Socialist Party (Venadia)

Socialist Party
File:Spvenadia.png
Native Name	Социалистическая Партия
Leader	Anton Bolotnikov
Founded	8th of June, 1902
Headquarters	Venagorod, Venadia
Membership	2,296,000
Ideology	Social-Democracy Democratic Socialism
Political position	Centre-Left
Official colours	Red
Great Veche	112 / 400
Website	http://www.sp.vda

The Socialist Party (Venadian: Социалистическая Партия, transliterated: Sozialistiyeskaya Partiya) is one of the two largest and dominant political parties in the Republic of Venadia. It has held government in Venadia numerous times since the implementation of universal suffrage in 1915, and is the largest left-wing political force in the country.

History

The Socialist Party originated as the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, and grew out of the Venadian trade union movement and the traditional communal agricultural communities of the country. Originally more radical and agrarian, the Socialist Party grew more moderate in the 1930s, and in the 21st century is a modern social-democratic party.

The Socialist-Revolutionary Party was founded in Khandagrad in 1902 by a wide assortment of trade unions and farmer's unions, leftist political groups and parties and prominent agrarian and labour activists. The goal was to unite Venadia's left-wing forces into one political party. The founding congress was marked by a great deal of division over most issues barring support for universal suffrage, legalization of all union activity and land reform. Uniting behind these three main policies, the SRP was founded and the congress also declared support for anti-militarism, implementation of sick pay and government pensions, solidarity with ethnic minorities and the transformation of the economy into one of common ownership. The early SRP was a hotbed of varying factions, including the anarchists, the syndicalists, the social-democratics/marxists, the agrarian socialists, the utopians, the blanquists and the libertarian socialists.

The SRP managed to unite the vast majority of the forces to the left of the Republican Party who had formally enjoyed the support of organized labour and landless farmers. Due to Venadia's lack of universal suffrage, the SRP was met with limited electoral success, generally only gaining between 1% and 3% in the legislative and presidential elections of the early 20th century. The SRP's activities were largely concentrated outside of electoral politics however, organizing strikes, boycotts and civil disobedience against the Venadian State unless their demands of free and fair elections where all could vote were met.

In October 1913, the SRP had managed to organize more than ten million Venadian workers and farmers to participate in the great general strike of 1913. Despite being declared unlawful, police forces couldn't break up the strike and were resisted on every turn by the SRP and the trade unions & farmers. Industry and mining in Tarmanovy, Kandovy and Venagorod, the heartland of socialist support, was almost completely shut down. An estimated two or three million agricultural labourers joined the strikes as well, and an unknown number of small-farmers (estimated to be between 5% to 20%) refused to sell their produce in support of the strike for universal suffrage. The government was divided on its attitude to the strikes, with some calling for sending the military to forcibly break up the strike, others to weather it out and yet more were sympathetic to the suffragists and wanted to comply with their demands. The Republican Party spoke out in favour of the strikers' cause, but were opposed to the means they attempted to achieve it, while the Constitutionalist-Democratic Party was torn between internal disagreement.

The General Strike carried on into 1914 when the Venadian government agreed to negotiate with socialist leaders. The strike was temporarily called off, but briefly started again on March of 1914 when negotiations broke down. The government ended up with partially agreeing to the socialist demands, and implemented male universal suffrage (it would be extended to women in 1921), legalization of trade union activity and collective bargaining nationwide and the implementation of a limited land reform, the specifics to be decided by the next elected Great Veche. The first Venadian election with male universal suffrage, the 1915 election, saw the Socialist-Revolutionaries win almost a fifth of the vote.

The SRP opposed Venadia's participation in the First Ardanian Great War and were the leading force behind the anti-war movement. The SRP would see their support drastically increased for the 1919 election but not enough to take power. The SRP managed to win the Venadian Presidential Election of 1920, albeit with a very narrow majority, with the social-democrat Yuriy Mordvinov becoming Venadia's first working-class President. The SRP became one of the founding members of the Ardanian Communist International, but left the organization in 1931, prompting the pro-comintern wing of the SRP to form the Communist Party of Venadia. Mordvinov managed to win the 1925 presidential election, but lost the 1930 one.

The Second Ardanian Great War proved a crossroads for the SRP. The SRP had been one of the founding members of the Communist Internationale that was now waging war on Venadia itself, and the party was split on whether to oppose the war or support Venadia's efforts to maintain its independence. At the 1936 Congress, the party decided to oppose the war, which prompted the pro-war faction to leave and ran as the National Socialist Party. The NSP participated in Radomir Shishko's Government of National Unity, and in the 1939 legislative election the NSP became the largest party on the left.

