The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the

Communist Party of Ukraine The Communist Party of Ukraine, Abbreviation: KPU, from Ukrainian and Russian "" is a banned political party in Ukraine. It was founded in 1993 as the successor to the Soviet-era Communist Party of Ukraine which was banned in 1991 (accord ...

( uk, Перший Секретар ЦК КПУ, russian: Первый Секретарь ЦК КПУ) was a party leader of the republican branch of 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 , newspaper ...

. The office' name alternated throughout its history between First Secretary and the General Secretary. While the CPU leader was not officially the leader of Ukraine, he was so ''

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

'' through the

Article 6 of the Soviet Constitution Article 6 of the 1977 Soviet Constitution placed limitations on the political rights of Soviet citizens. While the rest of the constitution theoretically assured the public freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of press these rights we ...

, which indicated that the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the "leading and guiding force of the Soviet society". On October 24, 1990, the provision on the monopoly of the Communist Party of Ukraine on power was excluded from Article 6 of the Constitution of the Ukrainian SSR and accordingly, the first secretary of the Central Committee ceased to be considered the actual head of the republic. The First Secretary was elected at a plenum (plenary session) of the Central Committee, while each Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine was elected at the each Party's Congress. The longest serving secretary was

Vladimir Shcherbitsky Volodymyr Vasylyovych Shcherbytsky, russian: Влади́мир Васи́льевич Щерби́цкий; ''Vladimir Vasilyevich Shcherbitsky'', (17 February 1918 — 16 February 1990) was a Ukrainian Soviet politician. He was First Secr ...

Who the longest of all ruled Ukraine. Dossier (Кто дольше всех руководил Украиной. Досье)
TASS. 23 May 2014 with some 17 years.

Name change

* 1918–1920 Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine * 1920–1921 First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine * 1921–1921 Responsible Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine * 1921–1925 First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine * 1925–1934 General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine * 1934–1991 First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine

Historical scope

The post of Secretary was elected by a

plenum Plenum may refer to: * Plenum chamber, a chamber intended to contain air, gas, or liquid at positive pressure * Plenism, or ''Horror vacui'' (physics) the concept that "nature abhors a vacuum" * Plenum (meeting), a meeting of a deliberative assem ...

(

plenary session A plenary session or plenum is a session of a conference which all members of all parties are to attend. Such a session may include a broad range of content, from keynotes to panel discussions, and is not necessarily related to a specific styl ...

) of the Central Committee of the

beginning since July 1918. Until 1920 it was a single post of the Central Committee Secretariat. In 1920 Nikolay Bestchetvertnoi was dismissed as the secretary and the Provisional Bureau of the Central Committee elected

Stanislav Kosior Stanislav and variants may refer to: People *Stanislav (given name), a Slavic given name with many spelling variations (Stanislaus, Stanislas, Stanisław, etc.) Places * Stanislav, a coastal village in Kherson, Ukraine * Stanislaus County, Cali ...

as the Party's Secretary. Later in 1920 there were introduced a post of the Second Secretary which acted as a deputy of the First Secretary. In 1921 after

Vyacheslav Molotov Vyacheslav Mikhaylovich Molotov. ; (;. 9 March Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O._S._25_February.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O. S. 25 February">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dat ...

was dismissed as the First Secretary, he was replaced with

Feliks Kon Feliks Yakovlevich Kon (18 May 1864 – 30 July 1941) was a Polish communist activist, politician, ethnographer, publicist and journalist. He was the editor-in-chief of the Soviet satirical magazine, '' Krokodil''. Life and career Born in ...

as the Responsible Secretary. Kon became the only party official with such title which he held until end of 1921. Starting with 1921 beside the First and the Second secretaries, there were elected some additional secretaries, first of which became

. In March of 1925 on a statement of the Central Committee of the

the post held by

Emanuil Kviring Emanuel Yonovych Kwiring (Kviring) (russian: Эммануил Ионович Квиринг, uk, Емануіл Йонович Квірінг) (13 September 1888 – 26 November 1937) was a Soviet politician and statesman. Born into a German f ...

