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The Estonian Radical Socialist Party ( Estonian: Eesti Radikaalsotsialistlik Partei, ERSP) was a political party in Estonia.
History
The party was founded on 6 May 1917 in Tallinn in order to contest the Estonian Provincial Assembly elections that year. [1] Its initial leaders were Jüri Vilms and Eduard Laaman. [2] The party co-operated closely with the Social Travaillist Party and the two became known as the "Labourites". [3]
The Labourites won 11 of the 62 seats in the Assembly elections, [4] becoming the second-largest faction after the Rural League, and went on to finish second in the 1918 Constituent Assembly elections.
In 1919 the two parties merged to form the Estonian Labour Party. [1]
Ideology
The Radical Socialist Party was founded as a clearly left-wing party, that supported social equality, democracy, but also liberal economic policies, and had a similar programme to the Russian Trudoviks. [1] Its voters came from the poorer classes and therefore it had a radical approach to the land reform and advocated the separation of church and state and a democratic constitution, which would give more power to the parliament.
References
- ^ a b c Vincent E McHale (1983) Political parties of Europe, Greenwood Press, p389 ISBN 0-313-23804-9
- ^ "23. aprilli tähtsamaid ajaloosündmusi Eestis". Archived from the original on 2012-03-24. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
- ^ McHale, p383
- ^ Suny, Ronald Grigor (1993). The Revenge of the Past. ISBN 978-0-8047-2247-6.