Socialist Party Of Ukraine

The Socialist Party of Ukraine ( uk, Соціалістична Партія України, translit=Sotsialistychna Partiia Ukrayiny, SPU) was a social democratic and democratic socialist political party in Ukraine. It was one of the oldest parties and was created by the former members of the Soviet-era Communist Party of Ukraine in late 1991 when the Communist Party was banned.УКРАЇНА ПАРТІЙНА. ЧАСТИНА V. СОЦІАЛІСТИЧНА ПАРТІЯ УКРАЇНИ ''SOCIALIST PARTY OF UKRAINE''
ZN.UA (7 March 2002) It was represented in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament) from 1994 to 2007 and was the third or fourth largest party in the Rada over the 13 years. From 2007 onwards the election results of the party became extremely marginal. Oleksandr Moroz led the party for more than twenty years. The party was suspended in the wake of the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and it was officially banned by a court decision on 15 June 2022. The slogan of the party was "Socialism will be imbued with patriotism".

History

Creation

After Ukraine gained independence on 24 August 1991,A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples
by Paul Robert Magocsi, University of Toronto Press, 2010, (page 722/723) Leonid Kravchuk as the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament) signed several important documents among which was the disbandment (26 August) and later the prohibition (30 August) of communist parties. This led to the collapse of the communist majority faction, informally known as the " group of 239". Four days after the prohibition of communist parties, Oleksandr Moroz, the former leader of Group 239, called on communists to unite in a new left-wing party. In September in several major cities (particularly in Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv on 26 October 1991 and the first leader of the party became Moroz. The Socialist Party was registered at the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice on 25 November 1991 under registration number 157.Соціалістична партія України
sd.net.ua (4 September 2009)

On 19 June 1993, a constituent congress of the recreated Communist Party of Ukraine took place in Donetsk that proclaimed itself a direct inheritor of the Communist Party of Ukraine. After the recreation of the Communists a substantial number of the former Communist Party of Ukraine members left the Socialist Party. The Communist Party, however, finally registered in October 1993. In December 1993 the Socialists proclaimed to be in the opposition to the government of Leonid Kuchma and the President Leonid Kravchuk.Short bio
Liga.net In the 1994 presidential election, the Socialists leader Moroz was supported by both his party and the Communist Party. The Socialist party became known for its support in the central regions of Ukraine in the 1990s and 2000s.

1994 parliamentary election

In the rounds of the 1994 parliamentary election, the party won 14 seats. In May 1994, Moroz became Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada (speaker of parliament). By mid-1994, the party controlled a parliamentary faction of 25 deputies. In October 1995, some members headed by Nataliya Vitrenko split to form (in April 1996) the new, much more radical Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine.

1998 parliamentary election

The party stood for election in 1998 in the Socialist Party – Peasant Party electoral bloc with the Peasant Party of Ukraine. Attempts to form a coalition with the Communist Party had failed. The block was named Left Center won 8,55% of the votes and 29 proportional seats and 5 individual seats out of 450 seats in the Verkhovna Rada. The bloc gained the post Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada (speaker of parliament) with the election of Oleksandr Tkachenko on this post. The Peasant Party of Ukraine started its own parliamentary faction (containing 15 deputies) in the autumn of 1998 but in the spring of 2000 this factions was disbanded for lack of member.Understanding Ukrainian Politics: Power, Politics, and Institutional Design
by Paul D'Anieri, M.E. Sharpe, 2006, Ukraine and Russia: The Post-Soviet Transition
by Roman Solchanyk, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2001 After the creation of the new parliamentary faction Solidarity in the spring of 2000 a lot of deputies of Peasant Party moved to this new faction.Ukrainian Political Update
by Taras Kuzio and Alex Frishberg, Frishberg & Partners, 21 February 2008 (page 22) In June 2002, the Left Center faction had 17 members.

After the election, a group of former SPU members led by Ivan Chizh who were in opposition to Moroz founded the Justice Party in 2000.

2002 parliamentary election

The party was heavily involved in the Ukraine without Kuchma campaign.

At the parliamentary election on 30 March 2002, the party won 6.9% of the popular vote, and 24 out of 450 seats in the Verkhovna Rada. The party had limited access to media in the campaign. The youth wing of the party had left it and had endorsed Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) in the election.

In late 2002, Moroz, Viktor Yushchenko ( Our Ukraine), Petro Symonenko (Communist Party of Ukraine) and Yulia Tymoshenko) issued a joint statement concerning "the beginning of a state revolution in Ukraine". The communists stepped out of the alliance, Symonenko was against a single candidate from the alliance in the Ukrainian presidential election 2004, but the other three party's remained allies (until July 2006). The Socialists were active participants in the Orange Revolution. The party was a coalition member in the First Tymoshenko Government and the Yekhanurov Government.

In 2005, the party was joined by the Ukrainian Party of Justice – Union of veterans, handicapped, Chornobyl liquidators, and Afghan warriors (former Ukrainian Party of Justice).

2006 parliamentary election

The Socialist Party received 5.67% of the national vote during the parliamentary election held on 26 March 2006, securing 33 seats in Parliament.

The Socialist Party of Ukraine was expected to form a governing coalition with Yulia Tymoshenko