Socialist League of the New East

The Socialist League of the New East (Russian: Социалистическая лига нового Востока, sotsialisticheskaia liga novogo vostoka, abbreviated СЛНВ, SLNV) was a Russian political émigré organization based in Czechoslovakia. The organization was founded in 1927.[1] Its leaders included the Russian Socialist-Revolutionaries Viktor Chernov, V. Y. Gurevich, Shreider, and Fedor S. Mansvetov, the Ukrainian Socialist-Revolutionaries Mykyta Shapoval, Hrihoriev, and Mandryka, and Belorussian and Armenian socialist-oriented politicians.[1] Chernov's group had broken their links to the foreign representation of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party before founding the new organization.[2]

Politically, the Socialist League of the New East defended the right to self-determination of the national minorities of the Soviet Union, calling for the breakup of the Union into separate states.[1][3] This position caused the final split between Chernov and the majority of other émigré Russian Socialist-Revolutionaries.[3] Furthermore, the position of the Socialist League for a New East on self-determination for minorities was condemned by the Labour and Socialist International.[1] The position of the League on the national question troubled the Czechoslovak authorities, who feared the implications if such a political discourse would ring a bell or take root amongst minority groups inside Czechoslovakia.[1]

The organization began publishing Vestik sosialisticheskoi ligi novogo vostoka ("Messenger of the Socialist League of New East") in Prague in 1929.[4] In the same year, however, Chernov left Czechoslovakia for the United States, and the organization ceased its activities.[2]