Communist Party of Ukraine (Soviet Union)

The Communist Party of Ukraine ( uk, Комуністична Партія України ''Komunistychna Partiya Ukrayiny'', КПУ, ''KPU''; russian: Коммунистическая партия Украины) was the founding and ruling political party of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic operated as a republican branch ( union republics) of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU).Pyrih, R.
Communist Party of Ukraine, the Soviet period (КОМУНІСТИЧНА ПАРТІЯ УКРАЇНИ РАДЯНСЬКОЇ ДОБИ)
'. Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine. 2007 No decision of the government of Ukraine (Council of Ministers) was adopted without approval of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine. The Communist Party of Ukraine is not one and the same party as the Ukrainian Communist Party or Ukrainian Communist Party (Borotbists).

Founded as the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine (CP(b)U) in 1918 in Moscow, Russian SFSR, it was the sole governing party in Ukraine. While the Ukrainian People's Republic had its own political parties of communist ideologies, the Communist Party of Ukraine was created out of the party of Russian Bolsheviks in Ukraine known as the RSDRP(b) – Social-Democracy of Ukraine. In 1952 it became the ''Communist Party of Ukraine''.

According to the CPU statute it was organized on the basis of democratic centralism, a principle conceived by Vladimir Lenin that entails democratic and open discussion of policy issues within the party followed by the requirement of total unity in upholding the agreed policies. The CPU's highest body was the Party Congress, which convened every five years. When the Congress was not in session, the Central Committee was the highest body, but because the Central Committee met twice a year, most duties and responsibilities were vested in the Politburo. The party leader held the office of First Secretary who served as the head of government.

Like all other CPSU republican branches, The CPU was committed, in accordance to the party statute, adhered to Marxist–Leninist ideology based on the writings of Vladimir Lenin and Karl Marx, and formalized under Joseph Stalin. The party had pursued state socialism, under which all industries were nationalized and a command economy was introduced. Prior to the adoption of central planning in 1929, Lenin had introduced a mixed economy, commonly referred to as the New Economic Policy, in the 1920s, which allowed to introduce certain capitalist elements in the Soviet economy. This lasted until 26 August 1991 when the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) suspended and on 30 August 1991 prohibited the Communist Party of Ukraine based on the fact that "the leadership of the Communist Party of Ukraine in its actions supported the coup d'état" Moscow">n MoscowFrom the parliamentary faction of the Communist Party, following its 1991 prohibition, there was created the Socialist Party of Ukraine. On efforts of some other communist cells across Ukraine that did not join the Socialist Party, in 1993 in Donetsk was re-established the Communist Party of Ukraine as a political party of independent Ukraine, while joining the Union of Communist Parties – Communist Party of the Soviet Union out of Moscow. Some members who joined Socialist Party, after re-establishing of the Communist Party, joined the new political entity among whom the most notable was Adam Martyniuk.

Following sanctions against the party in 1991, the party fell apart in a similar way to its parent organization (the Communist Party of the Soviet Union) having members of such main deviations like Democratic Platform and Interregional Deputy group reorganized into separate political entities. The ban lasted until 2001 and in May 2002, the older party was merged into the 1993 CPU. Леонида Кучму исключили из партии
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Historical overview

Russian Bolsheviks in Ukraine

The party traces its beginning to committees and party's cells of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) that existed at the end of the 19th century in all bigger cities and industrial centers on Ukrainian territory which was part of the Russian Empire.Yurchuk, V., Kuras, I.
Communist Party of Ukraine (КОМУНІСТИЧНА ПАРТІЯ УКРАЇНИ)
'. Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia. Under influence from the League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class in Saint Petersburg, in 1897 such organization was also formed in Kyiv and Yekaterinoslav which also were taking part in preparation and convocation of the 1st Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1898. With release of newspaper Iskra in December 1900 in Germany, on territory of Ukraine spread out a network of the Lenin's Iskra group and organizations. Among the most notable activists in Ukraine during that period were Ivan Babushkin, Rosalia Zemlyachka, Pyotr Krasikov, Isaak Lalayants, Friedrichs Lengniks, Maxim Litvinov, Grigory Petrovsky, Mykola Skrypnyk (Nikolay Skripnik), Dmitry Ulyanov, Vasiliy Shelgunov, Alexander Schlichter, Alexander Tsiurupa, and others. Following the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (1903) in social-democratic organizations has developed a struggle between Mensheviks and Bolsheviks. On behalf of Vladimir Lenin, in 1904 Vatslav Vorovsky with Lalayants and Levitskiy created in Odessa the Southern Bureau of the RSDLP that led activities of Odessa, Yekaterinoslav, Nikolayev committees, brought together around itself Bolshevik organizations of the South, conducted great deal of work in preparation to the 3rd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1905.

