Communist Party of Lithuania

The Communist Party of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos komunistų partija, Russian: Коммунистическая партия Литвы) was a communist party in Lithuania, established in early October 1918. The party was banned in 1991.

History

The party was working illegally until 1940. In the same year the party was merged with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks). By the time of the formation of the Lithuanian SSR, the Communist Party of Lithuania (LKP) was headed by Antanas Sniečkus. In 1940 the LKP merged into the CPSU(b). The territorial organization of the party in Lithuania was called Communist Party of Lithuania (bolshevik) (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 against Soviet Union in Lithuania the party declared itself independent from Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In 1990 the Communist Party of Lithuania was converted into the Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania, which in turn was later merged with Social Democratic Party of Lithuania 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 after the "traditional" party declared its independence from its Soviet Union counterpart. The party played a major role in the January 1991 Events in Lithuania and initiating the creation of the National Salvation Committee. The Communist Party of Lithuania was eventually banned in August 1991. Although still illegal, the Communist Party of Lithuania is affiliated to the Union of Communist Parties â€" Communist Party of the Soviet Union (UCP-CPSU) headed by Gennady Zyuganov.

First Secretaries of the Communist Party of Lithuania

• Antanas Sniečkus July 21, 1940 â€" January 22, 1974
• Petras GriÅ¡kevičius February 18, 1974 â€" November 14, 1987
• Ringaudas Songaila December 1, 1987 â€" October 19, 1988
• Algirdas Brazauskas October 19, 1988 â€" December 1989
  • Communist party that broke away from the Soviet Union: Algirdas Brazauskas December 1989 â€" December 1990
  • Communist party that continued as part of the Soviet Union: Mykolas Burokevičius December 1989 â€" August 1991

Second Secretaries of the Communist Party of Lithuania

• Icikas Meskupas-Adomas February 9, 1941 â€" March 13, 1942
• Vladas Niunka April 1944-December 30, 1944
• Alexander Isachenko December 30, 1944â€"November 24, 1946
• Alexander Trofimov November 24, 1946â€"September 22, 1952
• Vasily Aronov September 25, 1952â€"June 11, 1953
• Motiejus Å umauskas February 1954â€"January 24, 1956
• Boris Sharkov January 28, 1956â€"September 27, 1961
• Boris Popov September 30, 1961 â€" April 13, 1967
• Valery Khazarov April 13, 1967 â€" December 10, 1978
• Nikolay Dubenko December 11, 1978 â€" September 17, 1986
• Nikolay Mitkin September 17, 1986 â€" December 9, 1988
• Vladimir Beryozov December 9, 1988 â€" 1990

Congresses of the Communist Party of Lithuania

See also

• Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Lithuania and Belorussia

References