had changed its name to the General Secretary. Less than a month later a plenum of the Central Committee of the

reelected the party's leader

Lazar Kaganovich Lazar Moiseyevich Kaganovich, also Kahanovich (russian: Ла́зарь Моисе́евич Кагано́вич, Lázar' Moiséyevich Kaganóvich; – 25 July 1991), was a Soviet politician and administrator, and one of the main associates of ...

with the new title name. In January of 1934

was elected as the First Secretary returning to previous name which has been kept until the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

. In 1927–1930 the

also had posts of a candidate to Secretariat members. In 1931–1932 there were secretaries for specific types of industry as well as a separate secretary for "Donbas" (

Ivan Akulov Ivan Alekseyevich Akulov (russian: Иван Алексеевич Акулов; 30 October 1937) was a leading Russian Old Bolshevik revolutionary, Soviet official and statesman, who for a few months was nominally second in command of the politica ...

). In June of 1937 there was introduced a post of the Third Secretary which existed until January of 1949. In May of 1940 a practice of electing a secretary for specifically assigned industry was renewed and continued throughout the

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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

until the next planum of the Central Committee of the

in January of 1949. Until 1952 the

was officially known as the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine (CP(b)U).

List of first and second secretaries

* Mykola Oleksiiovych Skrypnyk (20 April–26 May 1918) (Secretary of the Organizational Bureau)

Other members of Secretariat

Third Secretary

Nikolay Popov Nikolay Popov (14 December 1931 – 4 February 2008) was a Russian engineer who went on to be the main designer of the renowned Soviet main battle tank, the T-80 The T-80 is a main battle tank (MBT) that was designed and manufactured in the f ...

(3 June 1937 – 3 July 1937) * Demian Korotchenko (22 July 1939 – 9 July 1946) * Konstantin Litvin (10 July 1946 – 28 January 1949)

Other Secretaries

(14 December 1921 – 17 October 1922) * Dmitry Lebed (November 1920 – May 1924) *

Yakov Drobnis Yakov Naumovich Drobnis (Russian: Яков Наумович Дробнис; 6 March 1890 – 1 February 1937) was a Bolshevik revolutionary who supported Leon Trotsky. He was a defendant at one of the Moscow Show Trials. Early life Drobnis was b ...

(17 October 1922 – 10 April 1923) *

Mikhail Vladimirsky Mikhail Fyodorovich Vladimirsky (russian: Михаи́л Фёдорович Влади́мирский; – 2 April 1951) was a Soviet politician and Bolshevik revolutionary who was for a short period of time, the Chairman of the All-Russian C ...

(17 May 1924 – 12 December 1925) * Boris Kholyavskiy (17 May 1924 – 5 April 1925) * Aleksandr Shumsky (17 May 1924 – 12 December 1925) * Fyodor Kornyushin (7 April 1925 – 24 November 1926) *

Vladimir Zatonsky Volodymyr Petrovych Zatonsky ( uk, Володи́мир Зато́нський, russian: Влади́мир Петро́вич Зато́нский ''Vladimir Petrovich Zatonsky''; July 27, 1888 – July 29, 1938) was a Soviet Union, Soviet p ...

(12 December 1925 – 24 February 1927) *

Kuprian Kirkizh Kuprian Osipovich Kirkizh (russian: Куприян Осипович Киркиж; 29 September 1886 – 24 May 1932) was a Belarusian revolutionary and Soviet statesman who served as the second General Secretary of the Communist Party of t ...

(12 December 1925 – 24 November 1926) *

Ivan Klimenko Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was Bulgari ...

(12 December 1925 – 13 October 1927) *

Pavel Postyshev Pavel Petrovich Postyshev (russian: Па́вел Петро́вич По́стышев; – 26 February 1939) was a Soviet politician, state and Communist Party official and party publicist. He was a member of Joseph Stalin's inner circle, befor ...