During the 1905 Russian Revolution Bolsheviks in Ukraine guided by decisions of the 3rd Congress led working people to fight against autocracy. In more than 50 cities and settlements were created Soviets of working deputies. In December 1905 Bolsheviks led number of armed uprisings in Ukraine, among which were in Horlivka, Alexandrovsk ( Zaporizhia), Kharkiv. Kyiv, Mykolaiv and many other cities were covered with strike action. In course of the revolution the RSDLP organizations in Ukraine grew significantly and in 1907 they were accounted for over 20,000 men.) looks as it was adopted in Ukrainian here as ale/u> men "cholovik" ( uk, чоловік). Given estimation for men, possibly includes estimation for people in whole. Organizers and leaders
of party's activities during this time were Comrade Artyom ( Fyodor Sergeev), Vladimir Bonch-Bruyevich, Miron Vladimirov, Kliment Voroshilov, Serafima Gopner, Sergey Gusev, Lidia Knipovich, Gleb Krzhizhanovsky, Grigory Petrovsky, Nikolay Skripnik, Alexander Schlichter, Yemelyan Yaroslavsky, and others. During the following year of government reaction in 1907–10 Bolshevik organizations in Ukraine have suffered significant losses, yet continued their revolutionary activities. Guided by decisions of the 1912 Prague Conference, those Bolsheviks carried out work to expand and strengthen ties with the masses, their international upbringing, preparing workers to new revolutionary battles, were exposing supporters of what was labeled as " liquidationism", "otzovizm" (recalling representatives from the State Duma), trotskyism and bourgeois nationalism. During the years of World War I (1914–18) the Bolsheviks of Ukraine propagated the Lenin's slogan of transforming the imperialist war into a civil war and fought against social chauvinism and revolutionary defeatism.

Bolshevik Baltin in the "Chronicle of the Revolution" (russian: Летопись Революции) noted that during the World War I in December 1914 Kharkiv experienced the most eerie Russian chauvinism (see, Great Russian chauvinism) which knew no limits when Russian ultra-nationalist Black Hundreds were assisted by a local police.Балтин, А. "Харьковская организация Р. С.-Д. Р. П. большевиков во время войны." // Летопись Революции. - 1923. No.5. С. 3-20 Baltin also stated that at that time the Kharkiv Locomotive Factory (employing 6,000 workers) was considered a "citadel of revolutionary movement" yet due to pressure of the local police and the Russian nationalists the revolutionary life was completely suppressed. In January 1915 the Kharkiv Bolshevik organization was accounted of no more than 10 people. The Bolshevik organization in Kharkiv was revived after arrival of Aleksei Medvedev, Nikolay Lyakhin (Petrograd Bolsheviks) and Maksimov and Maria Skobeeva (Moscow Bolsheviks). Following the Russian defeat during Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive and start of the Great Retreat, to Kharkiv from Riga was evacuated a plant of the Public Company of Electricity (russian: Всеобщая Компания Электричества) with 4,000 workers.

During the 1917 February Revolution, known as the February bourgeois democratic revolution in communist jargon, the Bolshevik organizations guided by the Central Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party claimed that they led the struggle of the working people against Russian autocracy, and after overthrowing it launched a struggle for the masses against whom communists named as conciliators and bourgeois nationalists. The process of differentiation of the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks in the joint organizations of the RSDLP intensified and as well as the process of creation of independent Bolshevik organizations that in July 1917 accounted for around 33,000 men.

