The Social Democratic Party of Lithuania and Belorussia ( lt, Lietuvos ir Baltarusijos socialdemokratų partija) was a
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...
that existed in
Vilna
Vilnius ( , ; see also #Etymology and other names, other names) is the capital and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the munic ...
in March–July 1918.
The party emerged from a split in the
Lithuanian Social Democratic Party
The Social Democratic Party of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos socialdemokratų partija, LSDP) is a centre-left and social democratic political party in Lithuania. Founded as an underground Marxist organization in 1896, it is the oldest extant part ...
(LSDP). On 22 March 1918, at a conference of the Vilna section of LSDP, revolutionary-minded party members voted to break links with their mother party in protest against LSDP leaders
Steponas Kairys and
Mykolas Biržiška
Mykolas Biržiška (; ; 24 August 1882, in Viekšniai – 24 August 1962, in Los Angeles), a Lithuanian editor, historian, professor of literature, diplomat, and politician, was one of the twenty signatories of the Act of Independence of Lithuan ...
who were members of the
Council of Lithuania
The Council of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Taryba, german: Litauischer Staatsrat, pl, Rada Litewska), after July 11, 1918 the State Council of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Valstybės Taryba) was convened at the Vilnius Conference that took place betwe ...
and who were viewed as collaborators with the German occupation.
There was an agreement to form a united internationalist organization, and the party was joined the small communist 'initiative group' (formed around Aleksandra Drabavičiūtė, who had arrived in April 1918 of a first emissary of the
to Lithuania) and the Vilna section of the
(led by
Ginsburg-Girinis).
[Bronius Vaitkevičius. ]
Socialistinė revoliucija Lietuvoje 1918-1919 metais
'. Mintis, 1967. pp. 284-289 The
General Jewish Labour Bund opted not to join the party, as their proposal for a federal party structure had been rejected.
[ Likewise the intelligentsia around the LSDP stayed away from the party.][
Between the former LSDP members, the communist group and the Mensheviks debates ranged on party programme and national question, with ]Menshevik
The Mensheviks (russian: меньшевики́, from меньшинство 'minority') were one of the three dominant factions in the Russian socialist movement, the others being the Bolsheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries.
The factions eme ...
and Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
viewpoints clashing.[ The Social Democratic Party of Lithuania and Belorussia called for a Lithuanian-Belorussian democratic state with its own ]constituent assembly
A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...
, a position not acceptable to the Bolsheviks.[
In July 1918, the debates broke down and the revolutionary social democrats and individual communists formed the Social Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania and Belorussia (which later became the Communist Party) at a meeting in Vilna.][
]
References
{{reflist
Political parties of the Russian Revolution
Political parties established in 1918
Political parties disestablished in 1918
Defunct political parties in Lithuania
History of Vilnius