(24 November 1926 – 22 July 1930) * Aleksei Medvedev (28 October 1927 – 18 November 1929) * Afanasiy Lyubchenko (29 November 1927 – 13 June 1934) *

Lavrentiy Kartvelishvili Lavrenty Kartvelishvili ( ka, ლავრენტი იოსების ძე ქართველიშვილი; russian: Картвелишвили, Лаврентий Иосифович; 28 April 1890 – 22 August 1938) was a Georg ...

(21 November 1929 – 15 June 1930) * Roman Terekhov (22 July 1930 – 5 January 1933) * Vladimir Chernyavskiy (13 December 1930 – 28 January 1932; in transport) * Nikita Alekseyev (30 November 1931 – 28 January 1932; in supply) * Fyodor Zaitsev (28 January 1932 – 8 June 1933; in transport) * Naum Golod (July 1932 – 8 June 1933; in supply) *

(12 October 1932 – 18 November 1933; in Donbass) * Mendel Khatayevich (29 January 1933 – 23 January 1934) *

(27 February 1933 – 3 June 1937) * Moisei Spivak (17 May 1940 – 21 January 1944; in human resources) * Iosif Lysenko (17 May 1940 – 1941; in propaganda and political agitation (went missing)) * Aleksei Stoyantsev (7 May 1941 – 1943; in aviation industry) * Ivan Vivdychenko (7 May 1941 – 1943; in engineering) * Ivan Gorobets (7 May 1941 – 1943; in metallurgy industry) * Aleksei Kirichenko (7 May 1941 – 21 January 1944; in industry) * Pyotr Zakharov (7 May 1941 – 1943; in construction and construction materials) * A. Nikolayenko (7 May 1941 – 1943; in transport) * Pyotr Matsuy (7 May 1941 – 1943; in power stations and power industry) * Aleksei Kirichenko (21 January 1944 – July 1945; in human resources) * Konstantin Litvin (6 October 1944 – 9 July 1946; in propaganda and political agitation) * Aleksei Yepishev (10 July 1946 – 28 January 1949; in human resources) *

Ivan Nazarenko Ivan () is a Slavic languages, Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John (given name), John) from Hebrew language, Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. T ...

(10 July 1946 – 25 May 1948; in propaganda and political agitation) * Demian Korotchenko (3 March 1947 – 26 December 1947; in industry) * Nikolay Patolichev (3 March 1947 – 21 July 1947; in agriculture and procurement) *

Leonid Melnikov Leonid Georgievich Melnikov (russian: Леонид Георгиевич Мельников; 18(31) May 1906 – 16 April 1981) was a Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontin ...

(21 July 1947 – 26 December 1947) * Konstantin Litvin (28 January 1949 – 13 April 1950) *

(28 January 1949 – 25 June 1956) * Zinoviy Serdyuk (28 January 1949 – May 1952) * Grigoriy Grishko (28 February 1951 – 27 September 1952) * Nikita Bubnovskiy (May 1952 – 27 September 1952) * Nikita Bubnovskiy (26 March 1954 – 26 March 1963) * Olga Ivaschenko (25 May 1954 – 8 January 1965) *

Stepan Chervonenko Stepan Vasilievich Chervonenko (; , cs, Stěpan Vasiljevič Červoněnko; born , Okip, Poltava Oblast, Russian Empire, died 11 July 2003, Moscow, Russian Federation) was the Soviet ambassador to Peking in 1961. Whilst serving as the ambassador to ...

(26 June 1956 – 22 October 1959) * Leontiy Naidek (4 December 1957 – 26 December 1957) * Vladimir Scherbitskiy (4 December 1957 – 17 May 1961) * Andrei Skaba (24 October 1959 – 29 March 1968) * Anton Gayevoy (19 May 1961 – 3 July 1962; died in office) * Pyotr Shelest (11 August 1962 – 1 July 1963) * Ivan Grushetskiy (25 December 1962 – 18 March 1966) * Vasiliy Komyakhov (25 December 1962 – 16 October 1966; died in office) * Aleksandr Lyashko (1 July 1963 – 18 March 1966) * Vasiliy Drozdenko (18 March 1966 – 20 March 1971) * Aleksei Titarenko (18 March 1966 – 22 October 1982) *

Ivan Lutak Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was Bulgari ...

