In the Lithuanian SSR and early independent Lithuania Brazauskas held various positions in the government of
Lithuanian SSR and
Communist Party of Lithuania from 1965 onwards: • 1965–1967, the minister of construction materials industry of Lithuanian SSR • 1967–1977, deputy chairman of State Planning Committee of Lithuanian SSR. • 1977–1987, secretary of Central Committee of
Communist Party of Lithuania. and Algirdas Brazauskas in March 1990 In the 1980s, he transformed himself from a Communist Party apparatchik to a moderate reformer. He was seen as cautious by nature, and when confronted by the tide of nationalist feeling in the Soviet Union, Brazauskas initially believed that the USSR might be reconstituted as a looser federation of independent, but communist, states. In seeing the tide of an independent democracy, he joined the reformist cause observing in 1990 that "We are realists now, and we cannot be propagating any utopian ideas. It's no secret [that] the Communist Party has a dirty history." In 1988, he became the
first secretary of the Communist Party of Lithuania. Under his leadership, the majority of the Communist Party of Lithuania supported the Lithuanian
independence movement, broke away from the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union and transformed itself into social-democratic
Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania (now merged into the
Lithuanian Social Democratic Party). Brazauskas was Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet
(head of state) from 15 January until 11 March 1990. Though he sought to avoid a breach with Moscow in 1989, as leader of Lithuania's Communist Party, he formally severed the party's links with Moscow. This was rare in that no other local communist party organizations in the former Soviet Union dared to take this step. Some historians and journalists have later suggested that this act was the earliest certain indication of the inevitability of the demise of the Soviet Union. He proposed Democratic Labour Party politician
Adolfas Šleževičius as Prime Minister, who formed the
Šleževičius Cabinet, but avoided interference in cabinet choices and allowed Šleževičius to form his cabinet. By 1994, the president's relations with his party's cabinet had turned cold, and Brazauskas stated that he "could not agree [with him] on the simplest things". In late 1995, Šleževičius entered a scandal regarding his actions during the collapse of the Lithuanian bank
Lietuvos akcinis inovacinis bankas - the prime minister withdrew his assets from the bank a day before it stopped its activities. After the Democratic Labour Party's central committee expressed their continued confidence in him, Brazauskas suddenly demanded his resignation, which prompted parts of the LDDP, alongside the opposition, to force him to resign after a vote of no confidence. Brazauskas supported Lithuania's accession to
NATO and the
European Union, though he was initially sceptical towards the
United States and membership in NATO, and described
Homeland Union proposals of demanding
reparations from
Russia to be "the politics of a hunched hedgehog". He supported pragmatic relations with
Russia. However, he played an important part in the early 1993 diplomatic crisis with Russia, in which Russia suspended negotiations on the withdrawal of Russian troops from Lithuania. After a personal phone call with Russian president
Boris Yeltsin, negotiations were renewed and the withdrawal was completed. In 1995, speaking before the
Knesset, Brazauskas officially apologized for the Lithuanian people's actions during the
Holocaust. In spite of high approval ratings, he decided not to seek reelection, endorsed
Artūras Paulauskas presidential campaign and later handed the presidency to his democratically elected successor,
Valdas Adamkus, on 25 February 1998.
Retirement and return to politics Brazauskas said he planned to retire from politics and wanted to be "an ordinary pensioner." During the first two years in retirement he wrote a book, though it was incomplete. He said he would continue writing it after his second stint in government. He also said he would finish "household work" and that he likes physical work. He added that "I have no estates, but the property I own needs to be put in good order." He wanted to live "in a way that other people live." He subsequently returned to politics saying he "always had something to do in life." His government resigned on 2006 after the Labour Party left the governing coalition. Brazauskas decided not to remain in office as acting Prime Minister, and announced that he was finally retiring from politics. He said "I tried to be a pensioner for several years, and I think I was successful. I hope for success this time, as well." He led the ruling Social Democratic Party of Lithuania for one more year, until 2007, when he passed the reins to
Gediminas Kirkilas. He served as the honorary chairman of the party, and remained an influential voice in party politics. ==Honours==