Estonian Independent Socialist Workers' Party

The Estonian Independent Socialist Workers' Party (Estonian: Eesti Iseseisev Sotsialistlik Tööliste Partei, EISTP) was a political party in Estonia.

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History

The party was formed in 1919 as a split from the Estonian Socialist Revolutionary Party, and was joined by defectors from the Estonian Social Democratic Workers' Party.[1] It contested the Constituent Assembly elections in 1919 as Socialists-Revolutionaries, winning seven seats. Later in the year they became the EISTP.[2]

The 1920 elections saw the EISTP win 11 of the 100 seats in the Riigikogu. In 1922 the party was infiltrated by members of the Communist Party, resulting in a power struggle that the Communists won by mid-1923.[1] The right-wing opposition left the party in 1922 and formed the Independent Socialist Workers' Party (ISTP). The May 1923 elections saw the radicalized party reduced to five seats.[3]

The EISTP was renamed the "Working People's Party" (Eestimaa töörahva partei) and became a front for the banned Communists. In May 1924 the party was banned, and in 1925 the right-wing splinter party ISTP merged with the Estonian Social Democratic Workers' Party to form the Estonian Socialist Workers' Party.[1][2]

References
  1. Vincent E McHale (1983) Political parties of Europe, Greenwood Press, p382 ISBN 0-313-23804-9
  2. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p579 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  3. Nohlen & Stöver, p586
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