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General Secretary of the Communist Party

Leader of a communist party; de facto leader of one-party communist states From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The title of General Secretary or First Secretary is commonly used for the leaders of most communist parties. When a communist party is the ruling party of a communist state, the general secretary is typically the country's de facto leader. Except in Vietnam, it is not uncommon for this leader to also assume state-level positions, such as president or premiership, thereby also becoming the de jure leader of the state. The position of general secretary is typically elected by the communist party's central committee (with the Workers' Party of Korea as an exception), and the holder of this title also serves on the communist party's politburo and secretariat.

General secretaries of ruling communist parties

More information Party, Title ...
Leaders of current ruling communist parties
Party Title Officeholder Took office Length of tenure Ref.
Workers' Party of Korea General Secretary Kim Jong Un 11 April 2012 14 years, 187 days [1]
Chinese Communist Party General Secretary of the Central Committee Xi Jinping 15 November 2012 13 years, 334 days [2]
Lao People's Revolutionary Party General Secretary of the Central Committee Thongloun Sisoulith 15 January 2021 5 years, 273 days [3]
Communist Party of Cuba First Secretary of the Central Committee Miguel Díaz-Canel 19 April 2021 5 years, 179 days [4]
Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary of the Central Committee Tô Lâm 3 August 2024 2 years, 73 days [5]
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General secretaries of former ruling communist parties

More information Party, Title ...
General Secretaries of former ruling communist parties
Party Title Country First officeholder Term began and ended Final officeholder Term began and ended
Party of Labour of Albania General Secretary People's Socialist Republic of Albania Enver Hoxha 38 November 1941 – 11 April 1985 Ramiz Alia 13 April 1985 – 13 June 1991
Bulgarian Communist Party General Secretary People's Republic of Bulgaria Georgi Dimitrov 1933 – 2 July 1949 Petar Mladenov 10 November 1989 – 2 February 1990
Communist Party of Czechoslovakia First Secretary Czechoslovakia Klement Gottwald 1945 – 14 March 1953 Ladislav Adamec 21 December 1989 – 1 September 1990
Socialist Unity Party of Germany General Secretary East Germany Wilhelm Pieck 22 April 1946 – 25 July 1950
(as Chairman)		 Egon Krenz 18 October 1989 – 3 December 1989
Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party[N 1] General Secretary Hungarian People's Republic János Kádár 25 October 1956 – 22 May 1988 Rezső Nyers 22 May 1988 – 7 October 1989
(as President)
Communist Party of Kampuchea General Secretary Democratic Kampuchea Tou Samouth 30 September 1960 – 20 July 1962 Pol Pot 22 February 1963 – 6 December 1981
Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party[N 2] General Secretary Mongolian People's Republic Soliin Danzan 3 March 1921 – 21 September 1921 Büdragchaagiin Dash-Yondon 28 February 1991 – 28 July 1996
(as Chairman till 1992)[N 3]
Polish United Workers' Party First Secretary Polish People's Republic Bolesław Bierut 22 December 1948 – 12 March 1956 Mieczysław Rakowski 29 July 1989 – 29 January 1990
Romanian Communist Party General Secretary Socialist Republic of Romania Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej 16 October 1945 – 19 April 1954 and 30 September 1955 – 19 March 1965 Nicolae Ceaușescu 22 March 1965 – 22 December 1989
Communist Party of the Soviet Union General Secretary Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Joseph Stalin 3 April 1922 – 16 October 1952 Vladimir Ivashko 24 August 1991 – 29 August 1991
(acting)
League of Communists of Yugoslavia President Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito March 1939 – 4 May 1980 Milan Pančevski 8 May 1989 – 30 June 1990
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See also

Notes

  1. [1]
    Successor of the Hungarian Working People's Party from 1956
  2. [2]
    Following the Mongolian Revolution of 1990, the party became the current Mongolian People's Party
  3. [3]
    Dash-Yondon was the last leader of the party before the dissolution of the Mongolian People's Republic

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