The All-Ukrainian Union "Freedom" (), commonly known as V.O. Svoboda or simply Svoboda, is an ultranationalist political party in Ukraine. It has been led by Oleh Tyahnybok since 2004.
Its predecessor, the Social-National Party of Ukraine (SNPU) formed and officially registered as a political party in October 1995. The SNPU was characterized as a radical right-wing populist party that combined elements of ethnic ultranationalism and anti-communism. During the 1990s, it was accused of neo-Nazism due to the party's recruitment of skinheads and usage of neo-Nazi symbols.Andrusechko, P. Road of Tyahnybok towards Freedom. "Ukrayinsky zhurnal". Poznan, May 2009 Tyahnybok was elected in 2004 as the president of the party and shortly after he made efforts to moderate the party's image by changing the party's name and symbols and expelling neo-Nazi and neofascist groups.
Although Tyahnybok expelled neofascist groups, Svoboda never abandoned ethnic ultranationalist views and he reaffirmed the party's commitment to its original xenophobic platform. The party gained increasing popularity in the late 2000s and early 2010s, winning 10.45% of the vote in the 2012 parliamentary election. Between 2009 and 2014, it was an observer member of the far-right Alliance of European National Movements. It played a role in the 2014 Ukrainian revolution and Euromaidan protests but its support dropped quickly following the 2014 elections. Since then, the party has been polling below the electoral threshold, and it currently has one seat in the Verkhovna Rada.
Svoboda's economic platform is statist and anti-liberal. Its political position has been described as right-wing, or far-right.Far right:
Described as an ultranationalist, right-wing populist party, it expressed support and staged commemorations honoring early 20th century, Ukrainian far-right nationalist leader Stepan Bandera, and it opposes immigration, globalism and free trade. It is staunchly anti-communist and conservative regarding social issues, and it favors economic nationalism and protectionism. The party has been described as "deeply anti-Semitic", and "fascist",Fascist:
though others say the party is no longer overtly antisemitic and is now best described as a "radical nationalist party".
History Social-National Party of Ukraine
The Social-National Party of Ukraine (SNPU) was registered as a party on 16 October 1995;Oblast Council demands Svoboda Party be banned in Ukraine, Kyiv Post (12 May 2011) the constituent congress of the party took place on 13 October 1991, in Lviv. The party was established by the Soviet-Afghan War veterans organization, the youth organization "Spadshchyna" (Heritage, headed by Andriy Parubiy), the Lviv Student Fraternity (headed by Oleh Tyahnybok), and the Rukh Guard (headed by Yaroslav Andrushkiv and Yuriy Kryvoruchko). Dr. Yaroslav Andrushkiv was elected leader of the party. The party adopted a party emblem associated with fascism and which is used by neo-Nazi organizations in Europe.Andrusechko, P. Way of Tyahnybok to Freedom. Poznan: "Ukrayinskyi zhurnal", May 2009
The SNPU's official program defined itself as an "irreconcilable enemy of Communist ideology". According to Svoboda's website, during the 1994 Ukrainian parliamentary elections the party presented its platform as distinct from those of the communists and social democrats.
In the 1998 parliamentary elections, the party joined a bloc of parties (together with the All-Ukrainian Political Movement "State Independence of Ukraine")Elections of folk deputies of Ukraine on March 29, 1998 the Election programmes of political parties and electoral blocs , Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine (1998) called "Fewer Words" (), which collected 0.16% of the national vote.Всеукраїнське об'єднання «Свобода» , Database ASDCandidates list for Less words , Central Election Commission of Ukraine Party member Oleh Tyahnybok Олег Тягнибок , Ukrinform was elected to the Ukrainian Parliament in this election. He became a member of the People's Movement of Ukraine faction.
The SNPU established the paramilitary organization Patriot of Ukraine in 1999 as an "Association of Support" for the military of Ukraine, and registered it with the Ministry of Justice. The paramilitary organization was disbanded in 2004 during the SNPU's reformation but was reconstituted as an independent organization in 2005. Svoboda officially ended association with the group in 2007, but they remained informally linked into the 2010s, with representatives of Svoboda attending social campaigns such as protests against price increases and leafleting against drugs and alcohol. In 2014, Svoboda was noted for clashing with the far-right group Right Sector, a coalition which included Patriot of Ukraine.
In 2001, the SNPU joined some actions of the "Ukraine without Kuchma" protest campaign and was active in forming the association of Ukraine's rightist parties and in supporting Viktor Yushchenko's candidacy for prime minister, although it did not participate in the 2002 parliamentary elections. However, as a member of Victor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine bloc, Tyahnybok was reelected to the Ukrainian parliament. The SNPU won two seats in the Lviv oblast council of deputies and representation in the city and district councils in the Lviv and Volyn oblasts.