In 1949 the Socialist-Revolutionary Party and the National Socialist Party re-united, under the name Socialist Party of Venadia. The post-war period would see the SP moderate their policies and ideology, no longer calling for revolution or the implementation of a strict socialist economical system. The SP became the primary defenders of the welfare state and held numerous governments into the 21st century, being one of the two big parties in Venadia.

Policies

• Supports mixed-market economics with the state having some control and ownerships of essential industries such as infrastructure, healthcare and telecommunications, as well as regulatory functions.
• Supports progressive taxation both as a form of revenue for the state and as a way to decrease inequality, as well as taxation of certain goods such as alcohol and tobacco.
• Supports the expansion of the welfare state for the poor, elderly and disabled.
• Broadly liberal and supportive of the rights of minority groups.
• Supports a pragmatic foreign policy.
• Generally opposes military interventions abroad barring peacekeeping missions.
• Supports the unitary state and opposes decentralization of powers to the regions.
• Supports a penal system focused on a mixture of rehabilitation and punishment.

Organization

The Socialist Party is structured around local party cells and party organizations, who have some degree of autonomy on local issues. The Party Cells and organizations elect representatives to the National Congress held every year. Many Venadian trade unions are members of the Socialist Party and have their own representatives in the National Congress. The Central Committee is the decision-making body of the Socialist Party, and is elected by the National Congress and is also responsible for financial and membership matters in the party.

Membership

The Socialist Party had 2,296,000 members as of 2016, making it the largest political party in Venadia by membership. In addition to individual fee-paying members, many trade union cells and cooperatives are collectively members in the Socialist Party, and these count towards the total party membership. The SP has an annual fee of 10 NSD for individual members, and 200 NSD for collective memberships.

Party Factions

The Socialist Party has no formal factions within the party, but several groups organize around common ideals and policy proposals.

Democratic Socialists

The Democratic Socialists within the Socialist Party are considered to be the primary left-wing faction, and supports a larger degree of state and cooperative ownership in the economy, particularly within the blue-collar industries and the financial sector. The Democratic Socialists support more power to the trade unions, and a greater degree of local autonomy both for the party cells, and in Venadia as a whole.

The Democratic Socialists primarily organize around the newspaper The Venadian Worker, the political clubs of Motherland, Socialist Campaign Association and the Socialist Union. The Socialist Party's youth organization Young Social-Democratic League is considered to be more in line with the Democratic Socialist wing than any other.

Social-Democrats

The Social-Democrats within the Socialist Party consist of individuals who support third-way policies in the economy and a more efficient welfare state. The Social-Democrats primarily organize around the political associations of Labour League and Solidarity, as well as the newspaper The Daily Worker.

New Movement

The New Movement is a wing of the Socialist Party supporting a more moderate economical policy, and an expansion on the party's commitment towards the rights of minorities. Gained traction in the latter 20th century, but was greatly diminished after the split of the Civil Rights Party in 2004. The New Movement is primarily organized around the Social-Democratic Association "New Way".

Agrarians

The Agrarians consist largely of the rural wing of the Socialist Party, and is strongly supportive of protective tariffs, agricultural & primary sector subsidies and decentralization. The Agrarians were once one of the largest and most prominent factions within the SP, but in the past decades have lost a lot of ground with the continued urbanization of both the country and the party.

The Agrarians primarily organize themselves in the Red Farmer and Agricultural Labourer Association. Several local newspapers in Venadia also favour this political wing.

Syndicalists

The Syndicalists are a minor faction within the Socialist Party who supports even more authority to the Trade Unions, desiring to make the Socialist Party an extension of the Venadian Confederation of Labour and the take-over of industry by the unions. The Syndicalists primarily rally themselves around the Industrial Workers of Venadia as well as the Trade Union and Socialist Cooperation League.

Neomarxists

The Neomarxists are a minor faction within the Socialist Party adhering to modified Marxist principles. The Neomarxists primarily organize themselves in the Socialist-Revolutionary Revival League.

Electorate

The Socialist Party is predominantly supported by the working class and farmers, but in recent years have seen their support base also include members of the middle and professional classes along with their hold on the working class vote diminishing. The electoral strongholds of the Socialist Party remains the industrial towns and countryside of Venadia proper, and the majority of their support is from ethnic Venadians. The party does poorly among most minorities, barring Jews and Somer Germans.