People of the Revolution and the USSR

Activity(set)
Any Political and party leadership 3 Government and administration 7 Military command 5 Diplomacy and international organization 1 Ideology and propaganda 2 Social movements and organizing 1 Scholarship and theory 1 Religion 1
Affiliation

Most people

Any Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks 2 Sąjūdis (Reform Movement of Lithuania) 2

All 2 affiliations

Lithuania

Sąjūdis (Reform Movement of Lithuania) 2

Soviet Union

Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks 2
Position
Any Socialist-bloc reform leader 2
Citizenship(set)
Any Soviet Union 193 China 40 Germany 39 France 38 Russia 38 Hungary 32 Poland 24 East Germany 15 Czechoslovakia 13 United Kingdom 12 Italy 11 United States 11 Romania 10 Democratic People's Republic of Korea 9 Spain 8 Bulgaria 7 Cambodia 7 Estonia 7 Mongolia 6 Yugoslavia 6 Angola 5 Vietnam 5 Yemen 5 Afghanistan 4 Azerbaijan 4 Cuba 4 Finland 4 Georgia 4 Turkey 4 Albania 3 Congo - Brazzaville 3 Czechia 3 Japan 3 Laos 3 Latvia 3 Lithuania 3 Austria 2 Belarus 2 Ethiopia 2 Greece 2 India 2 Indonesia 2 Korea 2 Madagascar 2 Moldova 2 Mozambique 2 Portugal 2 South Africa 2 Ukraine 2 Argentina 1 Belgium 1 Brazil 1 Chile 1 DR Congo 1 Egypt 1 Ghana 1 Grenada 1 Iran 1 Kazakhstan 1 Kyrgyzstan 1 Netherlands 1 Peru 1 Tanzania 1 Turkmenistan 1 Uzbekistan 1
Background
Any Lithuania 3
Era
Any

People of the Soviet Union

The last generation1985–1991 3
Political and party leadership Citizenship: Lithuania Clear all

Algirdas Brazauskas

Algirdas Brazauskas
Soviet Communist Party and Bolsheviks Socialist-bloc reform leader Lithuania Lithuania 1932–2010 ○ Natural causes

The communist who split his party from Moscow and became independent Lithuania's first president

When Gorbachev flew to Vilnius in January 1990 to press him to reverse the party's split, he did not yield: the congress had decided, and not even he had the authority to undo it.

A manager of the Soviet Lithuanian economy, Brazauskas became first secretary of the Lithuanian Communist Party in 1988 with Sajudis's backing, and in December 1989 led the party's decision to split from the CPSU, the first ruling party of a union republic to break with Moscow. After independence he won the first direct presidential election in 1993, showing that a former communist could come to power by ballot, managed relations with Russia while opening the road to NATO and the EU, and served as prime minister from 2001 to 2006.

Career timeline
  • 1965–1967Minister of Construction Materials Industry, Lithuanian SSR
  • 1967–1977First Deputy Chairman, Gosplan, Lithuanian SSR
  • 1977–1987Secretary, Central Committee, Communist Party of Lithuania
  • 1988–1989First Secretary, Central Committee, Communist Party of Lithuania
  • 1989–1990First Secretary, Independent CPL (split from CPSU)
  • 1990Chairman, Presidium of Supreme Soviet, Lithuanian SSR
  • 1993–1998President of the Republic of Lithuania
  • 2001–2006Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania

Vytautas Landsbergis

Vytautas Landsbergis
Sąjūdis (Reform Movement of Lithuania) Lithuania Lithuania 1932–

The musicologist who led the first nation out of the Soviet Union

On the night of 11 March 1990, when the act restoring independence passed without a vote against, he declared from the chair that Lithuania was once more an independent state: the first republic to walk out of the USSR, and the Kremlin's first notice of secession.

A Lithuanian musicologist and the leading authority on the painter-composer Ciurlionis, Landsbergis joined the founding of the reform movement Sajudis in 1988 and became its chairman. On 11 March 1990, as chairman of the Lithuanian Supreme Council, he carried the act restoring independence, becoming head of the first republic to declare its departure from the USSR. He held that independence through Moscow's economic blockade and the bloody suppression attempt of January 1991, and later served as speaker of the Seimas and a member of the European Parliament, the patriarch of the Lithuanian right.

Career timeline
  • 1955Graduated from the Lithuanian Conservatory (now Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre)
  • 1978–1990Professor at the Lithuanian Conservatory and Vilnius Pedagogical University
  • 1988–1990Chairman of the Sąjūdis Seimas Council
  • 1989–1990People's Deputy of the USSR Congress of People's Deputies
  • 1990–1992Chairman of the Supreme Council of Lithuania (head of state)
  • 1993–2003Chairman of the Homeland Union (Conservative Party)
  • 1996–2000Speaker of the Seimas of Lithuania
  • 2004–2014Member of the European Parliament

Romualdas Ozolas

Romualdas Ozolas
Sąjūdis (Reform Movement of Lithuania) Socialist-bloc reform leader Lithuania Lithuanian 1939–2015 ○ Cancer

The Sąjūdis philosopher who launched the 2-million-signature campaign demanding Red Army withdrawal

After a long while of hesitation, I made up my mind to see 'what makes socialism.' After a few years it was absolutely clear.

Lithuanian philosopher and politician who taught philosophy at Vilnius University and edited the cultural journal Kultūros barai. He joined the Lithuanian Communist Party in 1973 but broke with it during perestroika; as a founding member of Sąjūdis (1988), he became the movement's theorist and launched a 2-million-signature campaign demanding the withdrawal of the Red Army from Lithuania. He was a central figure in the trilateral planning of the Baltic Way with the Estonian and Latvian popular fronts, and served as deputy prime minister (1990–1991) in the Landsbergis-Prunskienė cabinet. After independence he founded the Lithuanian Centre Union, served in the Seimas (1992–2000), and opposed EU membership as a surrender of sovereignty.

Career timeline
  • 1957–1962Studied philosophy, Vilnius University
  • 1965–1968Editor, Kultūros barai journal
  • 1973–1989Lecturer in philosophy, Vilnius University
  • 1988–1990Founding member and council member, Sąjūdis
  • 1989–1990People's Deputy, USSR Congress of People's Deputies
  • 1990–1991Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania
  • 1992–2000Member of the Seimas
  • 1993–2000Chairman, Lithuanian Centre Union