, colorcode = red , logo = Komsomol Emblem

, caption = Emblem , logo2 = , caption2 = Flag , founded = 29 January 1919 , dissolved = 3 June 1989 , headquarters =

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic , ideology = , international =

World Federation of Democratic Youth The World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) is an international youth organization, and has historically characterized itself as left-wing and anti-imperialist. WFDY was founded in London in 1945 as a broad international youth movement, ...

, national = Komsomol , mother party = Communist Party of the Soviet Union , state party =

Communist Party of Lithuania The Communist Party of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos komunistų partija; russian: Коммунистическая партия Литвы) is a banned communist party in Lithuania. The party was established in early October 1918 and operated clan ...

, preceded by = , succeeded by = Young Communist League of Lithuania , membership = , newspaper = '' Komjaunimo tiesa'' The Leninist Young Communist League of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Lenino komunistinė jaunimo sąjunga or LLKJS) or Lithuanian Komsomol ( lt, Komjaunimas) was the Lithuanian branch of the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

Komsomol that served as the youth organ of the

. The organization was for youth ages 14 to 28. Younger children were organized into Pioneers (ages 10 to 14) and

Little Octobrists Little Octobrists (russian: октября́та, translit=oktyabryata ; singular, russian: октябрёнок, translit=oktyabryonok) is a Soviet term that first appeared in 1923–1924, and at that time referred to children born in 1917, the ...

( lt, spaliukai; ages 7 to 9). Since Komsomol was the only legal youth organization in the Soviet Union, it had significant impact and influence on the youth. The Lithuanian Komsomol was established in January 1919 during the

Lithuanian–Soviet War The Lithuanian–Soviet War or Lithuanian–Bolshevik War ( lt, karas su bolševikais) was fought between newly independent Lithuania and the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic in the aftermath of World War I. It was part of the la ...

. During the interwar, the Lithuanian Komsomol was outlawed in Lithuania and its members were frequently arrested by the Lithuanian police. The organization grew rapidly after the

Soviet occupation of Lithuania The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were invaded and occupied in June 1940 by the Soviet Union, under the leadership of Stalin and auspices of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact that had been signed between Nazi Germany and the Soviet ...

and its members actively participated in Lithuania's

sovietization Sovietization (russian: Советизация) is the adoption of a political system based on the model of soviets (workers' councils) or the adoption of a way of life, mentality, and culture modelled after the Soviet Union. This often included ...

. In the 1970s and 1980s, it became such a massive organization that non-members were viewed as anti-Soviet. On 3 June 1989, the Lithuanian Komsomol voted to break away from the All-Union Komsomol and form an independent organization, which became the Young Communist League of Lithuania.

History

Interwar Lithuania

The Lithuanian Komsomol was founded in the context of the

. Soviet Russia began its westward offensive in late 1918 pushing into Lithuania and declaring the establishment of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic.

was captured on 5 January 1919. On 29 January 1919, a provisional Central Bureau of the Lithuanian Komsomol was elected in Vilnius. In 1919–1920, the Lithuanian Komsomol was briefly merged with the Belarusian Komsomol into the Young Communist League of Lithuania and Belorussia as the two Soviet republics were merged into the

Socialist Soviet Republic of Lithuania and Belorussia The Socialist Soviet Republic of Lithuania and Belorussia (SSR LiB), * lt, Lietuvos ir Baltarusijos socialistinė tarybų respublika; * pl, Litewsko-Białoruska Socjalistyczna Republika Rad * russian: Социалистическая Сове ...

. When Lithuania secured its independence, the Lithuanian government outlawed both the

and the Lithuanian Komsomol, but both continued to exist and function in the underground. The government frequently arrested and imprisoned communist activists. , a member of the Central Committee of the Lithuanian Komsomol, was executed in the aftermath of the 1926 Lithuanian coup d'état. During the interwar years, the Lithuanian Komsomol agitated for communist ideas and attempted to work with or through various other organizations. To advance its program of

Marxism–Leninism Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology which was the main communist movement throughout the 20th century. Developed by the Bolsheviks, it was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, its satellite states in the Eastern Bloc, and various c ...

