Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas

Stamp of USSR

Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas (7 April [O.S. 23 March] 1880 in Būdviečiai, Vilkaviškis district — 17 February 1935 in Moscow) was a Lithuanian political activist, one of the founders and leaders of the Communist Party of Lithuania and the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (1918–1919).

Born to a family of wealthier farmers, Mickevičius studied at the Marijampolė gymnasium from 1890 to 1897. After graduation he enrolled into the Sejny Priest Seminary, but was expelled after a year for his activities against the Tsarist authorities.^[1] He participated in the Lithuanian National Revival, contributing and editing weekly Varpas and Ūkininkas and disseminating illegal Lithuanian literature during the Lithuanian press ban. Mickevičius chose his pen name Kapsukas after Vincas Kapsas, one of the pen names of Vincas Kudirka, founder of Varpas.^[2] Mickevičius' political views turned increasingly socialist and against Lithuanian independence.^[3]

In 1904 he established Social Democratic Workers' Party, which soon merged into the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party.^[1] Despite his position as member of the Central Committee, Mickevičius did not persuade the Party to join the Bolshevik movement in Russia.^[1] During the Russian Revolution of 1905, he organized worker strikes in Suvalkija. From 1907 he was imprisoned and exiled several times for his political activities by the Tsarist authorities, but at the end of 1913 he escaped the Russian Empire.^[1] In Europe he joined Communist movement and met with Vladimir Lenin.^[2] In 1918 Mickevičius was sent to establish and govern the short-lived Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (1918–1919), which several months later was joined with the Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia to form the Lithuanian–Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, commonly referred to as Litbel. After the failure of these republics, Mickevičius left for Soviet Russia, where he continued to lead Lithuanian communist and work for Comintern. During a visit to see Joseph Stalin in Moscow, in 1935, he died under mysterious circumstances and his family was repressed.^[2]

After the Soviet occupation of Lithuania, his student Antanas Sniečkus propagated Mickevičius' personality cult.^[2] In his honor the city of Marijampolė was renamed Kapsukas (1956–1989) and Vilnius University (1955–1990) bore his name. Two large sculptures of Mickevičius were erected in Vilnius: one in front of the Vilnius Town Hall (1962) and another, depicting Mickevičius with Lenin, in Antakalnis (1979).^[2]

His son, bearing his name, continues to reside in Vilnius, while his grandson, Rimvydas, lives in California with his wife and two children.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Simas Sužiedėlis, ed (1970–1978). "Kapsukas-Mickevičius, Vincas". Encyclopedia Lituanica. III. Boston, Massachusetts: Juozas Kapočius. pp. 38–40. LCC 74-114275. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e} (Lithuanian) Venclova, Tomas (2006). Vilniaus vardai. Vilnius: R. Paknio leidykla. pp. 194–195. ISBN 9986-830-96-6. 
3. ^ White, James D. (1994). "National Communism and World Revolution: The Political Consequences of German Military Withdrawal from the Baltic Area in 1918–19". Europe–Asia Studies 8 (46): 1363. ISSN 0966-8136. 

Persondata
Name	Mickevicius-Kapsukas, Vincas
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1880
Place of birth
Date of death	1935
Place of death