The Socialist Union of Central-Eastern Europe (abbreviated 'S.U.C.E.E') was a coalition of émigré

social democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...

parties from

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

years. SUCEE had its headquarters in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism. It consists mostly of socialist and labour-oriented political parties and organisations. ...

(1951- ), and

Asian Socialist Conference The Asian Socialist Conference (ASC) was an organisation of socialism, socialist political party, political parties in Asia that existed between 1953 and 1965. It was established in an effort to build a Pan-Asianism, Pan-Asian multinational soci ...

. ''Yearbook of the International Socialist Labour Movement''. Volume II 1960-1961 London: Lincolns-Prager Interniitonal Yearbook Publishing Co., Ltd, 1961. p. 39 The 1959

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

conference of SUCEE proclaimed as the goals of the organization to struggle for national independence, multiparty democracy, the right to organize

trade unions A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and Employee ben ...

, and against '

Russification Russification (russian: русификация, rusifikatsiya), or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians, whether involuntarily or voluntarily, give up their culture and language in favor of the Russian cultur ...

' of any kind. The organization published the bulletin ''Labour's Call from Behind the Iron Curtain''.

(1951- ), and

. ''Yearbook of the International Socialist Labour Movement''. Volume I 1956-1957 London: Lincolns-Prager International Yearbook Publishing Co., Ltd, 1957. pp. 92-93

Founding

SUCEE was founded after an initiative of the International Socialist Commission to appeal to the Polish, Czechoslovakian, Hungarian, Yugoslav and Bulgarian socialist parties to form a common centre for coordination of their work in exile. These five parties met in London on July 4–5, 1949 and founded SUCEE as a joint organization. A SUCEE conference held in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

later the same year decided to invite the Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian and Ukrainian exiled socialist parties to join as members. The 1951 founding congress of the

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

defined the relationship between the International and SUCEE. SUCEE became an associated organization of the Socialist International, and SUCEE was allowed to send four consultative delegates to the meetings of the General Council of the Socialist International. However, the member parties of SUCEE were also allowed to obtain individual memberships in the International. The SUCEE conference held in Frankfurt in 1951 decided to invite the Romanian socialists to become a member of the organization. The 1954

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

conference of SUCEE, noting the discourse on peaceful co-existence, declared that seeking peace would not mean any interruption in the "political and ideological offensive" against communism and "Soviet domination". Nor would any appreciation of peaceful co-existence indicate an acceptance of the division of Europe on behalf of the Eastern European socialists in exile.

Organization

SUCEE had two organs, the conference and the executive committee. The conference was supposed to be held once every year.

(1951- ), and

. ''Yearbook of the International Socialist Labour Movement''. Volume I 1956-1957 London: Lincolns-Prager International Yearbook Publishing Co., Ltd, 1957. p. 91 SUCEE conferences were held in London (1949), Paris (1949),

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

(1950), London (1951), Frankfurt (1951),

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

(1952),

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

(1953), Amsterdam (1954), London (1955), Copenhagen (1956),

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

(1957),

Strassbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

(1958) and

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

(1959). As of the late 1950s and early 1960s, the executive committee of SUCEE consisted of

Zygmunt Zaremba Zygmunt Witalis Zaremba (born 1895, Piotrków, Poland – died 5 October 1967, Sceaux, France), pseudonyms ''Andrzej Czarski'' (''Czerski''), ''Wit Smrek'', was a Polish socialist activist and publicist. Biography Zaremba was a member of ...

(chairman),

Brūno Kalniņš Brūno (also: Bruno) Haralds Kalniņš (7 May 1899, in Tukums, Courland Governorate of the Russian Empire, now Latvia 26 March 1990, in Stockholm, Sweden) was a Latvian social democratic politician and historian. He was the son of prominent ...

(vice chairman),

Živko Topalović Živko Topalović (21 March 1886 in Užice – 11 February 1972 in Vienna) was a Yugoslav socialist politician. Topalović became a leading figure in the Socialist Party of Yugoslavia, founded in 1921.Banac, Ivo. The National Question in Yugos ...

(vice chairman), Vilém Bernard (secretary) and Imre Szelig (treasurer). In 1961 Brūno Kalniņš became the chairman of SUCEE, and would continue in this function until 1986.Lane, A. Thomas.
Biographical Dictionary of European Labor Leaders 1. A - L
'. Westport, Conn. .a. Greenwood Press, 1995. p. 477 SUCEE maintained contacts with the Special Committee of Non-Represented Peoples of the European Consultative Assembly and participated in the Assembly of Captive European Nations.

Members

The following parties were members of SUCEE: * Bulgarian Socialist Party in exile * Czechoslovak Social Democratic Party in exile * Estonian Socialist Party in exile * Social Democratic Party of Hungary in exile * Social Democratic Party of Latvia in exile * Polish Socialist Party in exile * Romanian Socialist Party in exile * Ukrainian Socialist Party in exile * Yugoslav Socialist Party in exile

References

{{Authority control Socialist International Political parties established in 1949