| Party of Christian Socialists | |
| Native Name: | Партія "Xристиянські соціалісти" |
| Native Name Lang: | uk |
| Colorcode: |
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| Chairman: | Arthur Martin[1] |
| Founder: | Mykhailo Dobkin |
| Split: | Opposition Bloc |
| Ideology: | Christian socialism[2] Christian left[3] Regionalism Euroscepticism |
| Headquarters: | Kyiv |
| Position: | Left-wing[4] |
| Religion: | Russian Orthodoxy |
| Colours: | Red[5] Gold |
| National: | Opposition Bloc (2019) |
| Seats1 Title: | Verkhovna Rada |
| Seats2 Title: | Regions (2015)[6] |
| Country: | Ukraine |
The Party of Christian Socialists (Ukrainian: Партія "Християнських соціалістів" or Russian: Партия "Христианских социалистов") is a Christian-socialist party which was founded on February 15, 2018.[7] [8] The party was created when their founder Mykhailo Dobkin left the Opposition Bloc. In the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election party members took part on the election list of Opposition Bloc (a party founded in 2019).[9] [10] In the 2019 election this party won 6 single-seat constituencies and its nationwide list won 3.23% of the votes, meaning it did not overcome the 5% election barrier.[11]
Before founding the party, Mykhailo Dobkin was known for its pro-Yanukovych and pro-Russian attitude. He took an ambivalent stance towards separatist republics in Eastern Ukraine and the concept of Novorossiya. Some pro-Euromaidan politicians claimed that Dobkin is a separatist. Dobkin staunchly opposed Euromaidan and posed in the uniform of Berkut, Ukrainian special police force infamous for violent measures it took against the protesters. Subsequently Dobkin would distance himself from his perceived stances, and his act of leaving the Opposition Bloc in favor of creating the Party of Christian Socialists is considered a part of his image change.[12]
The party is considered to be Russophilic, as one of the issues Christian Socialists campaign on is protection of the Russian language in Ukraine.[13] However, the party condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Leader of the party, Mykhailo Dobkin, despite being suspected of backing Donbas separatists in 2014, stated in response to the invasion: "Much of what I believed in collapsed overnight... just burned out. May this war be damned."[14] The party then emphasized its desire to focus on local issues and regionalism, and promote regional causes as well as regional cultures, especially those of Southern Ukraine and Eastern Ukraine.
The party openly identifies as Christian socialist, and emphasizes that it sees Christian socialism as a natural part of Christian teaching, differentiating itself from "socialists whose origin traces back to communists". According to the party leader, "Christian orientation will be returning to our lives such specific human values as family, respect, relationships between people, everything without which one cannot do both in politics and in ordinary life".[15]
The Party of Christian Socialists is also regionalist and has localist roots, as the original name of the party was briefly "Bloc of Local Communities", before being changed to directly reference Christian socialism.[16] The leader of the party, Mykhailo Dobkin, stated that Christian Socialists is a "regional project" that will emphasize regional issues, regionalism, and promote regionalist cultures.[17] The party espouses a golden-colored logo, stylized in an Old Church Slavonic font, which displays the Easter greeting "Christ is Risen!"[18]
Despite highlighting that it represents a different kind of socialism from the Soviet one, Christian Socialists nevertheless advertise Soviet nostalgia. Ukrainian political scientists Taras Kuzio, Sergei Zhuk and Paul D'Anieri outline that the party follows the patterns of pro-Soviet patterns in Ukraine, such as socialist/left-wing identification, advocating for radical wealth redistribution, promoting Russian culture and praising the achievements of the Soviet Union. The party opposes decommunisation policies and sees the Soviet legacy of Ukraine as something that must not be rejected but embraced, and that the new, Christian form of socialism in Ukraine should learn from both the perceived achievements and failures of the Soviet Union.[3]
The party argues that decommunisation and lustration discriminate against "half of the population of Ukraine", and accused such anti-communist policies of depriving people of jobs. The party also finds it necessary to cancel language laws that limit the usage of the Russian language in Ukraine.[19] Christian Socialists stated that they will "sew Ukraine back together" and argue that many of the problems of Ukraine can be traced back to the infiltration of Ukraine by the USA and its influence. Dobkin also stated that the Orange Revolution and the Euromaidan weakened Ukraine, and opened it up to 'exploitation' by the West.[20]
Seen as pro-Russian, the party put an emphasis on protection of the Russian language, and stated its support for the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.[13] However, the party stated its opposition to the Russian invasion in Ukraine in 2022. The party condemned the invasion, and Dobkin declared that "Much of what I believed in collapsed overnight... just burned out."[14] On 17 March 2022, the party also released a statement in support of the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In April 2022, Dobkin became a deacon of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, marking the party's break with Russian Orthodoxy in favour of the Ukrainian Church.[13] However, the party remains opposed to Ukrainian membership in the European Union and NATO, and condemns the Euromaidan protests.[12] Together with the Orange Revolution, the party considers Euromaidan a US-backed putsch that exposed Ukraine to Western dominance.[20]