Social Democratic Party of Lithuania
리투아니아 사회민주당
A social democratic party of Lithuania, founded as an underground Marxist organisation at a secret congress in Vilnius in 1896 and the oldest extant party in the country. It was the first political organisation in Lithuania to call for independence; during the Soviet occupation it worked only in exile, and it was restored in 1989. In 2001 it merged with the Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania, the successor of the Communist Party of Lithuania.
In depth
The party was founded on 1 May (19 April O.S.) 1896 at a secret congress in a Vilnius apartment. Its 13 delegates included the central organisers Andrius Domaševičius and Alfonsas Moravskis, the future president Kazys Grinius and, representing the radical youth, the 18-year-old Felix Dzerzhinsky. Its first programme, influenced by the Erfurt Program, called for an independent democratic Lithuanian republic in a federation with Poland, Latvia, Belarus and Ukraine. Between 1897 and 1899 the Okhrana arrested about 280 activists and exiled more than 40 to Siberia, nearly destroying the party, but from 1900 to 1902 a new generation led by Vladas Sirutavičius and Steponas Kairys revived it. In 1905 it was one of the main initiators of the Great Seimas of Vilnius, where it formed the most radical left wing.
During the German occupation of 1915–1918 the party called for an independent Lithuania and joined the Council of Lithuania. In December 1918 the Vilnius majority led by Domaševičius left to recognise the revolutionary government of Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas, while a minority around Kairys supported the independent government and re-established the party before the 1920 election. After the 1926 election it formed a left-wing coalition with the Lithuanian Peasant Popular Union, dismissed after that year's coup, and Antanas Smetona's authoritarian regime banned all parties in 1936. Between 1945 and 1989 the party worked covertly in exile.
Restored in 1989, the party began merger talks in 1999 with the Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania, the bulk of the former Communist Party, and merged with it in 2001. The merged party kept the Social Democratic name but was dominated by former Democratic Labour members, and Algirdas Brazauskas became its leader. It led governments in 2001–2008 and 2012–2016, and in the 2024 election it came first with 52 of 141 seats and became the ruling party.