As was established from unofficial sources, the instruction to hold an emergency extraordinary meeting of the SDPU(o) politburo was allegedly given by Viktor Medvedchuk himself when he learned that following a group of deputies, one of his closest associates, Petro Pysarchuk, had left the Social Democratic faction in the Verkhovna Rada. Pysarchuk himself, however, was not expelled – there weren't enough votes, or perhaps it was deemed that he had left the faction for tactical purposes. But two politburo members and several political council members, including Kryvytsky, fell under the hot hand.

Among Lutsk Social Democrats, it was heard that at that meeting words were spoken to the effect that, supposedly, we barely forgave Kryvytsky for defending the interests of LuAZ, Petro Poroshenko's enterprise, forgave the city council's decision where Yushchenko was recognized as the lawfully elected President, but this is the last straw. And at the same time, a photocopy was displayed with a statement by the secretary of the Volyn regional committee of SDPU(o) about the situation in the country and the region, printed in the newspaper "Volyn."

We asked Anton Fedorovych whether he had had any contacts with the top leadership of his former party after that expulsion.

– No one called me, no one informed me about that meeting, – said Anton Fedorovych. – I was very surprised when my press secretary Snizhana Shevchuk called me and said that a news ticker had appeared on the TV screen on the "Inter" channel reporting that I had been expelled from SDPU(o). Even in the former Communist Party, a person went through a certain procedure before being expelled, they were heard out. Therefore I had no contacts with the party leadership. I only called Borys Andresyuk, a well-known people's deputy, and Oleh Lukashuk, secretary of the Khmelnytskyi regional committee, politburo members who were also expelled. Like me, they were not invited to that meeting and were not even informed of the expulsion. What happened had to happen; in this party they don't like those who express their own opinion, their own position. In my view, SDPU(o) has turned from an open political party into a kind of "closed joint-stock company" where the controlling stake belongs to two individuals – Surkis and Medvedchuk. I was reproached for my position on LuAZ, but I was acting in the city's interests. I believe that when the moment of truth comes, one must decide – whose side are we on? One can have ideas, sympathies for a certain political figure or group of people, but there is the people, one must respect their choice, be with the people. No idea, if it is not supported by the people, will have the right to live.

– My attitude toward Kryvytsky is ambiguous, and there are reasons for that, – the secretary of the Lutsk city committee of SDPU(o), Oleksiy Shumyk, told the "Volyn" correspondent. – But I believe that they treated him wrongly. How can you expel a person without hearing their arguments?

A similar point of view was expressed by the deputy secretary of the regional committee of SDPU(o), Lyudmyla Slyesarchuk, and Valentyna Kopelyeva, who is responsible for ideological work in the regional committee. In their opinion, it is precisely to Kryvytsky that the party's regional organization owes the growth of its ranks to five thousand and the fact that a number of district and city leaders and well-known businessmen turned to the Social Democrats.

Right now, however, a certain bewilderment and even discord is felt in the ranks of Volyn's united social democrats. The heads of the Volodymyr-Volynskyi city and district organizations, Mykola Savelyev and Vasyl Rolyuk, have submitted applications to leave the party; the Lokachi settlement head Vasyl Prytula and the leader of the Kamin-Kashyrskyi organization Roman Chechotka have made similar statements, and according to our data, so have the heads of the Shatsk and apparently also the Lyubeshiv district organizations.

In Lutsk, even before the New Year, 29 party members submitted applications to leave the party. This is seemingly not many, but characteristically, the vast majority of them are people who joined the party back in the 1990s, when it was not so powerful. Among them is Leonid Ukrayinets, a lecturer at the Institute of Arts of Lesya Ukrainka Volyn State University, who was the first head of the SDPU(o) city organization and, in essence, created it. According to Leonid Kalenykovych, he and his colleagues were prompted to take such a step by the position of the party leadership, which completely fails to take local realities into account. Great surprise was caused in him and his comrades by the instruction to party members during the presidential campaign to campaign not only for Yanukovych but also for such a candidate as Dmytro Korchynsky. Now the regional committee of SDPU(o) also has a problem with premises, because the lease term is ending or has already ended, and it's one thing when the organization was headed by the mayor, and another when someone else comes to replace him.

In order to somehow support the fighting spirit of its Volyn comrades, several representatives of the SDPU(o) leadership were in the region, headed by the curator of the regional organization from the party's executive committee, Oleksandr Voloshyn. According to Anton Kryvytsky, Mr. Voloshyn wanted to meet with him too, but he refused. After an unsuccessful attempt to convene a plenum or a meeting of the party's regional committee, the Kyiv emissaries began looking for a replacement for Kryvytsky. As became known from Volyn united social democratic sources, face-to-face and telephone negotiations took place between the Social Democrats' leading figures and three deputy heads of the regional state administration at once – Oleksandr Syminsky, Volodymyr Panchyshyn and Stepan Rodych. They were allegedly offered in turn to sit in the leading party chair in Volyn. But for some reason all refused such an honor, and the search for a replacement continued.

A "Volyn" journalist also made an attempt to talk with Mr. Voloshyn and another of his colleagues from Kyiv, who did not want to give his name. But the guests from Kyiv flatly refused to answer questions and comment on the expulsion of the leader of Volyn Social Democrats. At the same time, Mr. Voloshyn warned: "Don't you dare mention my surname" – and persistently inquired who had told the journalist about his arrival in Volyn, and his nameless associate even hinted that I would have trouble if I did write about their stay. It is interesting why this cannot be written about? After all, both rank-and-file and leading Volyn Social Democrats had already spoken to the journalist about their stay.

As for Anton Kryvytsky, he stated that he remains faithful to social democratic ideas, which he spoke about back in 1989. He is ready to join a "democratic platform" or another formation within the united social democrats, and if another party is created which, according to him, will truly profess social democratic ideals not in words but in deeds, he will join it. Judging by the rumors circulating in Ukrainian political circles, there isn't long to wait.

Volodymyr LYS