The Communist Party of Moldavia ( ro, Partidul Comunist al Moldovei, PCM;

Moldovan Cyrillic The Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet is a Cyrillic alphabet designed for the Romanian language spoken in the Soviet Union ( Moldovan) and was in official use from 1924 to 1932 and 1938 to 1989 (and still in use today in the breakaway Moldovan regio ...

: Партидул Комунист ал Молдовей; russian: Коммунистическая партия Молдавии) was the ruling and the sole legal political party in the

Moldavian SSR The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic ( ro, Republica Sovietică Socialistă Moldovenească, Moldovan Cyrillic: ) was one of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union which existed from 1940 to 1991. The republic was formed on 2 August 1940 ...

, and one of the fifteen

republic A republic () is a " state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th ...

-level parties that formed the

Communist Party of the Soviet Union " Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first) Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspape ...

(CPSU) until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, it was the driving force of the Moldovan resistance against Axis occupation. The party began to weaken politically during the

Perestroika ''Perestroika'' (; russian: links=no, перестройка, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg) was a political movement for reform within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s widely associated wit ...

period, which was marked by riots against Soviet rule. The party leader,

Semion Grossu Semion Grossu (born 18 March 1934, Satul Nou) is a Moldovan politician and businessman. Biography Grossu was born on 18 March 1934 in the commune of Satu-Nou, Cetatea Albă County, Kingdom of Romania (nowadays Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi Raion, Ukra ...

was replaced with

Petru Lucinschi Petru Lucinschi (; born 27 January 1940) is a former Moldovan politician who was Moldova's second President (1997–2001). Biography Early life and education Petru Lucinschi was born on 27 January 1940 in Rădulenii Vechi village, Soroc ...

on November 16, 1989. On August 23, the Communist Party was banned; subsequently, on 27 August 1991 Moldova declared Independence and the

Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic ( ro, Republica Sovietică Socialistă Moldovenească, Moldovan Cyrillic: ) was one of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union which existed from 1940 to 1991. The republic was formed on 2 August 1940 ...

came to an end. On 7 September 1993, the

Parliament of Moldova The Parliament of the Republic of Moldova is the supreme representative body of the Republic of Moldova, the only state legislative authority, being a unicameral structure composed of 101 elected MPs on lists, for a period of 4 years. Parliamen ...

lifted the ban on communist activities.

First Secretaries

Aftermath

In 1993, former PCM members founded the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM), which became the largest party in Moldova since the 2001 elections, and the ruling party from 2001 to 2009. In 2011 a group of communists led by the executive secretary of the old Communist Party of Moldova, Igor Cucer, came to the public attention, claiming that they are the "real communists" and they want to revive the party (PCM) formally;Partidul Comunist revine pe arena politică a Moldovei
. ipn.md they also stated that ''the PCRM has become a pseudo-Communist and liberal-bourgeois party serving the interests of one of the county’s richest men,

Oleg Voronin Oleg Voronin (born 4 November 1962) is a Moldovan businessman and the son of former Moldovan president Vladimir Voronin. Biography Oleg Voronin born on November 4, 1962, in Criuleni, then in the Moldovan SSR. He is the son of former Moldov ...

'', son of president of Moldova from 2001 to 2009 and leader of the PCRM

Vladimir Voronin Vladimir Voronin (; born 25 May 1941) is a Soviet and Moldovan politician. He was the third president of Moldova from 2001 until 2009 and has been the First Secretary of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM) since 1994. H ...

. Cucer claimed then: "The PCRM's 8-year rule made the poor poorer and the rich richer". The

Commission for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Moldova The Commission for the Study and Evaluation of the Communist Totalitarian Regime of the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Comisia pentru studierea şi aprecierea regimului comunist totalitar din Republica Moldova) is a commission instituted in Moldova by ...

was created in 2010 to study and analyze the 1917–1991 period of the communist regime.

References

1940 establishments in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic 1991 disestablishments in Moldova Banned communist parties

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnistri ...

Communist parties in Moldova Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic Parties of one-party systems Political parties disestablished in 1991 Political parties established in 1940 {{Moldova-stub

First Secretaries

Aftermath

See also

References