, the Lithuanian Komsomol published some 80 one-time and periodical publications in 1919–1940.

First Soviet occupation

After the

in June 1940, Lithuanian Komsomol was legalized and its members took an active role in Lithuania's

. More than 570 members of the Lithuanian Komsomol worked in various Soviet institutions or headed nationalized enterprises. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, some 2,200 members of the Lithuanian Komsomol were evacuated to Russia where many of them joined the

16th Rifle Division The 16th Rifle Division (russian: 16-я стрелковая Литовская Клайпедская Краснознамённая дивизия, translit=16-ya strelkovaya Litovskaya Klaypedskaya Krasnoznamonnaya diviziya; ; lt, 16-oji 'Lie ...

. In March 1944, former member of the Lithuanian Komsomol Marytė Melnikaitė became the first and only Lithuanian woman awarded the

Heroes of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union (russian: Герой Советского Союза, translit=Geroy Sovietskogo Soyuza) was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for ...

. In July 1958, on the 40th anniversary of the Komsomol, three members of the Lithuanian Komsomol were posthumously recognized as the Heroes of the Soviet Union – , , and , a

Soviet partisan Soviet partisans were members of resistance movements that fought a guerrilla war against Axis forces during World War II in the Soviet Union, the previously Soviet-occupied territories of interwar Poland in 1941–45 and eastern Finland. The ...

killed by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

, who participated in the murder of

Elena Spirgevičiūtė Elena Spirgevičiūtė (22 December 1924 – 4 January 1944) was a Lithuanian student. She was shot and killed by Soviet partisans for refusing to satisfy them sexually. One of the four men, Alfonsas Čeponis was posthumously recognized as the ...

, a Lithuanian student later recognized as a Servant of God.

Lithuanian SSR

After the Soviet re-occupation of Lithuania in 1944, the Komsomol returned to Lithuania and began growing rapidly. Its members participated in various Soviet repressions: joined the

destruction battalions Destruction battalions,, uk, Винищувальні батальйони, be, Zniszczalnyja batalëny, , et, hävituspataljonid, lt, Naikintojų batalionai, lv, Iznīcinātāju bataljoni, group=nb colloquially istrebitels (истреби� ...

to fight

Lithuanian partisans The Lithuanian partisans () were partisans who waged a guerrilla warfare in Lithuania against the Soviet Union in 1944–1953. Similar anti-Soviet resistance groups, also known as Forest Brothers and cursed soldiers, fought against Soviet rule ...

, facilitated

Soviet deportations from Lithuania Soviet deportations from Lithuania were a series of 35 mass deportations carried out in Lithuania, a country that was occupied as a constituent socialist republic of the Soviet Union, in 1941 and 1945–1952. At least 130,000 people, 70% of them ...

, agitated for

collective farming Collective farming and communal farming are various types of, "agricultural production in which multiple farmers run their holdings as a joint enterprise". There are two broad types of communal farms: agricultural cooperatives, in which member- ...

, and helped organizing ''

kolkhoz A kolkhoz ( rus, колхо́з, a=ru-kolkhoz.ogg, p=kɐlˈxos) was a form of collective farm in the Soviet Union. Kolkhozes existed along with state farms or sovkhoz., a contraction of советское хозяйство, soviet ownership or ...

es'' and ''

sovkhoz A sovkhoz ( rus, совхо́з, p=sɐfˈxos, a=ru-sovkhoz.ogg, abbreviated from ''советское хозяйство'', "sovetskoye khozyaystvo (sovkhoz)"; ) was a form of state-owned farm in the Soviet Union. It is usually contrasted wit ...

es''. Later, members of the Lithuanian Komsomol participated in various shock construction projects and student construction brigades. Lithuanian Komsomol built 26 small hydroelectric plants in rural areas and 46 large husbandry farms. Since Lithuanian Komsomol was the only other legal organization (after the Communist Party) that could participate in elections, its members were elected to the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union,

Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR The Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR ( lt, Lietuvos TSR Aukščiausioji Taryba; russian: Верховный Совет Литовской ССР, ''Verkhovnyy Sovet Litovskoy SSR'') was the supreme soviet (main legislative institution) of the ...

and various local soviets. The Lithuanian Komsomol was also active in cultural life organizing youth festivals, establishing new traditions (such as harvest festival or civil baptism), gathering memoirs of participants in

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 opposing ...

