Hunchakians are an Armenian Democratic Socialist party - Dr. Yeghia Djeredjian

I am glad to have interviewed Comrade Yeghia Djeredjian of the Social Democrat Hunchak Party, Comrade Djeredjian has been within the leadership of the first Armenian Political in The history of the Armenian Nation, he has been the president of the Party Lebanese Executive committee, a member of the Party Central executive committee, a member of Lebanese Parliament from 1992 till 2009, he is also a historian, a writer and one of my fine comrades

I have finally managed to interview the Comrade inside Yerevan, the capital of the Great Republic of the Armenian Nation

Question One

-Petros Manoukian

Comrade Djeredjian, there is a variety of views regarding the ideology of the Social Democrat Hunchak Party, some see it as an international socialist party, others as national socialist, others label it as patriotic socialists, how would you describe and define the ideology of the mother party, which version does it belong to

-Yeghia Djeredjian

The Hunchakian party is an Armenian Social Democratic party, this is its identity (pnutakrutyun) – and if anyone wants to understand its identity otherwise, he must search in order to understand it properly, its name is clear, and it is an Armenian party because its members are all Armenian, and the goals it pursues are related and concern the Armenian people and nation

Of course, as a socialist party, it sympathizes and stand in solidarity with other Socialist parties, especially in countries where the hunchagian party exists, there were even cases where the party formed alliances and cooperated with such parties in these countries, but the party is an Armenian party and it is also a socialist party

-Petros Manoukian

So can we say that the Hunchak party is a national socialist party

-Yeghia Djeredjian

Not precisely, because this label will confuse us with the German National Socialist party, and we are not extreme nationalists, and we are very far from the fascist ideologies

-Petros Manoukian

So can we label it as a patriotic Socialist Party?

-Yeghia Djeredjian

Also No, the word patriotic here is a subjective “yentakayakan” evaluation, every party considers itself patriotic, we are an Armenian Social Democratic party, our main goals are national Armenian, but we are not extreme nationalists, (azkaynamol)

The National Liberation struggle we waged is a national goal, our main priority was and always is the national Armenian interests, our two missions always run in parallel, the national liberation struggle, and the social struggle, to liberate the Armenian Working class from social injustice

Question Two

-Petros Manoukian

Comrade Djeredjian, you told me once before, that the communists demanded that the Hunchakian party abandonds the national liberation struggle inside Western Armenia and focus exclusively on the class struggle cause, and the hunchakians refused, can you give me details

-Yeghia Djeredjian

Yes, this has taken place several times, not only once

In 1905, negotiations took place between the Social Democrat Hunchak party (SDHP) and the Social Democrat Russian workers party, (RSDP) to cooperate, at that time the RSDP had two wings, the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks, the SDHP met with both wings, and each had its own belief of an organizational operational structure, the Bolsheviks believed in a single party structure, so any party with a national socialist ideology must dissolve in the Bolshevik party, while the Mensheviks were prepared to form federative ties with other Socialist parties,

The strongest socialist party was the “punt”, the Jewish Socialists, which refused to join the RSDP and dissolve in it

In 1903, as I said, the RSDP divided into the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks, the Bolsheviks, headed by Lenis, called for a single Socialist party, iron discipline, while the Mensheviks continued to cooperate with other Socialist parties, at that time and since the Hunchakian party had strong presence in AnterKovkas, the Bolsheviks demanded that the party join the RSDP in full ranks, but that the SDHP should not bring along its national liberation struggle, negotiations took a long while and ended in failure,

In 1905, during the Social Democrat Hunchakian general conference, the party decided that it will carry on its national liberation struggle inside Western Armenia, while in the AnterKovkas carry on the cooperation with the socialist parties, at that time some hunchakian branches split from the party I the Anterkovkas and joined the RSDP, this is the first story of this issue

At that time the Bolsheviks were very glad to see the Hunchakian party split and get divided, they encouraged this, they always considered themselves the true Socialists while they regarded the Hunchakian party as fake socialists, they saw us as extreme nationalists, Small Bourgeois,

In September 1917, when the revolution broke in Russia, a transitional temporary government was formed, the Bolsheviks opposed that government which was formed by the forces that brought down the Russian, Tsar, the Bolsheviks made a second revolution, and two governments were formed, the temporary transitional government and the Bolshevik government

The Hunchakians stood in solidarity with the temporary transitional government and they opposed and criticized the policies of Lenin, once again, some Hunchakians did not agree on the party policy and left the party to join the Bolsheviks

The third incident took place in 1922, when the Communist international was formed,(Commintaire)  to oppose the Socialist international, the Hunchakians wanted to express solidarity with the Communist international

But in the Soviet Union and therefore Soviet Armenia, the decision was already taken to establish a single party totalitarian system, therefore the efforts of the Hunchak party were in vain, the Armenian communist only saw this as an opportunity to drive the Hunchakain party to self-liquidation, self-dissolve

The communist made it clear, if you want to join the Commintaire, you have to dissolve yourself into a communist party, then, after that, the Commintaire sees no sense for two separate communist parties in a single country, therefore you have to join the communist party, so practically it was inevitable to avoid self-elimination and dissolve inside the communist party,

There did take place a resistance inside Soviet Armenia, but the hunchak party saw it clear that it was pointless; so many much more powerful socialist parties inside the Soviet Union were unable to confront the dominant power of the communists, and forces like the Mensheviks and others were dissolved inside the communist party, and the hunchak party was unable to confront this force alone

But this struggle did not end inside Soviet Armenia, it also carried on inside the United States, where there was the American Workers party, which was simply the legal form of the communist party and a meber of the Commintaire,

Some Hunchakians joined the American workers party naively and with best intentions, then they realized that this party is entirely something different from what they expected, it si simply a party calling for the international class struggle of the proletariat,

In the USA there were hundreds of thousands of Armenian refugees, but the American Workers party had no interest or cared about them, while Soviet Armenia was young and weak and needed the help of the Armenian Diaspora, the Armenian workers class realized all this, and eventually stayed away from this party,

-Petros Manoukian

So we can conclude and summarize that the core of the dispute between the Hunchak party and the Armenian communists was that the Hunchakians gave priority to the National Armenian cause while the Armenian communists refused this approach

-Yeghia Djeredjian

Yes, that is true, the Hunchakian leader Stepan Sabah Gulian offered a formula to the Soviet Armenia communist leader Alexander Minassikian and Ashod Hovhanessian, that the Hunchak party stands by and supports the Soviet Armenian republic, and since Soviet Armenia contributes to the international class struggle cause and revolution, we the hunchakans by supporting Soviet Armenia, we contribute to the workers revolution, but the hunchak party keeps its national struggle inside the Armenian diaspora, the Armenian communists refused this formula

Part One - To Be continued

Bedros Manoukian
A supporter of the Social Democrat Hunchak Party

Armenain Version - part one:

https://www.socialist-armenia.org/politicaldetail/139/Social-Democrat-Hunchak-Party-Armenian-Democratic-National-Socialist/Socialism/Social%20Democrat%20Hunchakian%20Party