| Communist Party of Lithuania | |
| Native Name: | |
| Native Name Lang: | lt |
| First Secretary: | |
| Foundation: | 1 October 1918 |
| Dissolution: | 1991-01-15 |
| Successor: | Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania Socialist People's Front (not legal successors) |
| Newspaper: | Tiesa |
| Youth Wing: | Leninist Young Communist League of Lithuania |
| Colours: | Red |
| Position: | Far-left |
| Headquarters: | Vilnius |
| International: | Communist International (1919–1943) |
| Affiliation1 Title: | Continental affiliation |
| Affiliation1: | UCP–CPSU |
| National: | Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1940–1991) |
| Flag: | Flag of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (1953–1988).svg |
| Country: | Lithuania |
The Communist Party of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos komunistų partija; Russian: Коммунистическая партия Литвы|translit=Kommunisticheskaya partiya Litvy) is a banned communist party in Lithuania. The party was established in early October 1918 and operated clandestinely until it was legalized in 1940 after the Soviet invasion and occupation. The party was banned in August 1991, following the coup attempt in Moscow, Soviet Union which later led to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the dissolution of the Lithuanian SSR.
The party was working illegally from 1920 until 1940. Although the party was illegal, some of its members took part in the 1922 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 and new elections took place in 1923. In these elections, the party lost half of its support.
In 1940 the party amalgamated with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks) (CPSU). 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 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 a Lithuanian) was de facto ruler of the country. The second secretary for the most of Soviet era was a Moscow-appointed Russian. In 1952 the name of the old Lithuanian party, LKP, was re-adopted.
On 24 December 1989,[1] during mass protests of the Singing Revolution against the Soviet Union in Lithuania, the party declared itself independent from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. By 1990, the main body of the CPL reorganized as the Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania, which in turn by 2001 merged with Social Democratic Party of Lithuania under the latter's name; but with leadership dominated by ex-communists.
A small portion of the party remained loyal to the CPSU, and reorganized as the Communist Party of Lithuania ('on platform of Communist Party of the Soviet Union') under the leadership of Mykolas Burokevičius after the "traditional" party declared independence from its Soviet Union counterpart. The party played a major role in the January 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 | |
| Picture | Name | Took office | Left office | Political party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Secretary | ||||||
| 1 | Antanas Sniečkus (1903–1974) | 21 July 1940 | 22 January 1974 | CPL/CPSU | ||
| — | Valery Khazarov (1918–2013) | 22 January 1974 | 18 February 1974 | CPL/CPSU | ||
| 2 | Petras Griškevičius (1924–1987) | 18 February 1974 | 14 November 1987 | CPL/CPSU | ||
| — | Nikolai Mitkin (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 | DelegatesVoting + advisory | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 1–3 October 1918 | 34 | Took place illegally in Vilnius | |
| 2nd | 4–6 March 1919 | 159 + 10 | Joint congress with the Communist Party of Byelorussia; Established the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Lithuania and Belorussia | |
| 3rd | 24–29 October 1921 | 12 | Took place illegally in Königsberg | |
| 4th | 17–21 July 1924 | 11 + 4 | Took place in Moscow; after the 5th World Congress of the Comintern | |
| 5th | 5–9 February 1941 | 294 + 66 | Took place in Kaunas; First congress after establishment of the Lithuanian 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 the 19th 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 the 20th 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 the 21st 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 the 22nd 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 the 23rd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union | |
| 16th | 3–5 March 1966 | 748 + 47 | Elected 45 delegates to the 24th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union | |
| 17th | 20–22 January 1976 | 904 | Elected 49 delegates to the 25th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union | |
| 18th | 29–30 January 1981 | 933 | Elected 42 delegates to the 26th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union | |
| 19th | 24–25 January 1986 | 947 | Elected 55 delegates to the 27th 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 |