Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority,

power Power most often refers to: * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events ** Abusive power Power may a ...

, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived from the Latin word , "to distinguish" or "to set apart", the passive participle () meaning "having been set apart", with the eventual connotation of something private or confidential, as with the English word ''secret.'' A was a person, therefore, overseeing business confidentially, usually for a powerful individual (a king, pope, etc.). The official title of the

leader Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets vi ...

of most communist and

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

political parties is the "General Secretary of the Central Committee" or "First Secretary of the Central Committee". When a communist party is in power, the general secretary is usually the country's ''

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 ...

'' leader (though sometimes this leader also holds state-level positions to monopolize power, such as a

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

or premiership in order to constitute ''

de jure In law and government, ''de jure'' ( ; , "by law") describes practices that are legally recognized, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. In contrast, ("in fact") describes situations that exist in reality, even if not legally ...

'' leadership of the state), such as China,

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

, Laos and

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

. In England, the term ''secretarius'' was used "from the beginning of the thirteenth century in the varying meanings of a confidential clerk, an ambassador, or a member of the king's council".J. Otway-Ruthven, ''The King's Secretary and the Signet Office in the XV Century'' (1939), p. 60. In the fourteenth century, the title became strongly associated with the keeper of the king's signet. From the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

to the late 19th century, men involved in the daily correspondence and the activities of the powerful assumed the title of secretary. With time, like many titles, the term was applied to more and varied functions, leading to compound titles to specify the authority associated with its use, like general secretary or financial secretary. In some countries, such as the United States, the term ''secretary'' is used to indicate the holder of a cabinet-level post. There are a number of popular variations of the title used to indicate that the secretary in question has a high degree of authority, such as general secretary (or, following usage in the Norman language, secretary-general), first secretary, and executive secretary. In a

club Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a '' Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

society A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Soci ...

, the secretary is also considered to be, in most cases, the third person in charge of the organization, after the president/chairman and vice president/vice chairman.''Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised'', 4th edition, Scott, Foresman and Company, Chicago, 1915, pp. 244–247. In smaller organizations, the secretary typically takes

meeting minutes Minutes, also known as minutes of meeting (abbreviation MoM), protocols or, informally, notes, are the instant written record of a meeting or hearing. They typically describe the events of the meeting and may include a list of attendees, a state ...

, notifies members of meetings, contacts various persons in relation to the society, administers the day-to-day activities of the organization, and creates the order of business. The secretary of a

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from g ...

international non-governmental organization An international non-governmental organization (INGO) is an organization which is independent of government involvement and extends the concept of a non-governmental organization (NGO) to an international scope. NGOs are independent of government ...

can combine the function with that of vice president/vice chairman.

General secretary

General secretary occurs as the title of a ministerial position of authority found in various organizations, such as

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

s, communist and socialist parties, and

s. Examples include: * General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress * General Secretary of the New South Wales Labor Party (Australia) * Some church organizations, such as the

National Council of Churches The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, usually identified as the National Council of Churches (NCC), is the largest ecumenical body in the United States. NCC is an ecumenical partnership of 38 Christian faith groups in the Un ...

and the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most ju ...

General Secretary of the Labour Party The General Secretary of the Labour Party is the most senior employee of the British Labour Party, and acts as the non-voting secretary to the National Executive Committee. When there is a vacancy the National Executive Committee selects a provi ...

Communist Party

General secretary or first secretary is the official title of leaders of most Communist political parties. When a Communist party is the ruling party in a Communist-led

one-party state A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system, or single-party system is a type of sovereign state in which only one political party has the right to form the government, usually based on the existing constitution. All other parties ...

, the general secretary is typically the country's

leader. Examples include: *

General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party The general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party () is the head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Since 1989, the CCP general secretary has been the paramount leader ...

General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam ( vi, Tổng Bí thư Ban Chấp hành Trung ương Đảng Cộng sản Việt Nam), known as First Secretary ( vi, Bí thư Thứ nhất) from 1960 to 1976, is t ...

* General Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba *

General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party is the office of the highest-ranking member of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP) and also typically the supreme leader of Laos. Since the party's takeo ...

* General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union *

General Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kampuchea ( km, អគ្គលេខាធិការគណៈកម្មាធិការមជ្ឈិមបក្សកុម្មុយនីស្តកម្ព ...

General Secretary of the Mongolian People's Party The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Mongolian People's Party ( mn, Монгол Ардын Намын Төв Хорооны Ерөнхий нарийн бичгийн дарга) is the leader of the Mongolian People's Party (pre ...

General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea The general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (Korean: 조선로동당 총비서) is the head of the Workers' Party of Korea, the ruling party in North Korea, and considered as the supreme leader of North Korea. The general secretary ...