In 2004, the party had less than 1,000 members. (source also available here )
All-Ukrainian Union Svoboda
In February 2004, the arrival of Oleh Tyahnybok as party leader led a significant change in moderating the Social-National Party's image. It changed its name to the All-Ukrainian Union "Svoboda", and abandoned the "I + N" (Ukrainian «Ідея Нації» "Idea Natsii" = "idea of a nation") Wolfsangel logo (a symbol popular among neo-Nazi groups) with a three-fingered hand reminiscent of the 'Tryzub' pro-independence gesture of the late 1980s. Svoboda also pushed neo-Nazi and other radical groups out of the party, distancing itself from its neofascist past while retaining the support of extreme nationalists. Andrushkiv, former head of the party, rejected Tyahnybok's claim that Svoboda was successor party to the SNPU and called Svoboda 'a different political phenomenon.' Both he and Andriy Parubiy would leave the 'new' party following its transformation.Anton Shekhovtsov, "From Para-Militarism to Radical Right-Wing Populism: The Rise of the Ukrainian Far-Right Party Svoboda," in Media of Right-Wing Populism in Europe, eds. Wodak, Mral, and KhosraviNik (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2013), 255.
However, Tyahnybok never concealed that these changes were made primarily for image purposes.Svoboda party – the new phenomenon on the Ukrainian right-wing scene, OSW Commentary, 5 July 2011 Tyahnybok reaffirmed the party's commitment to its original racist and xenophobic platform in a speech following the 2004 convention. The party remained associated with the 'wide social nationalist movement' (consisting of numerous organisations and websites) and gathered around the Social-Nationalist Assembly which was set up in 2008. Yuri Mykhailyshyn, Tyahnybok's adviser who topped the list of Svoboda's Lviv branch in the 2010 municipal council elections, founded the Internet Joseph Goebbels Political Research Centre (the centre later changed Goebbels for Ernst Jünger) in 2005. Patriot of Ukraine, a paramilitary organisation dissolved in 2004 and re-established in 2005 in a different legal form, continued to maintain ties with Svoboda. It was not until 2007 that this paramilitary organisation announced the end of its relationship with Svoboda.Заява Організації „Патріот України" про розрив стосунків з ВО „Свобода" , una-unso.inf, 18 December 2007 Even then, some prominent Svoboda members, such as Andriy Illienko from Svoboda's Kyiv branch, continued to identify themselves with the ideas of Patriot of Ukraine, which still uses the Wolfsangel symbol.
In 2004, Tyahnybok was expelled from the Our Ukraine parliamentary faction for a speech calling for Ukrainians to fight against a "Muscovite-Jewish mafia", using pejorative terms for Russians and Jews alike, and celebrated the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists for having fought "Moscovites, Germans, Jews and other scum who wanted to take away our Ukrainian state." The speech was delivered at the grave of a commander of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, where Tyahnybok praised its struggle against "Moskaly", a derogatory term for either RussiansEdyta M. Bojanowska (2007) "Nikolai Gogol: Between Ukrainian And Russian Nationalism" , p. 55 : "In the 'low', folksy world of the provincial narrators, a Russian is a moskal ("Muscovite")", a foreigner and an intruder, at best a carpetbagger, at worst a thief in league with the devil." or pan-Russian nationalists;Yushchenko Finally Gets Tough On Nationalists , The Jamestown Foundation (3 August 2004) Germans; and "Zhydy", an archaic but controversial term for Jews in Ukraine due to it being a slur when used in the Russian language.Harvest of Despair: Life and Death in Ukraine Under Nazi Rule by Karel C. Berkhoff, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2008, (page 60) Tyahnybok's 2004 comments were widely circulated on the three TV channels controlled by the head of the Presidential Administration, Viktor Medvedchuk: State Channel 1, 1+1 and Inter.
In the 2006 local elections, the party obtained 4.2% of the votes and 4 (of 64) seats in the Ternopil Oblast Council, 5.62% of the votes and 10 (of 84) seats in the Lviv Oblast Council and 6.69% of the votes and 9 seats in the Lviv city council. During the 2006 parliamentary elections, they received just 0.36%.
In the 2007 parliamentary elections, the party doubled its vote share, receiving 0.76% of the votes cast. It was ranked eighth out of 20 parties. The non-participation of the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists meant it was the only far-right party to participate.
In autumn 2009, Svoboda joined the Alliance of European National Movements as the only organisation from outside the European Union. That year the party claimed to have 15,000 members.
2009–2012 local elections success The party's significant electoral success was the 2009 Ternopil Oblast local election when they obtained 34.69% of the votes and 50 seats out of 120 in the Ternopil Oblast Council. Генеральна репетиція президентських виборів: на Тернопільщині стався прогнозований тріумф націоналістів і крах Тимошенко , Ukrayina Moloda (17 March 2009) This was the best result for a far-right party in Ukraine's history.
Tyahnybok's candidacy in the 2010 presidential election did not build on the 2009 Ternopil success. Tyahnybok received 1.43% of the vote. ЦВК оприлюднила офіційні результати 1-го туру виборів , Gazeta.ua (25 January 2010) Most of his votes he gained in Lviv oblast, Ternopil Oblast and Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast accounted to 5% of the vote. Election results and map by region , Ukrainska Pravda (4 February 2010) In the second round, Tyahnybok did not endorse a candidate. He did present a list of some 20 demands for second round candidate Yulia Tymoshenko had to fulfil first before gaining his endorsement—which included publicizing alleged secret deals Tymoshenko had with Vladimir Putin and ridding herself of what he called Ukraine-haters in her close circles.Tymoshenko's Looming Defeat: How Did She Make It Inevitable? , Serhiy Kudelia (29 January 2010)