The Communist Party of Lithuania and Byelorussia also known as the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Lithuania and Byelorussia, was a communist party which governed the short-lived Socialist Soviet Republic of Lithuania and Byelorussia (SSR LiB) in 1919. The Central Committee of the party had the status of a regional committee within the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks). Following the loss of Lithuania and Byelorussia to Polish forces in the Polish-Soviet war, the party organized partisan units behind the front lines. In September 1920 the party was disbanded into the Communist Party of Lithuania and the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Byelorussia.
History Foundation
The formation of the Communist Party of Lithuania and Byelorussia was preceded in the spring of 1918 by the formation of the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania and Byelorussia — an organization that gathered the revolutionary majority faction of the Vilna branch of the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania (who had broken away from their mother party in protest over the participation of LSDP leaders in the Council of Lithuania), the small communist group formed around Aleksandra Drabavičiūtė (Ona) who arrived in April 1918 of a first emissary of the Central Bureau of the Lithuanian Sections of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) to Lithuania and the Vilna unit of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Mensheviks) (led by Ginsburg-Girinis). Debates ranged between the different factions over party programme and national question. In the end, the discussions with the Mensheviks broke down.Europe-Asia Studies, Volume 46, Issues 4-8. Carfax Publishing Company, 1994. p. 1351
The party that gathered the communist platform was formed in Vilna on July 19, 1918 as the Social Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania and Byelorussia, gathering the revolutionary wing of the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania and Byelorussia, some other former members of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party and individual pro-communist groupings.V. Kapsukas. PIRMOJI LIETUVOS PROLETARINĖ REVOLIUCIJA IR TARYBŲ VALDŽIA. "Vilnies" Spauda, 1934. p. 74-75, 79Latvijas Sociālistiskā partija. LKP — 100. Seminaras – minėjimas Vilniuje (Pranešimas, foto) Leaders of the Social Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania and Byelorussia included Pranas Eidukevičius and Konstantin Kernovich.Tarybų Lietuvos enciklopedija: Grūdas-Marvelės. Vyriausioji enciklopedijų redakcija, 1986. p. 590
Meanwhile in Soviet Russia, there was no separate Lithuanian national organization within the Bolshevik Party (unlike the case for Latvian and Polish socialists). Lithuanian Bolsheviks joined the All-Russian party as individuals, albeit Lithuanian sections and cells were formed within the Bolshevik Party. In the fall of 1917 a Central Bureau of the Lithuanian Sections of the Bolshevik Party was formed. At the two conferences of the Lithuanian Sections (January 18–21, 1918 and May 26–27, 1918, respectively) the two main leaders of Lithuanian Bolsheviks (Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas and Zigmas Angarietis) clashed over approach to party-building. Angarietis called for the formation of an independent Lithuanian communist party, whilst Mickevičius-Kapsukas favoured working within existing workers parties in Lithuania. Angarietis' position prevailed, as the publication of an excerpt of Angarietis' line was published in the August 15, 1918 issue of the Moscow newspaper Izvestia - indicating that he had the backing of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) on the matter.
At a meeting in Vilna on August 14, 1918, attended by the representatives of the Central Committee, representatives of the Vilna Committee of the party, one delegate from the provinces and the party decided to change its name to 'Communist Party of Lithuania and Byelorussia', in understanding with the Central Bureau of the Lithuanian Sections of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks). The name included 'Byelorussia' as it had organizations in Byelorussian areas adjacent to Vilna. However, the linkage with Byelorussia was often omitted in Lithuanian language propaganda. The name implicitly provoked some confusion, as a separate Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Byelorussia was founded in 1918. There was a degree of tension between Lithuanian and Byelorussian communists over territorial questions, causing concern for the Russian communist leadership in Moscow.
The Communist Party of Lithuania and Byelorussia was active in organizing the labour movement in Vilna, building international trade unions. Between September 2, 1918 and October 1, 1918, twenty trade union gatherings took place. The Vilna Committee of the party, with Mickevičius-Kapsukas being the main instigator, also organized the launch of a legal workers press. The Central Bureau of Vilna Workers Class Trade Unions, the labour movement linked to the party, published Undzer lebn ('Our Life') in Yiddish, Pochodnia ('Torch') in Polish and Volna ('Wave') in Russian. The Central Bureau of Vilna Workers Class Trade Unions had also applied for a permit to publish the newspaper Vilnis in Lithuanian language.
