Algirdas Mykolas Brazauskas: biography. Algirdas Mykolas Brazauskas: biography of Lithuanian politician, President of the Republic of Lithuania

Block houses 11.06.2024

Block houses

He graduated from the institute with a degree in hydraulic engineering (1956). Worked in various construction organizations.

1965-1967 - Minister of Construction Materials Industry of the Lithuanian SSR,
1967-1977 - First Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Committee of the Lithuanian SSR,
1977-1987 - Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania (KPL),
1988-1989 - First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania,
1988-1989 - Member of the Legislation Commission of the CPSU Central Committee.

Under the leadership of Brazauskas, the Communist Party of Lithuania supported Lithuania's movement towards independence and transformed into a social democratic type party - the Democratic Labor Party of Lithuania.

On December 20, 1989, the congress of the Communist Party of Lithuania adopted a resolution to secede from the CPSU and he was elected first secretary of the independent Communist Party of Lithuania.

In January 1990, he was elected Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR and, ex officio, became a member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

In December 1990, at the founding congress of the Democratic Labor Party of Lithuania (DPTL, Lietuvos demokratinė darbo partija) was elected its chairman.

Republic of Lithuania

In February 1990, he was elected as a deputy of the Supreme Council of the Lithuanian SSR, which on March 11, 1990 proclaimed the restoration of the independence of Lithuania and was subsequently renamed the Restoration Seimas. In the first government of Kazimiera Prunskiene - Deputy Prime Minister (March 17, 1990 - January 8, 1991).

In the parliamentary elections in October 1992, he was elected as a member of the Seimas. A referendum held simultaneously with the elections adopted a new Constitution of Lithuania, providing for the post of president. The parliament, in which the majority of votes belonged to the DPTL, on November 25, 1992 elected Brazauskas as Chairman of the Seimas and acting President of Lithuania.

The president

On February 14, 1993, he was elected President of the Republic of Lithuania for a five-year term. 60% of voters voted for him. After his election, in accordance with the Constitution of Lithuania, he resigned from the post of chairman of the DPTL on February 19, 1993 and suspended his membership in the party. On February 25, 1993, the inauguration took place.

On October 6, 1997, at his last press conference as president, he refused to run for a second term. With the end of his presidential powers on February 26, 1998, he was replaced by Valdas Adamkus, who won the elections in January 1998.

Return to politics

At the beginning of 2000, he announced his return to politics. Took part in creating a coalition of left and center parties. In the parliamentary elections in October 2000, Brazauskas's Social Democratic bloc won 51 seats in the Seimas. The government coalition was made up of the Lithuanian Union of Liberals and the “New Union (Social Liberals)”.

At the unification congress on January 27-28, 2001, the Democratic Labor Party of Lithuania and the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania (SDPL) united. Chairman of the new association - the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania ( Lietuvos socialdemokratų partija) - Brazauskas was elected.

Prime Minister

After the collapse of the center-right coalition and the resignation of the 11th government (October 2000 - June 2001), on July 3, 2001, the Sejm approved the politician for the post of Prime Minister.

Scandal

In October 2005, the opposition faction of conservatives (“Fatherland Union”) began collecting signatures for the creation of a parliamentary commission to investigate some facts of the entrepreneurial activities of Brazauskas’s wife, Kristina Butrimene-Brazauskienė, in particular, her acquisition of a 38% stake in the elite Vilnius hotel “Crowne Plaza”. "(the former hotel "Draugystė", which belonged to the Council of Ministers of the Lithuanian SSR and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania) with the wife of the head of the Lukoil-Baltic company.

The politician denied accusations of corruption, but admitted that his wife owns 51% of the hotel's shares, and another 48% belongs to her son.

The charges stem from the fact that the Russian oil company Lukoil is one of the contenders for a stake in the local Mazeikiai Nafta refinery, currently owned by the Polish company ORLEN.

On November 22, at the insistence of the country's President Valdas Adamkus, Algirdas Brazauskas appeared on national television, declaring that he was not involved in the privatization of the hotel, and that all charges should be considered by law enforcement agencies, and not by a parliamentary commission. According to him, a “brutal, irrevocable offensive was organized against him so that I would leave my post.” Adamkus expressed disappointment with what exactly the Prime Minister said in his speech: “Neither society nor I received the answers we expected to dispel doubts and restore residents’ trust in government institutions.”

