The Communist Party of Ukraine (CPU or KPU) is a banned Marxist-Leninist political party in Ukraine. It was founded in 1993 and claimed to be the successor to the Soviet-era Communist Party of Ukraine, which had been banned in 1991.The Communist Party of Ukraine statute (Статут Комуністичної партії України) . Communist Party of Ukraine (www.kpu.ua) In 2002 it held a "unification" congress when both "old and new" parties merged.Президент Украины Леонид Кучма, бывший президент Леонид Кравчук и эск-спикер парламента Иван Плющ исключены из рядов Компартии Украины. RIA Novosti. 27 May 2002 The party is a member of the Moscow-based Union of Communist Parties, an umbrella organisation for all communist parties of the former Soviet Union. The party has been led by Petro Symonenko since it was founded. European Court began reviewing complaints about the ban of the Communist Party, Ukrainska Pravda, (30 December 2016)Ukraine court bans Communist Party, Daily News and Analysis (17 Dec 2015)
Communist parties have a long history in Ukraine. With the fall of the Soviet Union, members of the Soviet-era Communist Party of Ukraine formed the Socialist Party of Ukraine. After being revived in 1993, the Communist Party was represented in the Ukrainian parliament from 1994 until the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election, which ended a period of parliamentary representation for communists stretching back to 1918.General official results of Rada election, Interfax-Ukraine (11 November 2014)Central Election Commission announces official results of Rada election on party tickets, Interfax-Ukraine (11 November 2014) The Communist Party and its predecessor were the largest party in Ukrainian parliamentary elections for the first eight years of free and fair election, from 1990 until 1998.
According to Ukrainian sociologist Volodymyr Ishchenko, by the 2010s the party had "degenerated into a conservative and pro-Russian rather than pro-working class grouping, gradually losing its voters and membership".
During the 2013–2014 Euromaidan protests, the party voted for anti-protest laws. However, it also voted to remove President Viktor Yanukovych from office in the Revolution of Dignity. During the Russo-Ukrainian War which followed, the Security Service of Ukraine said the party was actively helping pro-Russian separatists and Russian proxy forces, which it denied. Regional party cells formed the pro-separatist Communist Party of the Donetsk People's Republic. In May 2015, Ukraine banned Soviet communist symbols. Because of these laws, and the Communist Party's support for Donbas separatists, the party was barred from standing in elections.Ukraine's Justice Ministry outlaws Communists from elections, Kyiv Post (24 July 2015).Justice Ministry bans three communist parties from taking part in election process as they violate Ukrainian law – minister, Interfax-Ukraine (24 July 2015) In December 2015, the Communist Party was banned, for actions "aimed at violating Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, collaboration with Russian proxy forces, and inciting ethnic hatred". The party appealed the ban to the European Court of Human Rights and various Ukrainian courts, and participated in some elections by joining umbrella groups and running candidates as independents. The Central Election Commission of Ukraine prohibited Symonenko's candidacy for the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election. The CEC refused to register nearly fifty presidential candidates, Ukrainska Pravda (8 February 2019)
Party officials reportedly supported the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. As a result, its ban was upheld and its assets were seized by the state in July 2022. А куда пропал Петр Симоненко? Оккупанты помогли ему выехать, Obozrevatel (12 May 2022)
History
Early years and electoral successes The KPU considers itself to be the direct successor to the original Communist Party of Ukraine, a branch of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) which was founded on 5 July 1918 in Moscow. The original communist party existed until 30 August 1991, when the CPSU and its branch in Ukraine were banned. Between 1991 and 1993, several small communist organizations were created throughout Ukraine. "Without clear legality", communists from all over Ukraine convened on 6 March 1993 for the All-Ukrainian Conference for Communists in an attempt to reestablish the KPU. In reaction, the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian parliament) legalized the establishment of communist parties two months later. On 19 June 1993, the 1st Congress of the newly founded KPU was convened. Officially, it was designated as the 29th Congress to denote it as a direct successor to the Soviet KPU and it elected Petro Symonenko as First Secretary.
In the 1994 presidential election, the KPU supported the candidacy of Oleksandr Moroz from the Socialist Party of Ukraine (SPU). The relationship between the KPU and SPU was strong throughout the 1990s, with Moroz even speaking to the 22nd KPU Congress (held in 1999).
In the 1998 Ukrainian parliamentary election the party gained 24.65% of the vote and 123 seats, becoming the largest party in Parliament. The first ten members on the party list were Petro Symonenko (MP), Omelian Parubok (MP), Anatoliy Nalyvaiko (tunneler of the Karl Marks Mine (Yenakieve)), Borys Oliynyk (MP), Valeria Zaklunna-Myronenko (actress of the Lesya Ukrainka Theater (Kyiv)), Adam Martynyuk (the 2nd secretary of the Central Committee of CPU), Anatoliy Draholyuntsev (mechanic-electrician at Luhanskteplovoz), Vasyl Sirenko (Koretsky Institute of State and Law (NANU), unaffiliated), Borys Molchanov (tool craftsman at Dniproshyna) and Anatoliy Strohov (pensioner). The KPU won 121 seats, constituting 19.5% of the seats in the Verkhovna Rada.