(23 January 1967 – 19 June 1969) * Fyodor Ovcharenko (29 March 1968 – 10 October 1972) * Nikolay Borisenko (31 March 1970 – 8 May 1980; died in office) * Yakov Pogrebnyak (20 March 1971 – 24 March 1987) * Valentin Malanchuk (10 October 1972 – 26 April 1979) *

Aleksandr Kapto Aleksandr Semyonovich Kapto (; April 14, 1933 – April 19, 2020) was a Soviet and Russian sociologist, political scientist, diplomat, journalist and politician. He earned a philosophy degree in 1967 and his Ph.D. in 1985. In 2008 he was head of ...

(26 April 1979 – 8 February 1986) * Ivan Mozgovoy (28 May 1980 – 10 October 1988) * Boris Kachura (22 October 1982 – 23 June 1990) * Vasiliy Kryuchkov (21 September 1984 – 12 December 1988) *

Vladimir Ivashko Vladimir Antonovich Ivashko (russian: Влади́мир Анто́нович Ива́шко, link=no; ua, Володимир Антонович Івашко, ''Volodymyr Antonovych Ivashko''; 28 October 1932 – 13 November 1994) was a Sovie ...

(8 February 1986 – 25 April 1987) *

Stanislav Gurenko Stanislav Ivanovych Hurenko ( uk, Станісла́в Іва́нович Гуре́нко; russian: Станисла́в Ива́нович Гуре́нко, translit=Stanislav Ivanovich Gurenko; 30 May 1936 – 14 April 2013), was a Soviet Ukr ...

(25 March 1987 – 18 October 1989) * Yuriy Yelchenko (25 April 1987 – 23 June 1990) * Ivan Grintsov (11 October 1988 – until the party's liquidation) *

Leonid Kravchuk Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk ( uk, Леонід Макарович Кравчук; 10 January 1934 – 10 May 2022) was a Ukrainian politician and the first president of Ukraine, serving from 5 December 1991 until 19 July 1994. In 1992, he signed ...

(18 October 1989 – 28 September 1990) * Valentin Ostrozhinskiy (23 June 1990 – until the party's liquidation) * Anatoliy Savchenko (23 June 1990 – until the party's liquidation) *

Vasiliy Lisovenko Vasili, Vasily, Vasilii or Vasiliy (Russian: Василий) is a Russian masculine given name of Greek origin and corresponds to ''Basil''. It may refer to: *Vasili I of Moscow Grand Prince from 1389–1425 * Vasili II of Moscow Grand Prince fr ...

(15 April 1991 – until the party's liquidation)

Candidates to the Secretariat

* Nikolay Donenko (9 April 1929 – 18 November 1929) * Olga Pilatskaya (9 April 1929 – 15 June 1930) * Andrei Khvylia (9 April 1929 – 15 June 1930) * Vladimir Chernyavskiy (21 November 1929 – 15 June 1930)

References

External links

Secretariat of Central Committee of the CP(b)U (Handbook on history of the Communist Party and the Soviet Union 1898-1991)
* Vakhtang Kipiani, Volodymyr Fedoryn.
"Shcherbytskyi said what kind of a stupid person invented the word perestroika? … ("Щербицкий сказал - какой дурак придумал слово перестройка?..")
'.

Ukrayinska Pravda ''Ukrainska Pravda'' ( uk, Українська правда, lit=Ukrainian Truth) is a Ukrainian online newspaper founded by Georgiy Gongadze on 16 April 2000 (the day of the Ukrainian constitutional referendum). Published mainly in Ukraini ...

(Istorychna Pravda). 10 September 2011. {{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Leaders Of Communist Party (b) of Ukraine Ukrainian bolsheviks leaders Bolshevik leaders Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (Soviet Union) * 1918 establishments in Russia 1991 disestablishments in the Soviet Union