Communist Party of Lithuania

Communist Party of Lithuania Lietuvos komunistų partija
Founded	1918
Dissolved	1991
Headquarters	Vilnius
Newspaper	Lietuvos tiesos
Ideology	Communism, Marxism-Leninism
Political position	Far-left
International affiliation	Communist International
Official colours	Red
Politics of Lithuania Political parties Elections

Former Central Committee office of the Lithuanian Communist Party

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 December 1926.^[1]

History

Party membership[2]
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). 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 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 (UCP-CPSU) headed by Gennady Zyuganov.

First Secretaries of the Communist Party of Lithuania

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

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 Šumauskas 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
4th	July 17–21, 1924	11 + 4	Took place in Moscow; after the 5th World Congress of the Comintern
5th	February 5–9, 1941	294 + 66	Took place in Kaunas; First congress after establishment of the Lithuanian SSR
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
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
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
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
20th	December 19, 1989		Voted to separate from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

See also

• Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Lithuania and Belorussia

References

1. ^ Nordost-Archiv: Joachim Tauber: Das Memelgebiet (1919-1944) in der deutschen und litauischen Historiographie nach 1945
2. ^ Misiunas, Romuald J.; Rein Taagepera (1993). The Baltic States: Years of Dependence 1940–1990 (expanded ed.). University of California Press. pp. 359–360. ISBN 0-520-08228-1.