History
The founding conference of the Union of Communists was held in December 1992, and it was registered with Ukrainian authorities in March 1993. At the time of organization on 12 March 1993 it claimed to have 2,000 members in 13 oblasts. Yurii Solomati was registered as the leader of the organization. The main stronghold of the party has been Luhansk. Initially many party members were also affiliated to the Communist Party of Ukraine (KPU), although the KPU soon began purge dissident elements. Whilst the influence of the Union of Communists waned, it acted as a competitor of KPU in south-eastern Ukraine at an early stage. At the 23rd congress of the Union of Communist Parties – Communist Party of the Soviet Union held in March 1993, the Union of Communists is included as an associative member. Considering itself as the legitimate heir of the CPSU, the Union of Communists demanded return of CPSU property seized by the Ukrainian state. The organization called for the reconstruction of the Soviet Union. The Union of Communists began publishing the theoretical journal ''Marksizm i sovremennost (Марксизм и современность, 'Marxism and Modernity') from Kyiv in 1995. Politically it is close to the Russian Communist Workers Party, with many people (including Yabrova) holding dual memberships. As of the early 2000s, the group was led by Tamila Yabrova. In 2013, the party took part in the founding of the Initiative of Communist and Workers' Parties. In May 2015, Decommunization in Ukraine, laws that ban communist symbols came into effect in Ukraine. Despite that, the Union of Communists of Ukraine remained active. In June 2022, the party released a statement condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine as "Imperialism, imperialist".References
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