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Social Democrat Hunchakian Party Program
- 1887*
The program of Social Democrat Hunchakian Party (1887), may be summarised
as follows:
I. The ideological impact of the times
led to a new view of society. The Party could penetrate into current world
conditions and see the inequalities that existed everywhere. The vast
majority of the people were being oppressed and exploited by a small
minority, who by virtue of their privileged positions were able to control
and rule the impoverished masses.
To achieve full and real freedom for this large majority, it was
imperative to establish a new order based on humanitarian and socialistic
principles. The present state of affairs had to be destroyed by means of a
revolution. Then, on the ashes of the old society, a new one might be
built, based upon "economic truths" and "socialistic justice".
II. The immediate objective of the
party was the political and national independence of Turkish Armenia. The
conditions of the Armenians in Asiatic Turkey were described and the need
to concentrate Hunchak activities in this area was explained. Here was set
forth also the exploitation of the Armenians by the government, the
aristocracy, and the capitalists through high taxes, land seizure, and the
deprivation of the fruits of labour. Besides these injustices, the people
were shorn of their political rights and were forced to remain silent in
their position as slaves of their parasitic overlord. They were not free
to worship as they pleased and lived forever in fear of marauding
tribesmen. In order to save the Armenians from slavery, the S.D.
Hunchakian Party proposed to direct them on the road to socialism and to
work toward their immediate objective, the Freedom of Turkish Armenia.
After the immediate objective had been realised, certain political and
economic aims were to be put into operation.
The political aims of Social Democrat Hunchakian
Party:
1. A perpetual popular
Legislative Assembly elected in free elections by universal and direct
suffrage. The voters were to have full powers in regard to all national
administrative questions.
a. The peoples'
representatives are
to be elected from all
ranks of society.
b. The seat of the
Legislative Assembly is
to be in one of the important cities of Armenia.
2. Extensive provincial autonomy.
3. Extensive communal autonomy.
a. Concerning points two
and three
‑
the people
are
to have the authority to elect all public administrators.
4. Every individual, without distinction of position or wealth,
is
to have the right to hold office.
5. Complete freedom of press, speech, conscience, assembly,
organizations, and electoral agitation.
6. The person and home of every individual
is
to be inviolable.
7. Universal military service.
The economic aims
of the party was determined after careful investigation into the needs and
desires of the people. Two economic objectives are described in the
program. These are the establishment of a progressive system of taxation
above a certain income bracket and a system of universal compulsory
education.
III. The Hunchakian program advocated
revolution as the only means of reaching the immediate objective. The
arena of revolutionary activity was designed as Turkish Armenia. The Party
believed that the existing social organisation in Turkish Armenia could be
changed by violence against the Turkish government and described the
following methods. Propaganda, Agitation, Terror, Organisation, and
Peasant and Worker Activities.
Propaganda was to be directed to the people to educate them toward
two goals: The basic reasons and the proper time for revolution against
the government; The social order that was to be established after
the successful revolution.
Agitation and Terror were needed to "elevate the spirit of
the people". Demonstrations against the government, refusal to pay taxes,
demands for reforms, and hatred of the aristocracy were part of the
party's agitation campaign. Terror was to be used as a method of
protecting the people and winning their confidence in the Hunchak program.
The Organisation of the party was to be centralised system directed
by a central executive committee. The revolution could not be won by the
participation of the party organisation alone. It was absolutely essential
to win the active support of the peasants and workers. The peasants and
workers were to protect the gains and interests of the people, and were to
take the reins of government and rule according to democratic principles.
IV. The most opportune time to
institute the general rebellion for carrying out the immediate objective
was when Turkey was engaged in war.
The non-Armenians of Turkish Armenia were not overlooked. The party
declared that in order to better the condition of the non-Armenians, it
was necessary to get the sympathy of other minorities, such as the
Assyrians and Kurds, for the revolutionary cause.
V. The final part of the program
pointed out that the greatest number of Armenians lived in Turkish
Armenia, and that the area also comprised the largest part of historic
Armenia. Here the majority of the Armenian people were living under the
impossible conditions imposed by their Ottoman rulers, as the Great Powers
had recognised when they sanctioned reform in Turkish Armenia in Article
LXI (61) of the Treaty of Berlin.
These considerations led the Party to demand that all revolutionary forces
devote themselves to winning the independence of Turkish Armenia. The
Party cautioned its followers against the selfish interests of other
powers in regard to this region, and predicted that, after the fall of
already bankrupt Ottoman regime, the European Powers would systematically
carve up the empire, including Turkish Armenia, for themselves. Hence the
Party again restated its "immediate objective" - the political
independence of Turkish Armenia.
After the independence of Turkish Armenia, the revolution would then be
extended into the Russian and Persian dominated areas of Armenia, with the
purpose of establishing a politically independent Armenian federative
democratic republic composed of Turkish, Russian, and Persian Armenia.
The
independent country would then lead the Armenians in the homeland and
abroad toward the Party's
"future objective" ‑ a socialistic society for all humanity.
Two predominant objectives were revealed in the program. The immediate
objective was the independence of Turkish Armenia; the future objective
was Socialism. These two objectives were complimentary. The S.D.
Hunchakian Party was the first and only Armenian political party in the
nineteenth century whose program unambiguously demanded an independent and
unified Armenian Republic, and beyond this, a socialistic order for all
the peoples of the world. The program of the Social Democrat
Hunchakian Party was both socialistic and nationalistic.
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