Communist Party of Lithuania
Encyclopedia
Communist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
in Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
, established in early October 1918. The party was banned in December 1926.
History
| Party membership | |
|---|---|
| Year | Members |
| 1930 | 650 |
| 1936 | 1,942 |
| 1940 | 1,741 |
| 1941 | 4,620 |
| 1945 | 3,540 |
| 1950 | 27,800 |
| 1955 | 35,500 |
| 1960 | 54,300 |
| 1965 | 86,400 |
| 1970 | 116,600 |
| 1975 | 140,200 |
| 1980 | 165,800 |
The party was working illegally until 1940. In the same year the party was merged with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
. By the time of the formation of the Lithuanian SSR
Lithuanian SSR
The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Lithuanian SSR, was one of the republics that made up the former Soviet Union...
, the Communist Party of Lithuania (LKP) was headed by Antanas Sniečkus
Antanas Snieckus
Antanas Sniečkus was First Secretary of the Lithuanian Communist Party from August 1940 to January 22, 1974.- Biography :Antanas Sniečkus was born in 1903, in the village of Būbleliai, near Šakiai. During the First World War, his family fled to Russia where he observed the Russian revolution of 1917...
. In 1940 the LKP merged into the CPSU(b). The territorial organization of the party in Lithuania was called Communist Party of Lithuania (bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
) (LK(b)P). In the Lithuanian territorial organization, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the party (always a Lithuanian) was de facto governor of the country. The second secretary was always a Moscow-appointed Russian. In 1952 the name of the old Lithuanian party, LKP, was retaken.
In 1989, during mass protests of the Singing Revolution
Singing Revolution
The Singing Revolution is a commonly used name for events between 1987 and 1991 that led to the restoration of the independence of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania...
against Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in Lithuania the party declared itself independent from Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
. In 1990 the Communist Party of Lithuania was converted into the Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania
Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania
Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania was a social democratic political party in Lithuania, that emerged out of the Lithuanian section of the CPSU in December 1989 LDDP was led by Algirdas Brazauskas, the first president of independent Lithuania. Because Brazauskas was elected as the first...
, which in turn was later merged with Social Democratic Party of Lithuania
Social Democratic Party of Lithuania
The Social Democratic Party of Lithuania is a centre-left and social democratic political party in Lithuania. It is the oldest party in Lithuania, founded in 1896. The party's president since 2009 is Algirdas Butkevičius. The party led a minority government in the unicameral Seimas, Lithuania's...
under the later's name, but with leadership dominated by ex-communists.
The remainder of the Communist Party of Lithuania ('on platform of Communist Party of the Soviet Union') existed in 1990-1991 under leadership of Mykolas Burokevičius
Mykolas Burokevicius
Mykolas Burokevičius is a communist political leader in Lithuania. After the Communist Party of Lithuania separated from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , he established alternative pro-CPSU Communist Party of Lithuania in early 1990, and led it as the First Secretary of Central Committee...
after the "traditional" party declared its independence from its Soviet Union counterpart. The Communist Party of Lithuania was eventually banned in 1991. Although still illegal, the Communist Party of Lithuania is affiliated to the Union of Communist Parties — Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Union of Communist Parties — Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Union of Communist Parties Communist Party of the Soviet Union is a group of communist parties in the former Soviet Union established in 1993, comprising:*Communist Party of the Russian Federation*Communist Party of Ukraine*Communist Party of Belarus*Communist Party of...
(UCP-CPSU) headed by Gennady Zyuganov
Gennady Zyuganov
Gennady Andreyevich Zyuganov is a Russian politician, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation , Chairman of the Union of Communist Parties - Communist Party of the Soviet Union , deputy of the State Duma , and a member of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe...
.
First Secretaries of the Communist Party of Lithuania
- Antanas SniečkusAntanas SnieckusAntanas Sniečkus was First Secretary of the Lithuanian Communist Party from August 1940 to January 22, 1974.- Biography :Antanas Sniečkus was born in 1903, in the village of Būbleliai, near Šakiai. During the First World War, his family fled to Russia where he observed the Russian revolution of 1917...
July 21, 1940 – January 22, 1974 - Petras GriškevičiusPetras GriškeviciusPetras Griškevičius was a high-level communist party official in the Lithuanian SSR. He was the First Secretary of the Lithuanian Communist Party from 1974 to his death.At the beginning of World War II, Griškevičius retreated into the Russian SFSR...
February 18, 1974 – November 14, 1987 - Ringaudas Songaila December 1, 1987 – October 19, 1988
- Algirdas BrazauskasAlgirdas BrazauskasAlgirdas Mykolas Brazauskas was the first President of a newly independent post-Soviet Union Lithuania from 1993 to 1998 and Prime Minister from 2001 to 2006....