, organizing additional political education. The Lithuanian Komsomol organized "days of friendship" with youth of Finland (1979), Madagascar (1981), Poland (1982), and the

German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **G ...

(1983).

Publications

Major periodicals of the Lithuanian Komsomol were journals ''Jaunimo gretos'' ("Youth Ranks"; 1944–1989) and ''Nemunas'' (" Neman River"; 1967–1990) as well as newspapers ''Komjaunimo tiesa'' ("Truth of Komsomol"; 1940–1989) and ''Lietuvos pionierius'' ("Lithuanian Pioneer"; 1946–1989).

Secretaries

Secretaries of the Lithuanian Komsomol were:

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite journal, first1=Alain , last1=Blum , first2=Amandine , last2=Regamey , translator-first=Helen , translator-last=Tomlinson , url=https://journals.openedition.org/cliowgh/492 , title=The hero, the martyr, and the erased rape (Lithuania 1944-2000) , journal=Clio , volume=39 , year=2014 , issn=2554-3822 {{cite book , first=Vaida , last=Obelenė , chapter=Exit from communism: career decisions of the Lithuanian young Communist functionaries , editor-first1=Aili , editor-last1=Aarelaid-Tart , editor-first2= Li , editor-last2=Bennich-Björkman , title=Baltic Biographies at Historical Crossroads , publisher=Routledge , isbn=9781138019973 , year=2012 , chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZR2pAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA130 , page=130 {{cite book , last=Pilkington , first=Hilary , title=Russia's Youth and Its Culture: A Nation's Constructors and Constructed , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hta7rmTcbOAC&pg=PA118 , publisher= Routledge , year= 2013 , isbn=9781134876433 , page= 118 {{cite encyclopedia , first=Vytautas , last=Spečiūnas , date=25 February 2020 , orig-year=2006 , url=https://www.vle.lt/straipsnis/komjaunimas/ , title=komjaunimas , encyclopedia=

Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija The ''Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija'' or VLE (translation ''Universal Lithuanian Encyclopedia'') is a 25-volume universal Lithuanian-language encyclopedia published by the Science and Encyclopaedia Publishing Institute from 2001 to 2014. V ...

, publisher=Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos centras , language=lt , access-date=21 August 2022 {{cite book , title=Dramatiškos biografijos: kovotojai, kūrėjai, karjeristai, kolaborantai , first=Rokas , last=Subačius , publisher=Mintis , location=Vilnius , year=2007 , isbn=978-5-417-00920-4 , language=lt , pages=131–142 {{cite encyclopedia , first=Juozapas , last=Bagušauskas , editor1-first=Jonas , editor1-last=Zinkus, encyclopedia=Tarybų Lietuvos enciklopedija , title=Lietuvos Lenino komunistinė jaunimo sąjunga , year=1985–1988 , publisher=Vyriausioji enciklopedijų redakcija , language=lt , volume=II , location=Vilnius , oclc=20017802 , pages=581–583 , display-editors=etal {{cite book , editor1-first=Jonas , editor1-last=Zinkus , display-editors=etal , title=Lithuania: An Encyclopedic Survey , chapter=Leninist Young Communist League of Lithuania , year=1986 , publisher=Encyclopedia Publishers , pages=169–177 , oclc=469438907 Komsomol Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic Youth wings of communist parties Youth organizations established in 1919 1919 establishments in Lithuania 1989 disestablishments in Lithuania