Communist Party of Ukraine

• 1. Founding And Early Years

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  On the 6th of March 1993, communists from across Ukraine gathered in Makiivka for an All-Ukrainian Conference. This meeting marked the reestablishment of the Communist Party of Ukraine after its predecessor had been banned on the 30th of August 1991. The Verkhovna Rada legalized these new communist parties two months later. Petro Symonenko was elected First Secretary at the 1st Congress held on the 19th of June 1993. He has led the party continuously since that day.

  The party claimed to be the direct successor to the Soviet-era branch founded on the 5th of July 1918 in Moscow. In the 1994 presidential election, they supported Oleksandr Moroz from the Socialist Party of Ukraine. Their relationship remained strong throughout the 1990s with Moroz speaking at their 22nd Congress in 1999. By the 1998 parliamentary election, the KPU won 24.65% of the vote and secured 123 seats in Parliament. They became the largest party in the legislature during this period.

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• 2. Electoral Rise And Fall

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  In the 1998 Ukrainian parliamentary election, the party gained 24.65% of the vote and 123 seats. This victory allowed them to field their own candidate in the 1999 presidential election. Party leader Symonenko received 23.1 percent of the votes in the first round. He trailed behind Leonid Kuchma who received 38.0 percent of the votes. In the second round Symonenko received 38.8 percent but lost to Kuchma.

  Support sharply declined by the time of the 2004 presidential election. Symonenko received only 5% of the votes and came in fourth place. The party lost much support particularly after the Orange Revolution. In the 2006 parliamentary election they won 3.66% and 21 seats. By the 2012 election they had recovered slightly with 13.18% of the national votes and 32 seats. However the October 2014 parliamentary election marginalized them further as they won no constituency seats and failed to reach the 5% threshold. For the first time since 1918 communists were not represented in Ukrainian national politics.

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• 3. Role In The Revolution Of Dignity

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  From November 2013 until February 2014 large protests swept through Ukraine known as Euromaidan. The Communist Party opposed these protests yet did not fully support President Yanukovych. In January 2014 the party supported anti-protest laws that severely restricted freedom of speech. Clashes between protesters and Berkut special riot police resulted in the deaths of 108 protesters and 13 police officers.

  On the 22nd of February 2014 Ukraine's parliament voted 328, 0 to remove Yanukovych from his post. Thirty deputies of the Communist Party voted for this removal despite their earlier opposition to the violence. They identified the protest movement as a coup to overthrow the elected government. An open plea from the First Secretary called for all communist movements worldwide to condemn the events. This contradictory voting record created confusion about their stance during the Revolution of Dignity.

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• 4. Support For Separatism And War

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  Immediately after the revolution pro-Russian counter-revolutionary protests erupted in southern and eastern Ukraine. Russia occupied Crimea while armed separatists seized buildings in Donetsk and Luhansk. The Security Service of Ukraine gathered intelligence that the Communist Party was helping Russian proxy forces. On the 6th of May a majority of MPs voted to expel the Communist Party from the parliamentary session hall for making a pro-separatist declaration.

  Regional party cells formed the pro-separatist Communist Party of the Donetsk People's Republic. In May 2014 Acting President Oleksandr Turchynov asked the Ministry of Justice to examine whether the party violated sovereignty. By July 2014 thirty criminal proceedings had been opened against members of the party. They were accused of supporting the breakaway Donetsk People's Republic and agitating for Russian annexation of other oblasts. Political scientist Tadeusz A. Olszański stated the party effectively supported the separatist rebellion during the war.

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• 5. Legal Bans And Asset Seizure

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  On the 16th of December 2015 the District Administrative Court in Kyiv banned the Communist Party. The court ruled their actions aimed at violating Ukraine's sovereignty and inciting ethnic hatred. This ban was criticized by John Dalhuisen of Amnesty International who called it draconian. The Supreme Administrative Court denied the party's appeal on the 25th of January 2016.

  The Central Election Commission refused to register Symonenko's candidacy for the 2019 presidential election due to non-compliance with decommunization laws. On the 6th of July 2022 a Lviv court ruling banned the party again following the Russian invasion. All assets including party buildings and funds were transferred to the Ukrainian state. During the invasion Symonenko fled to Belarus with assistance from Russian forces. In August 2023 the Security Service of Ukraine opened an investigation against him on charges of sedition and treason.

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• 6. Ideological Evolution And Nostalgia

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  In its statute the Communist Party claims to unite citizens who support the Communist idea on a voluntary basis. They consider themselves a successor to the Soviet-era branch and call themselves a battle detachment of historical communist parties. The party has laid weight on nostalgia for the Soviet Union to gain votes. In 1998 they published Historical Thesis which painted a rosy picture of the former state without mentioning controversial events like the Great Purge or Holodomor.

  Symonenko referred to the dissolution of the Soviet Union as tragic events. The party believes the Soviet Union was criminally destroyed yet makes concessions to the present. Their commitment to Soviet patriotism has been partially replaced with vaguer Eurasianism in recent years. They wish not to reestablish a union with Russia as a protectorate but have rediscovered links between Soviet and East Slavic nationalism. At the 4th Congress the party conceded that Ukraine would not join any particular union if it weakened sovereignty while Symonenko publicly backed membership in the Eurasian Customs Union.

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