Socialist Movement in the Transition Process to the Multi-Party System

Abstract

The six-month period between May and December in 1946 means a special period in various aspects for Turkey’s socialist movement. In this period with convenient legal possibilities, socialist movementhas become significantly visible in contrast to the previous period through political parties and unions and media organs that was published within the scope of them. However, along with this evolvement, this period also refers to an interval that the schism, which has its origins from 1920s in Turkish Communist Party, became concrete through the establishment of two legal socialist party. The first one was the Turkish Socialist Party that was found in May by Esat Adil coming from outside of the Turkish Communist Party’s tradition and some other Communist Party members. The latter one was the Turkish Socialist Workers and Peasants Party that was found in June by Şefik Hüsnü Değmer representing Turkish Communist Party’s central tendency.This essay focuses on the schism in Turkish socialist movement at the beginning of the transition period to the multi-party era in Turkey. On the one hand, it analyses the historical conditions ended up with schism and on the other hand, it tries to understand a forementioned process through the criticism of two parties for each other partaking in their publications

Özet

1946 yılının Mayıs-Aralık ayları arasındaki altı aylık zaman dilimi, Türkiye sosyalist hareketi açısından birçok anlamda özel bir dönemi ifade etmektedir. Bu dönemde sosyalist hareket, yasal olanakların da elvermesiyle hem siyasal parti ve sendikalar hem de bunlar çerçevesinde çıkarılan basın-yayın organlarıyla, önceki dönemin aksine önemli derecede görünür olmuştur. Ancak bu dönem, bahsedilen genişleme ile birlikte Türkiye Komünist Partisi içinde, kökleri 1920'li yıllara dayanan ayrışmanın iki yasal sosyalist parti kurularak somutlaştığı zaman aralığını da ifade etmektedir. Bu partilerden ilki Mayıs ayında TKP geleneğinin dışından gelen Esat Adil ve kimi TKP'lilerce kurulan Türkiye Sosyalist Partisi, ikincisi ise Haziran ayında TKP'nin merkez eğilimini temsil eden Şefik Hüsnü Değmer tarafından kurulan Türkiye Sosyalist Emekçi Köylü Partisi'dir