Social Democratic Party of Lithuania
|
Social Democratic Party of Lithuania
Lietuvos socialdemokratų partija |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Abbreviation | LSDP |
| Chairman | Algirdas Butkevičius |
| Vice Chairpeople |
Zigmantas Balčytis Juozas Bernatonis Vilija Blinkevičiūtė Ramūnas Burokas Nijolė Dirginčienė Gediminas Kirkilas Auksė Kontrimienė Valerijus Makūnas Juozas Olekas Justas Pankauskas Julius Sabatauskas Mindaugas Sinkevičius Algirdas Sysas |
| Executive Secretary | Valdas Šereika |
| Founded | 1896 |
| Headquarters | B. Radvilaitės g. 1, Vilnius |
| Membership | 21,146 (as of 14 June 2014) |
| Ideology |
Social democracy Pro-Europeanism |
| Political position | Centre-left |
| European affiliation | Party of European Socialists |
| International affiliation |
Progressive Alliance, Socialist International |
| European Parliament group | Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats |
| Colours | Red, White |
| Seats in the Seimas |
17 / 141
|
| Seats in the European Parliament |
2 / 11
|
| Cabinet of Lithuania |
3 / 14
|
| Municipal councils |
359 / 1,473
|
| Mayors |
16 / 60
|
| Website | |
| www |
|
The Social Democratic Party of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos socialdemokratų partija, LSDP) is a social-democraticpolitical party in Lithuania. It is the longest-existing party in Lithuania, having been founded as an underground Marxist organization in 1896. During the period of Soviet occupation the party was forced into exile, emerging once again in Lithuania in 1989.
The party's president since 2009 is Algirdas Butkevičius. The party led a minority government in the unicameral Seimas, Lithuania's Parliament from 2004 to 2008. The party is a member the Party of European Socialists (PES), Progressive Alliance, and the Socialist International.
Initial discussions about forming a Marxist political party in Lithuania began early in 1895, with a number of informal gatherings bringing together social democrats of various stripes resulting in a preparatory conference in the summer of that year. Differences in objectives became clear between ethnic Jewish and ethnic Lithuanians and Poles, with the former seeing themselves essentially as Russian Marxists while the latter two groups harbored both revolutionary and national aspirations. Moreover, the ethnic Poles and Lithuanians saw themselves divided over the question of alliance with non-Marxist liberals. As a result, not one but three Marxist political organizations would emerge in Lithuania between 1895 and 1897.
The Social Democratic Party of Lithuania (LSDP) was founded on 1 May (19 April O.S.) 1896 at a secret congress held in an apartment in Vilnius. Among the 13 delegates were Andrius Domaševičius and Alfonsas Moravskis — a pair of intellectuals regarded as the central organizers of the new political entity — and the future President of Lithuania, Kazys Grinius, as well as a number of worker activists. Also in attendance as a representative of the radical youth movement was an 18-year-old ethnic Pole named Felix Dzerzhinsky, later the head of the Soviet secret police. As Lithuania was then part of the Russian Empire, the LSDP was inevitably an illegal organization, meeting in secret and seeking to bring about the revolutionary overthrow of the Tsarist regime.
...
Wikipedia