The Workers' Party ( tr, ) 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 ...

founded in 1992 and led by

Doğu Perinçek Doğu Perinçek (; born 17 June 1942) is a Turkish politician, doctor of law and former communist revolutionary who has been chairman of the left-wing nationalist Patriotic Party ( tr, Vatan Partisi, VP) since 2015. He was also a member of the ...

. It has its roots in the Revolutionary Workers' and Peasants' Party of Turkey (TİİKP), the Workers' and Peasants' Party of Turkey (TİKP) and the Socialist Party (SP) which was banned by the Constitutional Court in 1992. They are known as "''Aydınlıkçılar''" (Clarifiers) due to their daily newspaper ''

Aydınlık ''Aydınlık'' ("Clarify" or "Enlightenment" in Turkish) is the newspaper of the Patriotic Party (''Vatan Partisi''). Originally launched as a weekly newspaper in 1921, it has been repeatedly closed and relaunched, most recently in 2011. Histo ...

'' ("Clarify" or "Enlightenment") that has a circulation of 63,000. During a general assembly on 15 February 2015, the Workers' Party was rebranded and changed its name to Patriotic Party, with Perinçek remaining as leader.

Overview

The İP traditionally combined

Maoist Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Ch ...

rhetoric with a hardline left-wing

Kemalism Kemalism ( tr, Kemalizm, also archaically ''Kamâlizm''), also known as Atatürkism ( tr, Atatürkçülük, Atatürkçü düşünce), or The Six Arrows ( tr, Altı Ok), is the founding official ideology of the Republic of Turkey.Eric J. Zurche ...

called '' ulusalcılık''. Although they accept

scientific socialism Scientific socialism is a term coined in 1840 by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon in his book '' What is Property?'' to mean a society ruled by a scientific government, i.e., one whose sovereignty rests upon reason, rather than sheer will: Thus, in a given ...

as their main ideology, they have a more patriotic ideology than other left-wing parties in Turkey. Their revolutionary strategy is based on "National Democratic Revolution", which is close to

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also Romanization of Chinese, romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the List of national founde ...

's "

New Democratic Revolution New Democracy, or the New Democratic Revolution, is a concept based on Mao Zedong's Bloc of Four Social Classes theory in post-revolutionary China which argued originally that democracy in China would take a path that was decisively distinc ...

". İP supports Stalin's "

Socialism in One Country Socialism in one country was a Soviet state policy to strengthen socialism within the country rather than socialism globally. Given the defeats of the 1917–1923 European communist revolutions, Joseph Stalin and Nikolai Bukharin encouraged th ...

" thesis, rather than

Mirsaid Sultan-Galiev Mirsaid Sultan-Galiev ( tt-Cyrl, Мирсәет Хәйдәргали улы Солтангалиев, ''Mirsäyet Xäydärğäli ulı Soltanğäliev'', pronounced ; russian: Мирсаид Хайдаргалиевич Султан-Галиев ''M ...

's "

national communism National communism represents various forms in which Marxism–Leninism and socialism has been adopted and/or implemented by leaders in different countries using aspects of nationalism or national identity to form a policy independent from commu ...

" thesis. Such that, Mehmet Bedri Gültekin, deputy chairman of the party, wrote a book on Sultan-Galiev's counter-revolutionary role. They admire the founder of the Turkish republic,

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, or Mustafa Kemal Pasha until 1921, and Ghazi Mustafa Kemal from 1921 Surname Law (Turkey), until 1934 ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish Mareşal (Turkey), field marshal, Turkish National Movement, re ...

(who is considered a "left-wing bourgeois democratic revolutionary" by Chairman Perinçek ) as much as they admire

Marxist Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialecti ...

revolutionary leaders like

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet Union, Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as Ge ...

and

. They also promote alliances with nations they believe have

anti-imperialist Anti-imperialism in political science and international relations is a term used in a variety of contexts, usually by nationalist movements who want to secede from a larger polity (usually in the form of an empire, but also in a multi-ethnic so ...

tendencies (such as

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...

) and oppose the existence of

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

expansionism Expansionism refers to states obtaining greater territory through military empire-building or colonialism. In the classical age of conquest moral justification for territorial expansion at the direct expense of another established polity (who of ...

- (such as

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

). İP states that a brotherhood based solution to the Kurdish question must exclude

imperialist Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power ( economic and ...

initiative in the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

. They claim that the

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of south ...

(PKK) has been completely under the control of the USA since the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

. İP asserts that it is still possible to unite Turkish and Kurdish people in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

within the borders of an

nation state A nation state is a political unit where the state and nation are congruent. It is a more precise concept than "country", since a country does not need to have a predominant ethnic group. A nation, in the sense of a common ethnicity, may ...

which will be established through a

democratic revolution Democratic Revolution () is a Chilean centre-left to left-wing political party, founded in 2012 by some of the leaders of the 2011 Chilean student protests, most notably the current Deputy Giorgio Jackson, who is also the most popular public f ...

. According to them, separatism became a tool of

American imperialism American imperialism refers to the expansion of American political, economic, cultural, and media influence beyond the boundaries of the United States. Depending on the commentator, it may include imperialism through outright military conques ...

in breaking national markets in the

Third World The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Western European nations and their allies represented the " First ...

in post-

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

conditions. Although they traverse separation, they also defend democratic rights and freedoms of Kurds in Turkey. For İP, the key tool to solve the Kurdish problem is to demolish "

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...

structures" in Kurdish provinces and make peasants "free citizens".

Wings

*The youth student wing of İP is known as ''Öncü Gençlik'' ( Vanguard Youth). *The women wing of İP is known as ''Öncü Kadın'' (Vanguard Women).

Media

*''

'' (Clarity), daily newspaper. *
Aydınlık Daily
', news portal in English. *''Teori'' (Theory), monthly theory and strategy review. *
Bilim ve Ütopya
' (Science and Utopia), monthly science journal. *''

Ulusal Kanal Ulusal Kanal ( en, the National Channel) is a private Turkish nationwide TV channel established in 2000 broadcasting news and politics. It is linked with the Patriotic Party and was raided by police in 2011 as part of the Ergenekon investigat ...

'' (National Channel), television station. *
Kaynak Yayınları
' (Source Publications), publisher.

Election results

* 1995 general election: 61,428 votes (0.22%) * 1999 general election: 57,593 votes (0.18%) * 2002 general election: 160,227 votes (0.51%) * 2007 general election: 127,220 votes (0.36%)

References

{{Political parties of Turkey 1992 establishments in Turkey 2015 disestablishments in Turkey Defunct socialist parties in Turkey Kemalist political parties Defunct Maoist parties Maoist organizations in Turkey Left-wing nationalist parties Defunct nationalist parties in Turkey Political parties established in 1992 Political parties disestablished in 2015