Latvian parliament from 1925 to 1934.
The party itself, however, would often be in
opposition because of many smaller right-wing parties forming
coalition government
A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...
s, typically led by the
Latvian Farmers' Union.
The party was a member of the
Labour and Socialist International
The Labour and Socialist International (LSI) was an international organization of socialist and labourist parties, active between 1923 and 1940. The group was established through a merger of the rival Vienna International and the Berne Intern ...
between 1923 and 1940, and was admitted into the modern
Socialist International
The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism, consisting mostly of Social democracy, social democratic political parties and Labour mov ...
in 1994.
The LSDSP was banned after the
1934 coup by
Kārlis Ulmanis
Kārlis Augusts Vilhelms Ulmanis (; 4 September 1877 – 20 September 1942) was a Latvian politician and a dictator. He was one of the most prominent Latvian politicians of pre-World War II Latvia during the Interwar period of independence from N ...
, together with all other political parties. Around 320 prominent members were briefly interned in the
Liepāja
Liepāja () (formerly: Libau) is a Administrative divisions of Latvia, state city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest city in the Courland region and the third-largest in the country after Riga and Daugavpils. It is an ...
Concentration Camp and then released. After the coup, the party loosely merged with the Latvian Communist Party from 1937 to 1940 as the
Socialist Workers and Peasants Party of Latvia and went underground, only to re-emerge briefly after the Soviet occupation of 1940, nearly instantly being banned and driven underground by the Soviet and, later, Nazi occupiers. Some Social Democrats briefly collaborated with the Soviets (e.g. ), however, many, including leaders and
Brūno Kalniņš, joined with other democratic politicians and called for the restoration of democratic Latvian statehood. LSDSP members, like Pauls Kalniņš and others, were involved with the
Latvian Central Council resistance group. When many Latvians left Latvia during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the LSDSP was restored as an "exile organization", operating in Sweden since 1945, and later in other Western countries.
The Swedish-based section - the LSDSP Foreign Committee (LSDSP ĀK) - managed to secure its observer status at the Socialist International during its existence.
Return to Latvia, activities 1990–2010
When Latvia became independent again in 1991, the LSDSP returned to Latvia. In the early 1990s, it struggled with internal splits. At one point, Latvia had three social democratic parties, two of them being descendants of the LSDSP, and the third being the reformed faction of the former Communist Party of Latvia (
LSDP). Eventually, all three parties merged, under the name of the LSDSP.
The merged party enjoyed some success in the parliamentary
election of 1998, winning 14 seats out of 100; and in local elections in 2001, when one of its members,
Gundars Bojārs, became the mayor of
Riga
Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...
. It was less successful in the
next legislative election, held on 5 October 2002, where it got only 4% of the vote, and did not make the 5% minimum to get seats. The decline of the LSDSP's popularity continued as the party lost the mayor's seat in Riga in the 2005 municipal election (keeping 7 seats in the Riga City Council but forced into the opposition). The
parliamentary election of 2006 brought even more dissatisfying results for the LSDSP, as the party got 3.5% of votes and thus got no representation in the parliament once again.
2010–present
For the
2010 parliamentary election, the LSDSP formed the
Responsibility Alliance with smaller parties, but their performance was poor, receiving less than 1% of the vote. In January 2011, , who was supported by the outgoing leader , was elected as party chairman. He defeated
Ansis Dobelis, who was more aligned with youth activist circles and later formed
The Progressives. His tenure did not improve the party's performance, with the LSDSP not running in the
2014 parliamentary election. By 2017, Dinēvičs had returned to lead the party. At the
2018 election, the party received just 0,21% of the vote.
2022 brought a historic turn for the party, when on June 1 it joined the
Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS) after the
Latvian Green Party had left the alliance, as the second member of ZZS is the Farmer's Union, LSDSP's main rival in the 1920s and 1930s.
In the
2022 elections, the party managed to get two of its members elected on the ZZS list, marking a return to the Saeima after an absence of 20 years.
In 2012, the
Socialist International
The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism, consisting mostly of Social democracy, social democratic political parties and Labour mov ...
demoted LSDSP to observer member for not paying membership fees. The party was officially delisted from the Socialist International in December 2014. It currently maintains the status of observer member in the
Party of European Socialists
The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a Social democracy, social democratic European political party.
The PES comprises national-level political parties from all the European Economic Area, European economic area states (EEA) plus the Unit ...
.
Election results
Legislative elections
European Parliament elections
Symbols and logos
File:LSDSP logo.png, Old logo
See also
*
Brūno Kalniņš
*''
Sociāldemokrats, former newspaper
References
External links
Official website
{{Authority control
Political parties in Latvia
Former member parties of the Socialist International
Political parties of the Russian Revolution
Social democratic parties in Latvia
Members of the Labour and Socialist International
Party of European Socialists member parties
Political parties established in 1918
Formerly banned socialist parties
.
1918 establishments in Latvia