The good result in the 1998 election led the KPU to field their own candidate in the 1999 presidential election as they nominated party leader Symonenko. Symonenko received 23.1 percent of the votes in the first round, trailing behind Leonid Kuchma who received 38,0 percent of the votes. In the second round Symonenko received 38,8 percent, losing to Kuchma who received 57,7 percent of the vote.
In 2000, two parties split from the party, namely the Communist Party of Ukraine (renewed) and the Communist Party of Workers and Peasants.Ukraine Bars Communists From Elections, Radio Free Europe (24 July 2015) The KPU argued that the creation of parties was encouraged by President Leonid Kuchma in order to syphon votes away from their party.
The Constitutional Court of Ukraine recognized in 2001 that the ban on the Communist Party of Ukraine violated the Constitution of Ukraine.
At the parliamentary election on 30 March 2002, the party won 19.98% of the popular vote and 66 out of 450 seats in the Verkhovna Rada. The first ten members on the party list were Petro Symonenko (MP), Omelian Parubok (MP), Ivan Herasymov (Head of the Veterans of Ukraine Organization, unaffiliated), Borys Oliynyk (MP), Valeria Zaklunna-Myronenko (MP), Adam Martynyuk (MP), Stanislav Hurenko (MP), Oleksandr Tkachenko (MP), Anatoliy Nalyvaiko (MP) and Oleh Blokhin (MP, unaffiliated).
Electoral decline Symonenko's support sharply declined at the time of the 2004 presidential election. Symonenko received 5% of the votes and came in fourth place, unable to get into the controversial runoff which caused the Orange Revolution.
Since then, the party lost much support, particularly after the Orange Revolution. In the 2006 parliamentary election, the party won 3.66% and 21 seats. Комуністична партія України, Database DATA The first ten members on the party list were Petro Symonenko (MP), Adam Martynyuk (MP), Ivan Herasymov (MP), Kateryna Samoilyk (MP), Omelian Parubok (MP), Valeria Zaklunna-Myronenko (MP), Oleksandr Holub (MP), Valentyn Matvyeyev (MP), Oleksandr Tkachenko (MP) and Petro Tsybenko (MP).
No later than 2006, the Communist Party office in Donetsk on regular basis provided material and logistical assistance to the separatist organization Donetsk Republic (banned in 2007) which with the assistance of the Communist Party was spreading printed information materials of separatist orientation in authorship of the ideologist of Donetsk internationalism Dmitriy KornilovDonetsk authorities openly support separatism and Slavic fascism (Власти Донецка открыто поддерживают сепаратизм и славяно-фашизм). Novosti Donbassa. 15 November 2006 as well as by collecting signatures for "independence of Donbass" agitated for violation of territorial integrity of Ukraine through seceding several oblasts of Ukraine from Ukraine and uniting them into one quasi state formation based on Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson "republics".In Donetsk collecting signatures to secede from Ukraine (В ДОНЕЦКЕ СОБИРАЮТ ПОДПИСИ ЗА ОТДЕЛЕНИЕ ОТ УКРАИНЫ). Zadonbass. Even after the Donetsk Republic Party was banned for separatism on 6 November 2007 by the Donetsk district administrative court on the suit of the Chief Justice Administration of Donetsk Oblast based on materials of the Security Service of Ukraine,The banned Donetsk Republic claims that Yushchenko is preparing invasion of Kuban (Запрещённая "Донецкая республика" заявляет, что Ющенко готовит вторжение на Кубань). Newsru. 23 October 2009 the Donetsk branch of Communists did not cease to assist separatists with its tents and printing capabilities periodically conducting joint campaigns with them.
In the parliamentary election on 30 September 2007, the party won 5.39% of the popular vote and 27 out of 450 seats. The first ten members on the party list were Petro Symonenko (MP), Yevhen Volynets (tunneler of the Vasily Chapayev Mine (Shakhtarsk)), Maryna Perestenko (Head of the Mars farm (Simferopol Raion)), Ivan Herasymov (MP), Yuriy Haidayev (Minister of Healthcare, unaffiliated), Adam Martynyuk (1st deputy Chairman of parliament), Valeriy Bevz (Deputy Minister of Emergencies), Oleksandr Tkachenko (MP), Oleksandr Holub (MP) and Ihor Aleksyeyev (MP). The party participated in the 2010 presidential election as part of the Election bloc of left and central left political forces.Bloc of left and center-left forces to nominate CPU Leader for Ukraine's president , Interfax-Ukraine (3 October 2009)
The party participated in the 2010 presidential election as part of the Election bloc of left and central left political forces.
The Communist Party was part of the parliamentary coalition called "Stability and Reforms" that supported the First Azarov government.Member of parliament Zhvaniya: Current coalition could be reformatted, Kyiv Post (March 16, 2010)