* General Secretary of the League of Communist of Yugoslavia * General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of East Germany * General Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia * General Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania * General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party * General Secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party * General Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party *

General Secretary of the Bulgarian Communist Party This is a list of the heads of the modern Bulgarian state, from the establishment of the Principality of Bulgaria to the present day. It also lists the general secretaries of the Bulgarian Communist Party in 1948–1990. From 1948 onwards, the ...

Secretary-general

Examples include:

International intergovernmental organizations

International nongovernmental organizations

Sports governing bodies

First secretary

First secretary is the title of the chief officer or leader in many organizations, and is also a modern

diplomatic rank Diplomatic rank is a system of professional and social rank used in the world of diplomacy and international relations. A diplomat's rank determines many ceremonial details, such as the order of precedence at official processions, table seating ...

. Examples include: * Some consumer organizations, such as the

National Consumers League The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is an American consumer organization. The National Consumers League is a private, nonprofit advocacy group representing consumers on marketplace and workplace issues. The NCL provides government, bu ...

* Some political parties, especially Communist or Socialist Parties * In Workers' Party and Communist Party organizations: **

First Secretary of the Communist Party of Armenia The Communist Party of Armenia ( hy, Հայաստանի կոմունիստական կուսակցություն, russian: Коммунистическая партия Армении) was a branch of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union with ...

** First Secretary of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan ** First Secretary of the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...

—see

Party Committee Secretary A Party Committee Secretary () is the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organization in a province, city, village, or other administrative unit. In most cases, it is the ''de facto'' highest political office of its area of jurisdictio ...

*** First Secretary of the Communist Youth League of China **

First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba ( es, Primer Secretario del Comité Central del Partido Comunista de Cuba) is the ''de facto'' leader of Cuba. The First Secretary is the highest office within the Comm ...

First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( Czech and Slovak: ''Komunistická strana Československa'', KSČ) was a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. It was a member of the Comint ...

First Secretary of the French Socialist Party The First Secretary of the Socialist Party ( French: ''Premier secrétaire du Parti socialiste'') is the most senior politician within the Socialist Party in France. The office has been held by Olivier Faure Olivier Faure (French: help:IPA/Fren ...

First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party The First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party (; ) was the leading position in the Georgian Communist Party during the Soviet era. Its leaders were responsible for many of the affairs in Georgia and were considered the leader of the Georgian S ...

First Secretary of the 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 ...

First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party The Polish United Workers' Party ( pl, Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza; ), commonly abbreviated to PZPR, was the communist party which ruled the Polish People's Republic as a one-party state from 1948 to 1989. The PZPR had led two other lega ...

** First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation **

First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

*** First Secretary of the Moscow Communist Party **

First Secretary of the Communist Party of Tajikistan The First Secretary of the Communist Party of Tajikistan was the head of the Communist Party of Tajikistan and the highest Executive power in the republic of Tajikistan from 1924 until November 1990. History Shortly after the Soviet Union was f ...

First Secretary of the Ukrainian Communist Party The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine ( uk, Перший Секретар ЦК КПУ, russian: Первый Секретарь ЦК КПУ) was a party leader of the republican branch of the Communist Part ...

** First Secretary of the Workers' Party of Vietnam *

First Secretary of State The First Secretary of State is an office that is sometimes held by a minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The office indicates seniority, including over all other Secretaries of State. The office is not always in use, ...

, a cabinet position in the United Kingdom * First Secretary for Wales, now First Minister of Wales * First Secretary of the Admiralty—see

Secretary to the Admiralty S, or s, is the nineteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ess'' (pronounced ), plural ''esses''. Histor ...

* Some

s, especially in the United Kingdom * The

General Secretariat for Macedonia and Thrace The Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace ( el, Υπουργείο Μακεδονίας και Θράκης, ΥΜΑΘ) is a former ministry of Greece. Responsible for the regions of Macedonia and Thrace, since 2015 it has been demoted to the level ...

, a government agency for the Greek regions of Macedonia and Thrace

Executive secretary

Examples include: * Executive Secretary (Commonwealth of Independent States) *

Executive Secretary (Philippines) The Office of the Executive Secretary of the Philippines (formerly the Executive Office) is the head and highest-ranking official of the Office of the President of the Philippines and a member of the Cabinet of the Philippines. The office-holder ...

* Executive Secretary for Integral Development, Organization of American States * Executive Secretary of the Department of State, United States

Secretary-treasurer

Within many organizations, the title of secretary is combined with that of

treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury ...

References

{{Set index article Chief executive officers Clubs and societies Government occupations Management occupations Positions of authority Titles