Interwar Lithuania The Lithuanian Komsomol was founded in the context of the
Lithuanian–Soviet War. Soviet Russia began its
westward offensive in late 1918 pushing into
Lithuania and declaring the establishment of the
Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Vilnius 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. When Lithuania secured its independence, the Lithuanian government outlawed both the
Communist Party of Lithuania 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, the Lithuanian Komsomol published some 80 one-time and periodical publications in 1919–1940.
First Soviet occupation After the
Soviet occupation of Lithuania in June 1940, Lithuanian Komsomol was legalized and its members took an active role in Lithuania's
sovietization. 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. 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. 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 killed by the
Gestapo, who participated in the murder of
Elena Spirgevičiūtė, 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 to fight
Lithuanian partisans, facilitated
Soviet deportations from Lithuania, agitated for
collective farming, and helped organizing
kolkhozes and
sovkhozes. 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 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, 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 (1983). ==Publications==