Užbaliai Conference (September 1918) A conference of Lithuanian communists was held in on September 15, 1918, which would connect a number of communist groups around Lithuania with the party. The conference was organized by the communist cells in Panevėžys and Suwałki. Reportedly, the conference had 14 delegates and 6 invitees - participants came from Panevėžys, Kupiškis, Subačius, Gelazii, Šeduva, Marijampolė, Pilviškiai, Gižai, Gelgaudiškis, Lukšiai, , Užbaliai, and Šacki. Participants included Mickevičius-Kapsukas, Andrius Brazdžionis, Pranas Aitmanas, P. Pajuodis, P. Kazlaučiūnas, S. Kirvelaitis, P. Lingys, Vincas Grybas, J. Bartuška, P. Bepirštis-Daumantas, J. Janušauskas, J. Voveraitis, J. Lietuvaitis, J. Zonelis, J. Gabrys and J. Galeckas. From Vilna, J. Glovackis had arrived, who briefed the gathering about the formation of the Provisional Central Bureau of the Communist Party of Lithuania and Byelorussia as the new party centre. The Užbaliai conference endorsed the political line of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks), seeking to adapt it to local conditions. The conference condemned the Council of Lithuania as a 'tool of German imperialism'. The Užbaliai meeting would later be conceptualized as the first party conference of the Communist Party of Lithuania.Bronius Vaitkevičius. Socialistinė revoliucija Lietuvoje 1918-1919 metais. Mintis, 1967. pp. 297-299
First Party Congress (October 1918) The First Congress of the Communist Party of Lithuania and Byelorussia (old occupation) was held in secrecy at Vilna on October 1–3, 1918. The event was hastily organized, with just some eight days of preparation. 34 delegates attended. At the time the party had some 800 members. The congress delegates represented 33 groups with 470 members from Kovno Governorate, 16 groups with 200 members from Vilna and surroundings, 10 groups with 95 members from Suwałki Governorate as well as a few small scattered groups from other areas.
The Vilna/Naujoji Vilnia delegation consisted of P. Eidukevičius, R. Pilar, K. Kernovich, J. Lickevičius and Radavičius. The Kovno/Kaišiadorys/Ukmergės delegation consisted of Pr. Naruševičius, J. Mickevičius, A. Jakševičius and P. Meilus. The Šiauliai/Joniškėlis delegation consisted of , S. Grybas and Karolis Požela. The Panevėžys/Šeduva/Rokiškis delegation consisted of A. Brazdžionis, P. Zėkas and . The Samogitia delegation consisted of A. Mikakus, A. Šeputa, K. Juodka, A. Vitalis, M. Mačernis and S. Juzumaitė - the latter two being students. The Suwalki (Vilkaviškis/Marijampolė/Naumieści) delegation consisted of Mickevičius-Kapsukas, J. Zonelis, J. Lietuvaitis, J. Glovackis, P. Lingys, V. Skrinska, J. Krašauskas, A. Ramanauskas, P. Botyrius, Strimaitis and Klimavičius.
Most of the delegates were workers, poor peasants, intelligentsia and primary school teachers. The congress endorsed the decisions of the August 14, 1918 and September 15, 1918 meetings.
The congress elected a Central Committee consisting of Andrius Brazdžionis, Pranas Eidukevičius, Simanas Grybas, , Konstantin Kernovich, Jonas Lietuvaitis and Roman Pilar.Lietuviškoji tarybinė enciklopedija, Vol. 4. Mokslas, 1976. p. 210 The Central Committee elected a Presidium, consisting of Eidukevičius (chairman), Pilar (secretary), and Kernovich (treasurer). The congress elected a 21-member delegation to the 8th Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks), authorizing the delegation to make a statement at the congress on the draft program of the RCP(B).
The first session of the congress took place in the house of Olga Smirnova, a communist sympathizer. The second session took place in Kernovich's apartment. The third session took place at a house on Subačiaus street.
Establishment of Soviet Lithuania (December 1918) As of early December 1918 the Central Committee of the party issued German language leaflets distribute to German soldiers, calling on unity between soldiers and workers. In the December 1918 elections to the Vilna Soviet of Workers Deputies the communists had won 97 seats, the General Jewish Labour Bund 60, Menshevik-Internationalists 22, Lithuanian Social Democratic Party 15. On December 8, 1918 the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania and Byelorussia proclaimed the Provisional Revolutionary Workers and Peasants Government of Lithuania, which was formally installed in Vilna on December 16, 1918. Mickevičius-Kapsukas and Angarietis arrived from Moscow, carrying instructions from the RCP(B) party centre (seeking to contain potential moves by Lithuanian communists to declare independence from Soviet Russia) and were hastily inducted into the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania and Byelorussia. Other new members of the expanded Central Committee were Kazimierz Cichowski, Semyon Dimanstein and Yitzhak Vaynstayn. The Provisional Revolutionary Workers' and Peasants' Government of Lithuania, headed by Mickevičius-Kapsukas and Angarietis, was placed under the leadership of the party Central Committee, rather than the Vilna soviet.
By late 1918 the Vilna Workers Club on 9, Varnų Street (present-day A. Jakšto Street) hosted the party headquarters.L. Broga. Lietuvos TSR turistinis z̆emėlapis. Valstybinė politinės ir mȯkslinės literatùros leidykla, 1963. p. 42
Second Party Conference (February 1919) The party held its second conference February 2–4, 1919. The conference, held in the midst of war communism, decided to oppose the splitting of large agricultural estates. The dominant opinion in the party saw the large estates as a key resource, which would produce significant agricultural output being placed under state management. Lenin differed with this view, at least in terms of tactics, but would give his blessings for applying this policy in SSR LiB as a specific case. The majority of these estates in the SSR LiB were converted into state-run or collective farms.
Merger Congress (March 1919)