The Movement of Socialists (, abbr. PS) is a

left-wing nationalist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social hierarchies. Left-wing poli ...

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

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

. It was founded in 2008 by Aleksandar Vulin, who served as the party's president until 2022 when he was succeeded by Bojan Torbica.

History

It was founded on 8 August 2008 by Aleksandar Vulin, a former high-ranking member of

Yugoslav Left The Yugoslav Left, also known as the Yugoslav United Left (JUL), was a political party in Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. At its peak, the party had 20 seats in Republic of Serbia's National Assembly following the 1997 general e ...

who left it in 1998 after perceiving the party to have "betrayed its program and became a political mask for the wealthy sitting in the party". It is a part of the governing coalition with the

Serbian Progressive Party The Serbian Progressive Party (, SNS) is a major populist, catch-all party, catch-all List of political parties in Serbia, political party in Serbia. It has been the Ruling party, ruling party since 2012. Miloš Vučević, the former prime mi ...

(SNS). It was formed by former members of the

Socialist Party of Serbia The Socialist Party of Serbia (, abbr. SPS) is a populist political party in Serbia. Ivica Dačić has led SPS as its president since 2006. SPS was founded in 1990 as a merger of the League of Communists of Serbia and Socialist Alliance ...

because they disagreed with the

pro-European Pro-Europeanism, sometimes called European Unionism, is a political position that favours European integration and membership of the European Union (EU).Krisztina Arató, Petr Kaniok (editors). ''Euroscepticism and European Integration''. Pol ...

policy of the party; however, it was a member of the pro-European SNS-led coalitions in the

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

(as part of Let's Get Serbia Moving alliance) and in the

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Serbian parliamentary elections. In December 2022, Vulin resigned as the leader of PS after being appointed as the director of the Security Intelligence Agency.

Ideology and platform

It is a self-described radical left or

leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social hierarchies. Left-wing politi ...

political party, and has been identified to be a part of the leftist camp in Serbian politics. Observers have described it as a

centre-left Centre-left politics is the range of left-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. Ideologies commonly associated with it include social democracy, social liberalism, progressivism, and green politics. Ideas commo ...

party. The party has been assessed as

social-democratic Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, socia ...

and

. Its foreign views are orientated towards

Euroscepticism Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies and seek reform ...

, and have been accused of being anti-Western-orientated. PS is supportive of further cooperation with China and Russia. It was created as a party vehicle for Vulin, who has been described as a

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

, and has expressed

irredentist Irredentism () is one state's desire to annex the territory of another state. This desire can be motivated by ethnic reasons because the population of the territory is ethnically similar to or the same as the population of the parent state. Hist ...

views. In 2022, PS proclaimed " Serbian world" as its primary political idea and goal. It has been also described as a

satellite party Satellite Party was an alternative rock band formed by Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell following the break-up of Jane's Addiction in 2004. Other members included Carl Restivo (bass) and Farrell's wife, Etty Lau Farrell (backing singer a ...

of the ruling

. In an opinion article, Miloš Baković Jadžić, -leader of the Political Platform

Solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...

and member of the party

Together ''ToGetHer'' (, aka Superstar Express) is a 2009 Taiwanese drama starring Jiro Wang of Fahrenheit, Rainie Yang and George Hu. It was produced by Comic International Productions ( 可米國際影視事業股份有限公司) and directed by Linzi ...

, criticised PS by describing it as a

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

and

neoliberal Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pej ...

party "with nothing in common with progressive left-wing politics but its name, symbolism, occasional rhetoric and a somewhat radical program," having engaged in active anti-worker and anti-progressive politics. Sociologist Jovo Bakić has also disputed the leftism of PS due to "their support for the nationalistic and neoliberal policies". Political theorist

Srećko Horvat Srećko Horvat (born 28 February 1983) is a Croatian philosopher, author and political activist. The German weekly '' Der Freitag'' called him "one of the most exciting voices of his generation" and he has been described as a "fiery voice of diss ...

noted PS' participation in the governing coalition's "harsh neoliberal measures, including

pension A pension (; ) is a fund into which amounts are paid regularly during an individual's working career, and from which periodic payments are made to support the person's retirement from work. A pension may be either a " defined benefit plan", wh ...

cuts,

public sector The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, pu ...

wage cuts,

deregulation Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...

and labor market flexibilization" and minister Vulin's direct responsibility for "one of the worst new

labor law Labour laws (also spelled as labor laws), labour code or employment laws are those that mediate the relationship between workers, employing entities, trade unions, and the government. Collective labour law relates to the tripartite relationship be ...

s" that had been passed in Serbia in 2014. He further discredited the party as having nothing to do with

socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

or left-wing politics. In 2015, Vulin said that he was opposed to same-sex marriage and that, as minister for social policy, he would never sign a law making it possible.

Organisation

Its headquarters are at Bulevar Milutina Milankovića 120B in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

List of presidents

Electoral performance

Parliamentary elections

ImageSize = width:600 height:70 PlotArea = width:500 height:50 left:20 bottom:20 DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/2008 till:31/12/2024 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:01/01/2008 Legend = columns:3 left:40 top:75 columnwidth:90 Colors = id:Government value:green legend:Government id:Opposition value:red legend:Opposition id:Support value:yellow legend:Support Define $dx = 25 Define $dy = -1 PlotData= bar:Govern. color:blue width:25 mark:(line,black) align:center from:07/08/2008 till:27/07/2012 shift:($dx,$dy) color:Opposition from:27/07/2012 till:26/10/2022 shift:($dx,$dy) color:Government from:26/10/2022 till:end shift:($dx,$dy) color:Support

Presidential elections

References

External links

Official website
{{Serbian political parties 2008 establishments in Serbia Anti-Western sentiment Centre-left parties in Europe Eurosceptic parties in Serbia Left-wing nationalist parties Political parties established in 2008 Social democratic parties in Serbia