Communist Party of Lithuania

Create CPL

As early as 1895, the Center of Lithuanian Social Democrats arose in Lithuania, and in 1896 the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania was formed. At the initiative of F. Dzerzhinsky in 1900, leftist forces united in the Social Democracy Party of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (SDKPiL). Since 1901, there was also the Vilna group of the RSDLP (Gusarov, I. Klopov). In 1906, the Union of the RSDLP of Lithuania and Belarus was formed. After the February Revolution of 1917, the Lithuanian sections of the RSDLP (b) and the RCP (b) began to emerge, in October 1917 headed by the Provisional Central Bureau ( V. Miscavičius-Kapsukas ). In October 1918 they were united by the First Congress of the Communist Party of Lithuania. In connection with the unification of the Soviet republics of Lithuania and Belarus in 1919, there was a single KPLiB as part of the RCP (b).

KPL in 1920-1940

After the division of the Communist Party in 1920, a separate Communist Party (member of the Comintern since 1921) continued to exist, waging a struggle against the bourgeois regime and being subjected to repression by the authorities. After the coup, led by Antanas Smetona, in December 1926, four leaders of the KPL were arrested and executed ( Karolis Pozela , Juozas Greifenbergeris , Rapolas Czarnas and Kazis Gedris ). In total, during the years of the dictatorship, about 3,000 Communists were convicted, up to 7,000 were imprisoned and concentration camps.

CPL after 1940

After the establishment of Soviet power in 1940, the CPL became the leading and guiding force of the Lithuanian SSR , during the years of World War II led the partisan movement in the occupied territory (92 detachments, 10,000 people), then - work to restore the destroyed economy and carry out agrarian reform.

As of January 1973, the CPL numbered 131 539 members, as of 01.01.1976 - 138 547 members.

KPL (s) and KPL (CPSU)

With the beginning of the policy of Perestroika , national problems intensified in the republic. The leadership of the KPL fell under the influence of these trends, as a result of which a split occurred in December 1989 . Part of the party, led by then-first secretary A.M. Brazauskas, proclaimed the secession from the CPSU and the creation of the CPL (independent) (about 86 thousand members). Disagreeing with this decision, the Communists created their own Communist Party (CPSU) , headed by Professor M. M. Burokevicius (about 40 thousand members).

The CPL (s) rather quickly evolved towards traditional European social democracy and in December 1990 was renamed the Democratic Labor Party . The CPL (CPSU) continued to advocate from an internationalist position, upholding unity, opposing Lithuania’s secession from the USSR. The Communists took an active part in the January events of 1991 , initiating the creation of National Salvation Committees, and entered into a tough confrontation with the authorities of the newly proclaimed independent Republic of Lithuania .

CPL after 1991

After the August events of 1991 and the collapse of the USSR, the structures of the KPL (CPSU) in the republic were virtually defeated, the leadership emigrated. Since August 23, 1991, the party is prohibited from acting in Lithuania ^{[1] [2]} . In the fall of the same year, former Communists from the Democratic Labor Party of Lithuania won the election .

In January 1994, First Secretary of the KPL Central Committee, who was living in Belarus, Mikolas Burokevicius was abducted by Lithuanian special services and taken to Lithuania. In August 1999, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Together with him, two of his associates were convicted: the head of the ideological department, Juozas Ermalavičius (8 years old) and the secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania, Yu. Kuojalis (6 years old).

In the period from August 1996 to January 1997, the CPL became part of the SKP-CPSU ^[3] .

At present, the party operates in Lithuania “under special conditions” ^[4] . The governing bodies of the CPL are underground in Lithuania ^[2] . The party is a member of the Union of Communist Parties - the CPSU ; the SKP-CPSU Council, elected by the XXXIV Congress of the SKP-CPSU, includes Y. Yermalavichyus and 2 other representatives of the KPL, one representative of the KPL is part of the KRK ^[5] .

After the death of Mykolas Burokevichus , the VII Conference of the Communist Party of Lithuania, held in March 2017, elected the new first secretary of the Communist Party of Lithuania, but refused to announce his name until the ban on party activity in Lithuania was lifted ^[6] .

First CPL Secretaries

• Pranas Eidukevičius (October 1918-1919, Chairman)
• Vincas Miscavičius-Kapsukas (March 1919 - September 1920)
• Carolis Pozhela (1923 - December 1926)
• Antanas Snechkus (1936-1939; August 15, 1940 - January 22, 1974)
• Piatras Grishkevičius (1974 - November 1987)
• Ringaudas-Bronislovas Songaila (December 1987 - October 1988)
• Algirdas Brazauskas (October 1988 - December 1990)
• Mykolas Burokevičius (March 4, 1990 - August 1991)

Famous Members

• Juozas Ermalavicius
• Juozas Kuolyalis
• Juozas Greifenbergeris
• Rapolas Charnas
• Kazis Gedris
• Itzik Wittenberg
• Mykolas Yunchas-Kuchinskas

• Great Soviet Encyclopedia / Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic
• M. Burokevicius. Speech at the international meeting of communist and workers parties in Minsk on November 3-5, 2007, dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution (inaccessible link)