Ukrainian Socialist-Revolutionary Party

Ukrainian Socialist-Revolutionary Party was a political party in the Russian Empire from 1907-1917. It was simply referred as Essery (SR) and was one of the most influential in Ukraine as it was representing the interest of the major social class - peasants. It closely cooperated with the All-Ukrainian Peasants Rada.

History
In the fall of 1906 the Simferopol circle of the Party established its new affiliations in Volyn and Podolie. The first organizations of the party appeared in the eastern region of the modern Ukraine: Kiev Governorate, Chernigov Governorate, Odessa Governorate, Poltava Governorate, and others.

The First Party Conference took place in Kiev (February 1907) where the Party Central Committee (CC) was elected. However, already in August 1907 numerous of the Party's members were arrested and the CC was liquidated. The one who managed to escape prosecution has moved to Lviv (autonomous region of Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria). In 1910-1911 there were attempts to reestablish the organization in Kiev and Kharkiv. Although it was not until the 1913 when some of the Party underground organization have reappeared in Ukraine. Around 1914 the Kievan group of the Party published its program in the magazine Borotba (the Fight).

First steps
The Party officially was established on April 17, 1917 in Kiev. The first Party Constituent Congress took place on May 4, 1917 in Kiev as well where the party became officially the All-national. The second Party Congress took place on July 15–16, 1917 when the Party program and statutes were accepted. According to their rivals from the Ukrainian Social-Democratic Labor Party (SDeky or SDPists), the Party has rewritten its program from their colleagues the Russian Social-Revolutionaries. The Party press-media became the newspaper Narodna Volia (The People's Will) and the magazine Borotba. The Party obtain 50% of all votes in Ukraine to the Russian Constituent Assembly.

The Party had several of its ministers in the General Secretariat of Ukraine, but after the IV Universal on January 30, 1918 the Party became in charge of the government splitting only couple of other ministries with SDeks. Already in June 1917 several radical leaders of the Party held a conference at the Left-bank Ukraine where they declared their disagreement with the Party's center course.

Parliamentary Life
The crisis has arose in October 1917 during one of the sessions of the Central Rada (VII and VIII (December 1917)) where the parliamentarians could not agree on the agrarian question. The majority of agrarian deputies were absolutely against the conservative agrarian law projects of the social-federalists K.Matskevich and SDPist Borys Martos who were supported by part of SRs. On the III Party Congress in December 1917 the left SRs with the support of deputies from the military political organizations requested from the Central Rada promptly to issue laws about the liquidation of private property and estates in particular, nationalization of series of various industries, and several other reforms that were part of the Party's program. Soon 12 members of the Party CC composed the nucleus of the left opposition in the Rada. After the declaration of Independence a SR government was formed (the Council of People's Ministers) headed by Vsevolod Holubovych. On January 18, 1918 under the influence of the Left-wing of the Party headed by O.Shumsky the Central Rada finally accepted a provisional decree about the socialization of estates. However on January 26, 1918 Kiev was taken by the army of Mikhail Muravyov and the members of the Rada relocated to Zhytomyr. There the Ukrainian left SRs were publishing their newspaper Molot (Hammer). With the support of the Germany Ukraine was liberated from the Russian occupation by March 1918. However on April 29 the German military administration dispersed the Rada and arrested the Prime Minister of Ukraine Vsevolod Holubovych. In May 1918 the left faction of the party split forming a new party of Borotbists (Communists).

Notable members

 * Center faction
 * Mykhailo Hrushevsky, chairman of the Central Rada, member of the Mala Rada and the CC of the UPSR.
 * Vsevolod Holubovych
 * Pavlo Khrystiuk
 * Mykyta Shapoval
 * Fedir Shvets
 * Left faction (Borotbists)
 * Oleksandr Shumsky
 * Hryhoriy Hrynko
 * Vasyl Blakytnyy