The Social Democratic Party of Russia (Russian: Социал-демократическая партия России, Sotsial-demokraticheskaya partiya Rossii) was a political party founded in Russia by Mikhail Gorbachev on November 26, 2001. First name of party is: Social Democratic Party of Russia (United). It was a coalition of several social democratic parties, had approximately 12,000 members, but had no seats in the Russian State Duma. Gorbachev resigned as party leader in May 2004 over a disagreement with party chairman Konstantin Titov who had insisted, over Gorbachev's opposition, on a deal with the pro-Kremlin United Russia Party in the previous year's general election.
Konstantin Titov, in turn, announced his resignation at the 3rd convention of the party held September 4, 2004. The convention elected the new chairman, Vladimir Kishenin, leader of the Party of Social Justice, who was favoured by Titov.
Presenting himself, Kishenin mentioned that he studied in a KGB college in 1972-1975. When asked why he was a trusted representative for Vladimir Putin during the last presidential election, Kishenin explained that this was done at the request of Vladislav Surkov, deputy director of the President's Administration.
On April 13, 2007, the party lost its official status due to its small membership. The vast majority of the party's base has regrouped under the banner of Union of Social-Democrats, a new party organized and led by Mikhail Gorbachev, founded on October 20, 2007.
Read more about Social Democratic Party Of Russia: Youth Organization
Famous quotes containing the words social, democratic, party and/or russia:
“There exists, at the bottom of all abasement and misfortune, a last extreme which rebels and joins battle with the forces of law and respectability in a desperate struggle, waged partly by cunning and partly by violence, at once sick and ferocious, in which it attacks the prevailing social order with the pin-pricks of vice and the hammer-blows of crime.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)
“The idea that you can merchandise candidates for high office like breakfast cereal—that you can gather votes like box tops—is, I think, the ultimate indignity to the democratic process.”
—Adlai Stevenson (1900–1965)
“Death is hacking away at my address book and party lists.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“In my opinion it is harmful to place important things in the hands of philanthropy, which in Russia is marked by a chance character. Nor should important matters depend on leftovers, which are never there. I would prefer that the government treasury take care of it.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)