Social Democratic Workers' Party in Subcarpathian Rus'


The Social Democratic Workers' Party in Subcarpathian Rus was a social democratic political party in Carpathian Ruthenia in Czechoslovakia. The party was founded in 1919. At the party congress in September 1922 the party adopted a party programme which acknowledged the inclusion of Carpathian Ruthenia as an autonomous region in the Czechoslovak Republic. The party obtained the support of the Gregory Žatkovich, the first governor of Subcarpathian Rus, during his tenure 1920–1921.
The main difference between the party and the Czechoslovak Social Democratic Workers Party was that ČSDSD supported the government in Prague, whilst the Subcarpathian party opposed it as the government did not support the formation of an autonomous region of all Rusyn-inhabited areas.

Organization and leadership

The party had around 3,500 members. The party organization was based on individual memberships. The party activists came from working and middle-class background, recruiting members from the Rusyn, Hungarian, Jewish and Czech communities. The highest organ of the party was the party congress. The party established several cooperatives and trade unions, particularly in the lumber industry.
Leading members of the party included Jacko Ostapčuk, Jaromír Nečas, Dmytro Nimčuk, Stephan Kločurak and János Horváth.

Elections

In the Czechoslovak National Assembly elections, the party contested the elections in the Užhorod constituency in alliance with ČSDSD. The joint list won one of the nine Užhorod seats in the 1924, 1925 and 1929 elections; getting 23,800 votes in 1924, 18,200 votes in 1925 and 22,900 votes in 1929. In the 1924 and 1925 elections, the seat was won by Jaromír Nečas of the Social Democratic Workers Party in Subcarpathian Rus, in 1929 the seat was won by Julius Husnaj of the ČSDSD.

Merger into ČSDSD

The party sent five delegates to the Prague joint conference of the Social Democratic parties in the Czechoslovak Republic January 28–29, 1928. The party congress of the Social Democratic Workers Party in Subcarpathian Rus held in Chust on December 22, 1929 decided to merge the party into the ČSDSD. The merger became effective in 1930, as the party became a territorial organization of ČSDSD.

Press

The party published four weekly newspapers; Vpered was published from Užhorod, Hlas východu published from Užhorod, Ruszinszkoi Népszava and Szabadság.

International affiliation

The party was a member of the Labour and Socialist International from 1923 onwards.