Democratic Socialist Party Демократическая Cоциалистическая Партия Demokraticheskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Partiya | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Gennady Zyuganov |
| Chairperson | Lyudmila Babaeva |
| Founder | Viktor Chernov Maria Spiridonova Fanny Kaplan Tsar Kiril I (disputed) |
| Ideology | Left-wing Russian nationalism Agrarian socialism Democratic socialism Christian democracy Progressivism National conservatism |
| Political position | Center-left to left-wing |
| Seats in the Assembly | 83/300 |
The Democratic Socialist Party (Russian: Демократическая Cоциалистическая Партия, Demokraticheskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Partiya) also known as the DSP (ДСП), Democratic Socialists or Left Socialist Revolutionaries (Left SRs) and more archaically as the White Socialists is a political party in Russia.
The party was officially formed in 1919, by Maria Spiridonova and Fanny Kaplan as a split from the original Socialist Revolutionary Party, and opposing the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, inheriting most of ideas from the Socialist Revolutionaries, with one main key difference, the DSP while not actively considering themselves Tsarists, did not run on an anti-Tsarist platform and welcomed any government that wasn't Bolshevik, and denounced the execution of Nicholas II and his family. Many more ex-SRs, mostly the Rightist SRs, ex-Bolsheviks, and progressive monarchists went to go join the DSP, and soon, the DSP became a monarcho-leftist-socialist organization. After the Russians defeated Estonian and Latvian separatists, many of their agrarianist factions joined the DSP.
During the Russian Civil War, Grand Duke Kiril Vladimirovich, cousin of Nicholas II and heir candidate, who joined the White Army, supported the party and its ideals, becoming the first of a "Leftist monarchist" group.
They were the ruling party in Russia in the 1920s and 1930s, and thus, have becoming one of the most successful political parties in Russia. The modernization of Russia has been attributed to Pyotr Struve, who became the Noble Minister of Russia in the 1930s, a reminisciant of our OTL Stalin in the 1930s and his industrialization of the OTL Soviet Union.
History[]
Parliamentary victory & Modern Golden Age - 1920-1930[]
Despite Russia having an ultra-conservative Procurator-General in Baron Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel, socialism was a very popular movement at the time. The new Autocrat, Cyril I, advocated that progressives and conservatives find a middle ground, and had supported many aspects of socialism, even Sovietism. Therefore while much of the military elite remained conservative, a pro-socialist rhetoric developed among regular citizens. However, for Maria Spiridonova's role in advocating Narodnik ideology, she was banned from running for Parliament.
In 1925, Pyotr Struve became elected the Prime Minister of Russia. In spite of being of noble descent, Struve did not use his nobility, and was thus, considered a Prime Minister instead of a Grand Noble Minister. However, Boris Rezhukin of the Nationalist Front, a monarchist, became Procurator General.
However Struve and Rezhukin, Russia experienced the modernization and industrialization that our OTL Soviet Union had enjoyed, however this is a fact mostly hidden from mainstream knowledge, due to the negative connotation of socialists for their role in the early parts of the Russian Civil War.
The predominance of the Struves in Russian politics and society led to the mechanizing and motorizing of the Imperial Russian forces, in tank and aircraft productions finally went into full-swing in Russia.
Even Rezhukin, although originally not content with having an ex-Bolshevik as a political colleague, began to become attracted to the works of the Democratic Socialists.
However, during the late 1930s, the rise of the right-wing National Socialists, would begin the seeds for the SR's downfall, based on a conspiracy theory that the SRs were closeted Bolsheviks and Jews who attempting to overthrow the Romanovs via a second Bolshevik revolution. However, the Nazis had pointed that the SRs were starting to become more sympathetic towards Lenin, and starting to slowly bring back old Bolshevik rally cries.
In 1935, the SRs underwent a series of vicious political attacks in the Baltics (same way as the Brown Shirt uprising in OTL Germany). Eventually, with the installation of Henreich Himmler as the Chairman-General of Courland, and Hermann Göring as the Chairman-General of Livonia, the SRs were officially banned by the Livonian and Courlander Senates.
Within the Baltics, the Nazis were politically ruthless against the SRs. Jaan Tõnisson, leader of the Baltic factions of the SRs, filed a petition to the Russian Senate to undo their activities, however the Russian Senate did not take actions against the Nazis.
The early successes of the Eastern Axis invasion of Russia was blamed widely on the SRs, spearheading their downfall. Many former SRs began defecting to the Nazis. From then, never-again would the SRs be prominent in Russian politics.
In addition, the Nazis were known to intentionally allowed Russian soldiers and generals who were SRs to face the worse brunt of the Eastern Axis invasion.
Downfall 1945-1980[]
By 1945, although the SRs weren't banned by any national decree, they only earn 12/270 seats in the Russian Parliament, and 2/150 in the Senate. The SRs subsequently underwent de facto surveillance by the Nazi-ruled Senate. The new Nazi Russian state further rewrote history, no longer considering the SRs as part of the original White Movement, referring themselves as the "White Socialists".
In 1951, the party fell under the leader of Sergey Blagonravov, who attempted to instill more nationalistic strings to the party's ideology. Blagonravov began to promote Russian Orthodoxy, and truly show the traits of a "nationalist" party. After Konstantin Rodzeavsky was defeated by Anastasy Vosniatsky for leadership of the Nazi Party, Blagoravov attempted to court with Rozeavsky, however the latter made it clear that he wanted no part in Leftist politics.
Ideology[]
Workers and Agrarian community[]
The grassroots ideology of the Democratic Socialists was towards the workers, peasants and agrarian community. The Democratic Socialists believe in the self-management and self-preservation of rural workers into communes. They argue that the peasants are the true building backbone of the State, and without them, the State would fall and crumble.
National and Spiritual identity[]
Unlike the Marxists, the Democratic Socialists pretty much consider themselves nationalists, marked by a patriotism for the Russian state. Although the party has no official claim on spiritual identity, and its members are quite mixed on the idea of a spiritual identity. One of the things that the Democratic Socialists heavily supported as the seperation of Church and State, but unlike Lenin and the Bolsheviks, was adamantly opposed to the bombing and destruction of churches and religion overall. Their prime focus when it comes to the spiritual identity is promoting the multi-cultural nature of Russia, which would include all religions even outside of Eastern Orthodoxy.
The party has had its religious and non-religious members. While many of its leaders have also joined the other nationalists in support of a Christian state in Russia, with Gennady Zyuganov claiming that the Bible pretty much supports socialism, it is still done in a progressive manner, a manner that heavily involved co-promoting all the other religions. These people believe that Russia's head of state should be Orthodox. Others believe that religion should play no role in the leadership of the Russian state.
The Tsar & The Nobility[]
The DSP states that they recognize the Tsar or Tsaritsa, as the Head of State of Russia, and also respects the rights of the nobility, a feature which heavily distinguished them from the other Leftist groups of the Russian Revolution.
However, the party stated that non-nobility should also be prioritized and given a chance to make their prints on Russian history.