The Estonian Social Democratic Workers' Party ( et, Eesti Sotsiaaldemokraatiline Tööliste Partei) was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...

between 1917 and 1925. The leaders of the party, founded on platforms of

patriotism Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and sense of attachment to one's country. This attachment can be a combination of many different feelings, language relating to one's own homeland, including ethnic, cultural, political or histor ...

, Estonian independence, and

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals ...

, made a major contribution to the drafting of the first (1920) Constitution of Estonia.

History

Social democracy Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote s ...

in Estonia was born at the beginning of the 20th century. Estonian social democracy was influenced by western European ideas of social democracy as well as by Russian ideals. During the

Russian Revolution of 1905 The Russian Revolution of 1905,. also known as the First Russian Revolution,. occurred on 22 January 1905, and was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. The mass unrest was directed again ...

social democratic ideas spread and Estonian social democrats formed their party in the summer of 1905 in Tartu. At this time, the party was named the Estonian Social Democratic Workers Unity (''Eesti Sotsiaaldemokraatlik Tööliste Ühendus''). The social democrats were the most persecuted party during the czarist era. Their newspapers were closed, their politicians were forced to emigrate (Peeter Speek and Mihkel Martna) or prosecute in underground (

August Rei August Rei VR III/1 ( – 29 March 1963) was an Estonian politician, the Head of State (''Riigivanem'') of Estonia in 1928–1929, and the Prime Minister in duties of the President of Estonia in the government in exile in 1945–1963. Early ...

). In 1917, when parties were again allowed, social democrats formed the Estonian Social Democratic Association (''Eesti Sotsiaaldemokraatlik Ühendus''). Their views were patriotic and they fought for Estonian independence and

. In 1919, they changed their name to the Estonian Social Democratic Workers Party (''Eesti Sotsiaaldemokraatlik Tööliste Partei'') and won the Constituent Assembly elections with 41 of the 120 seats. In the first parliamentary elections the following year the party was reduced to third place, before emerging as the second-largest party in the 1923 elections. In 1925 the party merged with the Estonian Independent Socialist Workers' Party to form the

Estonian Socialist Workers' Party The Estonian Socialist Workers' Party ( et, Eesti Sotsialistlik Tööliste Partei, ''ESTP'') was a political party in Estonia. History The party was established in 1925 as a merger of the Estonian Social Democratic Workers' Party and former me ...

. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p579 In 1990, the Estonian Socialist Party's Foreign Association merged into the newly formed Estonian Social Democratic Party.

References

1905 establishments in the Russian Empire 1917 establishments in Estonia 1925 disestablishments in Europe Defunct political parties in Estonia Defunct socialist parties in Europe Members of the Labour and Socialist International Political parties disestablished in 1925 Political parties established in 1917 Political parties established in 1905 Political parties of the Russian Revolution Socialist parties in Estonia {{Europe-socialist-party-stub