Founder of the Lithuanian Communist Party who headed Soviet Lithuania and Litbel
When Lenin demanded he recruit more Lithuanians into the Red Army, he refused, warning it would erode what support his government had.
Founder of the Lithuanian Communist Party, he headed the Soviet government of Lithuania from December 1918 and Litbel in 1919, without winning peasant support. After the defeat he handled Baltic affairs in the Comintern and died in Moscow in 1935.
Activities and affiliations
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1918–1935
Communist Party of Lithuania (LKP, 1918–1940)Member of the Central CommitteeMain
Political and party leadership -
Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks
Political and party leadership
Career Timeline
- 1903Joined the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party
- 1914Met Lenin in Kraków
- 1917Joined the Bolsheviks in Petrograd; commissar for Lithuanian affairs
- 1918Central Committee of the Lithuanian Communist Party; editor of Tiesa
- 1918–1919Headed Soviet Lithuanian government, then Litbel's Council of People's Commissars
- 1923–1935Worked on the Comintern Executive Committee
Related historical events
- 1918–1922The Civil War and Foreign InterventionLeader of Soviet Lithuania and LitbelHead of the Soviet government of Lithuania from December 1918, he entered Vilnius in January 1919 and led Litbel from February, withdrawing to Russia after the Poles took Vilnius in April.
- 1918.11–1920.10Baltic wars of independence and border settlementsLeader of Soviet Lithuania and LitbelHead of the Soviet government of Lithuania from December 1918, he entered Vilnius in January 1919 and led Litbel from February, withdrawing to Russia after the Poles took Vilnius in April.
- 1917.03–1921.03The Belarusian People’s Republic and Soviet BelarusHead of the Litbel governmentHeaded the government of the Socialist Soviet Republic of Lithuania and Belorussia from February 1919 and chaired its Defence Council.
Revolution and independence wars
Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas, an activist of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party, passed through exile and emigration after 1905, joined the Bolsheviks in 1917 and led the founding of the Lithuanian Communist Party in October 1918. Proclaimed head of the Soviet government of Lithuania on 16 December 1918 as the Red Army advanced, he entered Vilnius in January 1919 and in February headed the government of the Lithuanian-Belorussian Soviet Republic, Litbel. Its policy of turning the large estates into state farms won no peasant support, and when Polish troops took Vilnius in April the government withdrew to Minsk and then to Russia. He later handled Baltic affairs on the Comintern executive and directed the underground Lithuanian party, and died in Moscow in 1935. Under Soviet rule his name was given to a university and a city; after 1990 it was removed.