Communist Party of Lithuania


The Communist Party of Lithuania 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. During the same year, the party amalgamated with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. By the time of the formation of the Lithuanian SSR, the Communist Party of Lithuania was headed by Antanas Sniečkus. In 1940, the LKP merged into the CPSU. The territorial organisation of the party in Lithuania was called Communist Party of Lithuania . In the Lithuanian territorial organisation, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the party 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 re-adopted.
On 24 December 1989, during mass protests of the Singing Revolution against the Soviet Union in Lithuania, the party declared itself independent from Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In 1990, the Communist Party of Lithuania evolved into the Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania, which in turn was later merged with Social Democratic Party of Lithuania under the latter's name; but with leadership dominated by ex-communists.
The remainder of the Communist Party of Lithuania existed in 1990-91 under 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 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 — Communist Party of the Soviet Union headed by Gennady Zyuganov.

First Secretaries of the Communist Party of Lithuania

Second Secretaries of the Communist Party of Lithuania