The Ukrainian Revolutionary Democratic Party (), known from 1990 as the Ukrainian Democratic Republican Party, was a socialist political party active in the

Ukrainian diaspora The Ukrainian diaspora comprises Ukrainians and their descendants who live outside Ukraine around the world, especially those who maintain some kind of connection to the land of their ancestors and maintain their feeling of Ukrainian national ide ...

following the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The founders of the URDP were:

Ivan Bahrianyi Ivan Bahrianyi (; 2 October 1906 – 25 August 1963), real name Ivan Pavlovych Lozoviaha (Lozoviahin), was a Ukrainian writer, essayist, novelist, and politician. In 1992, he was posthumously awarded the Shevchenko National Prize in literature. B ...

, Hryhoriy Kostyuk,

Ivan Maistrenko Ivan Vasyliovych Maistrenko (; 1899–1984) was a Ukrainian revolutionary. He became a communist partisan during the Ukrainian Civil War of 1918–1920. He became a journalist and by 1921 was deputy director of the All-Ukrainian Communist Instit ...

, Borys Levitsky, Semen Pidhainy, and others. They published ''Vpered'' (Forward) edited by

History

The Ukrainian Revolutionary Democratic Party was founded in August 1947 in

Regensburg Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...

, Germany. The party brought together former members of the

Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists The Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN; ) was a Ukrainian nationalist organization established on February 2, 1929 in Vienna, uniting the Ukrainian Military Organization with smaller, mainly youth, radical nationalist right-wing groups ...

and nationally-conscious intellectuals. It was first headed by Hryhoriy Kostyuk, who left in 1948 with a left-wing group (Ivan Maistrenko, Borys Levitsky, Roman Paladiychuk, etc.), which formed a left-wing URDP around the Vpered magazine. For the longest time, the URDP was headed by its main leader and inspirer, Ivan Bahrianyi (1948–1963); further Fedor Haienko (1963–1967), for a short time Mykola Stepanenko (who also left in 1967, creating a separate - "right" URDP), Vasyl Hryshko (1967-1975) and since 1975 - Mykhailo Voskobiinyk. The program principles of the URDP are based on the struggle against the Soviet regime and the creation of an independent Ukrainian state with a democratic system. The URDP was a co-founder and active participant in the activities of the

Ukrainian National Council Ukrainian National Council of West Ukrainian People's Republic (UNRada, , until 13 November 1918 Ukrainian National Council – the representative body of Ukrainians of the former Austro-Hungarian empire) – was the supreme legislative body of t ...

until 1968, and, alongside the OUN and

Ukrainian National Democratic Alliance The Ukrainian National Democratic Alliance (UNDO) (, ) was the largest Ukrainian political party in the Second Polish Republic, active in Western Ukraine. It dominated the mainstream political life of the Ukrainian minority in Poland,dissident A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 2 ...

Sixtier movement and accept the existence of the

Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

as legitimate. URDP activists initiated the formation of the following organizations: the Association of Former Repressed Ukrainians by the Soviet Regime, the Legion of

Symon Petliura Symon Vasyliovych Petliura (; – 25 May 1926) was a Ukrainian politician and journalist. He was the Supreme Commander of the Ukrainian People's Army (UNA) and led the Ukrainian People's Republic during the Ukrainian War of Independence, a pa ...

, and the Association of Democratic Ukrainian Youth. Printed publications: "Vpered" (magazine of the left wing of the party), "Ukrainian News", "Ukrainian Prometheus", non-periodic magazine "Our Positions" (since 1948). The URDP maintains offices in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, and the United States. Its United Kingdom branch ceased functioning in 2000.

References

1947 establishments in Germany Defunct socialist parties in Ukraine Political parties established in 1947 Political parties in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic Ukrainian political parties in Germany {{Germany-party-stub