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Communist Party of Lithuania Lietuvos komunistų partija | |
|---|---|
 | |
| First Secretary | Antanas Sniečkus (first) Mykolas Burokevičius (last) |
| Founded | 1 October 1918 |
| Banned | 1918–1940 (first ban) 23 August 1991–present (second ban) |
| Succeeded by | Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania Socialist People's Front (not legal successors) |
| Headquarters | Vilnius |
| Newspaper | Tiesa |
| Youth wing | Leninist Young Communist League of Lithuania |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Far-left |
| National affiliation | Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1940–1989) |
| International affiliation | Communist International (1919–1943) |
| Continental affiliation | UCP–CPSU |
| Colours | Red |
| Party flag | |
.svg) | |
TheCommunist Party of Lithuania (Lithuanian:Lietuvos komunistų partija;Russian:Коммунистическая партия Литвы,romanized: Kommunisticheskaya partiya Litvy) is a bannedcommunist party inLithuania. The party was established in early October 1918 and operated clandestinely until it was legalized in 1940 after the Soviets claimed the Baltics. The party was banned in August 1991, following thecoup attempt in Moscow which later led to thedissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of theLithuanian SSR. It remains illegal in modern day Lithuania and continues to operate, albeit having a negligble presence in Lithuanian politics.
The party was working illegally from 1920 until 1940. Although the party was illegal, some of its members took part in the1922 Lithuanian parliamentary election under title "Workers Groups". It managed to gather 5.0 per cent of vote (or around 40,000 votes) and elect five members. Due to political instability, Seimas was dissolved andnew elections took place in 1923. In these elections, the party lost half of its support.
In 1940 the party amalgamated with theCommunist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks) (CPSU). By the time of the formation of theLithuanian SSR, the Communist Party of Lithuania (LKP) was headed byAntanas Sniečkus. In 1940, the LKP merged into the CPSU(b). The territorial organisation of the party in Lithuania was called Communist Party of Lithuania (Bolshevik) (LKP (b)). In the Lithuanian territorial organisation, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the party (always aLithuanian) was de facto ruler of the country. The second secretary for the most of Soviet era was aMoscow-appointedRussian. In 1952 the name of the old Lithuanian party, LKP, was re-adopted.
On 24 December 1989,[1] during mass protests of theSinging Revolution against theSoviet Union in Lithuania, the party declared itself independent from theCommunist Party of the Soviet Union. By 1990, the main body of the CPL reorganized itself as theDemocratic Labour Party of Lithuania, which in turn by 2001 merged withSocial Democratic Party of Lithuania under the latter's name; but with leadership dominated by ex-communists and 'progressive' socialists.
A small portion of the party remained loyal to the CPSU, and reorganized as theCommunist Party of Lithuania ('on platform of Communist Party of the Soviet Union') under the leadership ofMykolas Burokevičius after the "traditional" party declared independence from its Soviet Union counterpart. The party played a major role in theJanuary 1991 Events in Lithuania.
The Communist Party of Lithuania was eventually banned on 23 August 1991.[2]
| Party membership[1] | |
|---|---|
| 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 |
| No. | Picture | Name (Birth–Death) | Took office | Left office | Political party |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Secretary | |||||
| 1 |  | Antanas Sniečkus (1903–1974) | 21 July 1940 | 22 January 1974 | CPL/CPSU |
| — | .svg) | Valery Khazarovacting (1918–2013) | 22 January 1974 | 18 February 1974 | CPL/CPSU |
| 2 | Petras Griškevičius (1924–1987) | 18 February 1974 | 14 November 1987 | CPL/CPSU | |
| — | | Nikolai Mitkinacting (1929–1998) | 14 November 1987 | 1 December 1987 | CPL/CPSU |
| 3 | Ringaudas Songaila (1929–2019) | 1 December 1987 | 19 October 1988 | CPL/CPSU | |
| 4 |  | Algirdas Brazauskas (1932–2010) | 19 October 1988 | 23 December 1989 | CPL/CPSU |
| 23 December 1989 | 8 December 1990 | CPL (independent) | |||
| "Leading role" of the party abolished 7 December 1989 | |||||
| First Secretary (of pro-Moscow breakaway faction) | |||||
| 5 |  | Mykolas Burokevičius (1927–2016) | 23 December 1989 | 23 August 1991 | CPL/CPSU |
| Congress | Date | Delegates Voting + advisory | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 1–3 October 1918 | 34 | Took place illegally in Vilnius |
| 2nd | 4–6 March 1919 | 159 + 10 | Joint congress with theCommunist Party of Byelorussia; Established theCommunist Party (Bolsheviks) of Lithuania and Belorussia |
| 3rd | 24–29 October 1921 | 12 | Took place illegally inKönigsberg |
| 4th | 17–21 July 1924 | 11 + 4 | Took place in Moscow; after the 5th World Congress of theComintern |
| 5th | 5–9 February 1941 | 294 + 66 | Took place inKaunas; First congress after establishment of theLithuanian SSR |
| 6th | 15–18 February 1949 | 471 + 74 | First congress after World War II |
| 7th | 22–25 September 1952 | 517 + 75 | Elected 9 delegates to the19th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union |
| 8th | 16–19 February 1954 | 541 + 44 | |
| 9th | 24–27 January 1956 | 578 + 101 | Elected 9 delegates to the20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union |
| 10th | 12–15 February 1958 | 572 + 108 | |
| 11th | 14–16 January 1959 | 596 + 126 | Elected 9 delegates to the21st Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union |
| 12th | 1–3 March 1960 | 593 + 103 | |
| 13th | 27–29 April 1961 | 688 + 119 | Elected 36 delegates to the22nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union |
| 14th | 9–10 January 1964 | 765 + 99 | |
| 15th | 3–5 March 1966 | 789 + 90 | Elected 42 delegates to the23rd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union |
| 16th | 3–5 March 1971 | 748 + 47 | Elected 45 delegates to the24th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union |
| 17th | 20–22 January 1976 | 904 | Elected 49 delegates to the25th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union |
| 18th | 29–30 January 1981 | 933 | Elected 42 delegates to the26th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union |
| 19th | 24–25 January 1986 | 947 | Elected 55 delegates to the27th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union |
| 20th | 19 December 1989 | 1033 | Voted to separate from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