According to Yevgenia Bosch, the Kyiv party organization after the February Revolution accounted for only near 200 members and it mainly was concentrated on elections to the Soviet of Workers' Deputies. The performance of the party organization was far from stellar and huge advantage in the soviet (council) was secured by what Bosch called " petty bourgeois parties". The majority in the soviet was formed by Mensheviks. The soviet's executive committee ( ispolkom) was also dominated by Mensheviks and Bundists, while Bolsheviks managed to have own representative Maks Savelyev. The Kyiv party organization chose not to participate in elections to the Soviet of Soldiers' Deputies due to lack of relations with local military. Also the Kyiv Bolsheviks chose to ignore the All-Ukrainian National Congress that was convened on proposition of the Central Council of Ukraine on . The most important role for the organization was participation in the 1 May street demonstration to the point that the Bolsheviks decided to conducted own one in spite that the event was already organized by the Soviet of Workers' Deputies.

Unlike any other Bolshevik organizations in Ukraine that adopted the Lenin's April Theses without discussions, on 23 April 1917 the Kyiv party cell approved resolution in which it called the April Theses "yet insufficiently substantiated and developed".Kulchytskyi, S.
The Lenin's April Theses (КВІТНЕВІ ТЕЗИ В.ЛЕНІНА)
'. Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine. 2007 On 28 April 1917 at the city's assembly Bolsheviks stated that those theses require further discussion and promised to publish them in their newspaper. They never did. At the 7th All-Russian conference of Bolsheviks where the theses were adopted practically unanimously, the Kyiv Bolsheviks, led by Yurii Pyatakov and who had other thought, did not dare to oppose Vladimir Lenin.

Struggle for establishment of the Soviet power in Ukraine

Following the " July Days" and the semi-legal 6th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, Bolsheviks of Ukraine began to prepare the workers for an armed uprising "for Soviet power" ( uk, за владу Рад, russian: за власть Советов). Big help was provided to them by the Central Committee of the RSDLP(b) that maintained connection with more than 50 of its party organizations in Ukraine. Active role in the preparation process of the masses to the "Socialist Revolution" ( October Revolution) was conducted by Vasiliy Averin, Yevgenia Bosch, Kliment Voroshilov, Yan Gamarnik, Serafima Gopner, Vladimir Zatonsky, Andrei Ivanov, Emanuel Kviring, Yuriy Kotsiubynsky, Dmitriy Lebed, Grigory Petrovsky, Vitaly Primakov, Fyodor Sergeyev, , and others. During the summer of 1917 on territory of modern Ukraine were formed two regional (oblast) branches of the RSDLP(b) of Southwestern Krai and Donets-Krivoi Rog Basin and later in the fall the bureau of the RSDLP(b) military organizations of the Southwestern Front (due to ongoing World War I). According to Yevgenia Bosch, the regional branch of the RSDLP(b) was supposed to consist of 7 guberniyas (Governorates): Kyiv, Chernihiv, Podolia, Volhynia, Poltava, Kherson, and Yekaterinoslav. Also membership of the party in Ukraine grew significantly in 1917 from 7,000 in April to 50,000 in October. Following the October Revolution in Petrograd, at the 2nd All-Russian Congress of Soviets among its delegates, there were 65 Bolsheviks from Ukraine.

The very next day after the October Revolution, on 8–13 November (26–31 October by old style), 1917 Bolsheviks in Kyiv, who have been headquartered at the Mariinskyi Palace, attempted to secure power in Kyiv with less success and, after the Bolshevik's victory over the Kyiv Military District garrison, the authority in Kyiv was secured by the Regional Committee in Protection of Revolution in Ukraine where important role played the Central Council of Ukraine. In a week the Central Council adopted its "Third Universal" where it condemned the Bolshevik coup-d'état and declared Ukraine in federative union with the Russian Republic (instead of the Soviet Russia). In response to that on 26 November 1917 the Bolshevik Sovnarkom published its manifesto to the all population
About struggle with counter-revolutionary insurgency of Kaledin, Kornilov, Dutov, and supported by the Central Rada (О борьбе с контрреволюционным восстанием Каледина, Корнилова, Дутова, поддерживаемым Центральной Радой)
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Communist Party of Ukraine

The Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine was created on 5–12 July 1918 in Moscow during the 1st Party Congress. Decisive factor of establishing autonomous branch were conditions of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk according to which Ukraine was leaving the Russian Federation. During the congress there was established a central committee of 15 mem