October 19, 1988 – December 1989- Communist party that broke away from the Soviet Union: Algirdas BrazauskasAlgirdas BrazauskasAlgirdas Mykolas Brazauskas was the first President of a newly independent post-Soviet Union Lithuania from 1993 to 1998 and Prime Minister from 2001 to 2006....
December 1989 – December 1990 - Communist party that continued as part of the Soviet Union: Mykolas BurokevičiusMykolas BurokeviciusMykolas Burokevičius is a communist political leader in Lithuania. After the Communist Party of Lithuania separated from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , he established alternative pro-CPSU Communist Party of Lithuania in early 1990, and led it as the First Secretary of Central Committee...
December 1989 – August 1991
- Communist party that broke away from the Soviet Union: Algirdas Brazauskas
Second Secretaries of the Communist Party of Lithuania
- Icikas Meskupas-Adomas February 9, 1941-March 13, 1942
- Vladas Niunka April 1944-December 30, 1944
- Alexander Isachenko December 30, 1944–November 24, 1946
- Alexander Trofimov November 24, 1946–September 22, 1952
- Vasily Aronov September 25, 1952–June 11, 1953
- Motiejus ŠumauskasMotiejus ŠumauskasMotiejus or Matas Šumauskas was a Lithuanian communist activist and politician. He served as the Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1956 to 1963 and Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR from 1967 to 1975.Šumauskas received only...
February 1954–January 24, 1956 - Boris Sharkov January 28, 1956–September 27, 1961
- Boris Popov September 30, 1961-April 13, 1967
- Valery Khazarov April 13, 1967-December 10, 1978
- Nikolay Dubenko December 11, 1978-September 17, 1986
- Nikolay Mitkin September 17, 1988-December 9, 1988
- Vladimir Beryozov December 9, 1988-1990
Congresses of the Communist Party of Lithuania
| Congress | Date | Delegates Voting + advisory |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | October 1–3, 1918 | 34 | Took place illegally in Vilnius |
| 2nd | March 4–6, 1919 | 159 + 10 | Joint congress with the Communist Party of Byelorussia; Established the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Lithuania and Belorussia |
| 3rd | October 24–29, 1921 | 12 | Took place illegally in Königsberg Königsberg Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it... |
| 4th | July 17–21, 1924 | 11 + 4 | Took place in Moscow; after the 5th World Congress of the Comintern Comintern The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919... |
| 5th | February 5–9, 1941 | 294 + 66 | Took place in Kaunas Kaunas Kaunas is the second-largest city in Lithuania and has historically been a leading centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the biggest city and the center of a powiat in Trakai Voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since 1413. During Russian Empire occupation... ; First congress after establishment of the Lithuanian SSR Lithuanian SSR The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Lithuanian SSR, was one of the republics that made up the former Soviet Union... |
| 6th | February 15–18, 1949 | 471 + 74 | First congress after World War II |
| 7th | September 22–25, 1952 | 517 + 75 | Elected 9 delegates to the 19th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 19th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Nineteenth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was held from October 5–14, 1952. It was the last congress of the Stalin regime and the first to take place since before World War II... |
| 8th | February 16–19, 1954 | 541 + 44 | |
| 9th | January 24–27, 1956 | 578 + 101 | Elected 9 delegates to the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union |
| 10th | February 12–15, 1958 | 572 + 108 | |
| 11th | January 14–16, 1959 | 596 + 126 | Elected 9 delegates to the 21st Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 21st Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union The 21st Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union took place in Moscow, USSR 27 January - 5 February 1959. It was a mid-term or "Extraordinary" Congress, timed so that Khrushchev could try to consolidate his power over rivals after the attempted coup of the so-called "Anti-Party Group"... |
| 12th | March 1–3, 1960 | 593 + 103 | |
| 13th | April 27–29, 1961 | 688 + 119 | Elected 36 delegates to the 22nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union |
| 14th | January 9-10, 1964 | 765 + 99 | |
| 15th | March 3–5, 1966 | 789 + 90 | Elected 42 delegates to the 23rd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 23rd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union The 23rd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union took place in Moscow, RSFSR between 29 March and 8 April 1966. It was the first Congress during Leonid Brezhnev's leadership of the Party and state... |
| 16th | March 3–5, 1966 | 748 + 47 | Elected 45 delegates to the 24th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union |
| 17th | January 20–22, 1976 | 904 | Elected 49 delegates to the 25th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union |
| 18th | January 29–30, 1981 | 933 | Elected 42 delegates to the 26th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union |
| 19th | January 24–25, 1986 | 947 | Elected 55 delegates to the 27th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 27th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 27th Congress of the CPSU was held in Moscow. It was held after the deaths of Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko. Mikhail Gorbachev was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU... |
| 20th | December 19, 1989 | Voted to separate from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union |