Government crisis

After the collapse of the ruling coalition in the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania in the spring of 2006 and the departure of the ministers of the New Union (social liberals) from the cabinet, the appointment of new government members was accompanied by scandals related to the abuses of individual ministers and the alleged financial irregularities of the Lithuanian Labor Party. Following President Adamkus' statement of no confidence in Minister of Culture Vladimiras Prudnikovas and Minister of Health Žilvinas Padaiga, Brazauskas officially announced his resignation on May 31 and handed over a request for it to the president.

Algirdas Mykolas Brazauskas was born on September 22, 1932 in the city of Rokiskis into a family of employees. His earlier childhood was spent in independent Lithuania. The boy witnessed many major events in the history of his homeland. In 1940, Lithuania became part of the USSR, then the Great Patriotic War began.

In 1951 he graduated from high school, in 1956 from Kaunas Polytechnic Institute with a degree in hydraulic engineering. Then came Soviet workdays.

Brazauskas has a fairly classic Soviet biography. He worked on construction sites in the Lithuanian SSR (for example, he built a hydroelectric power station in Kaunas), and proved himself to be a good man. He defended his Ph.D. thesis and became a member of the CPSU. In 1965, the still quite young Brazauskas took the post of Minister of Construction Materials Industry of the Lithuanian SSR. In 1974 in Moscow he defended his doctoral dissertation, and in 1977 he became secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania, a republic considered one of the “freest” in the USSR. Much more was allowed there than in other places.

Perestroika brought Brazauskas to the crest of a political wave. There was a renewal of leadership in the republics, and Lithuania did not stand aside. In 1988, Brazauskas headed the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Republic and joined the commission on legislation of the CPSU Central Committee. By that time, the independence movement was expanding in the Baltic states, and in Lithuania it was the most powerful. The leading party functionary not only did not interfere with its development, but also led it.

With his active participation, the congress of the Communist Party of the Republic at the end of 1989 decided to leave the CPSU. In January 1990, Brazauskas was elected Chairman of the Supreme Council of Lithuania. However, Brazauskas was never known for his anti-Soviet speeches. For this, he got it from his more radical compatriots, who were much more popular in 1990.

Most of 1990 and early 1991. Brazauskas was the first deputy prime minister in the government of Kazimira Prunskienė, while at the same time heading the center-left Democratic Labor Party of Lithuania. He left the cabinet on January 8, 1991 - a few days before the bloody events in Vilnius with the participation of Soviet troops and demonstrators. Who knows - perhaps the bloodshed could have been prevented if Brazauskas had been at the head of the Supreme Council, and not the radical Landsbergis.

In the fall of 1992, the party he led won the elections, and he himself became Chairman of the Seimas. On February 14, 1993, Brazauskas was elected the first president of post-Soviet Lithuania. The President did not make radical Russophobic statements. In 1997, he gave the go-ahead for signing a Border Treaty with Russia. Unlike other Baltic republics, all local Russians received citizenship.

Brazauskas refused to run for a second term and left politics in 1998. As it turned out, it was temporary. At the beginning of 2001, he headed the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania, with which his “Trudoviki” united. After the first ruling coalition collapsed in the summer of 2001, the Social Democrats formed the core of the new government. Brazauskas became prime minister for five long years.

Algirdas Mykolas Brazauskas went down in history as the father of Lithuanian independence, as well as a very skillful politician. He managed to fit into both Soviet and anti-Soviet reality. He was a supporter of Lithuania's exit from the USSR, its integration into the EU and NATO, and at the same time did not become an enemy of Russia and was not primarily responsible for the bloodshed in Vilnius in January 1991.

1992 - November 25, 1992 Predecessor: Vytautas Landsbergis Successor: Ceslovas Jursenas, acting January 15, 1990 - March 11, 1990 Predecessor: Vytautas Stasevich Astrauskas Successor: position abolished

First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania

October 20, 1988 - December 19, 1989 Predecessor: Ringaudas-Bronislav Songaila Successor: Mykolas Martinovich Burokevičius Religion: Catholic Birth: September 22nd(1932-09-22 )
Rokiskis, Republic of Lithuania Death: June 26(2010-06-26 ) (77 years old)
Vilnius, Republic of Lithuania Burial place: Vilnius Autograph:

Awards:

Foreign awards:

Algirdas Mykolas Brazauskas(lit. Algirdas Mykolas Brazauskas; September 22nd ( 19320922 ) , Rokiskis - June 26, Vilnius) - Lithuanian politician, President of the Republic of Lithuania (-), Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania (-). Doctor of Economic Sciences ().

Biography

early years

The president

Return to politics

In connection with the death of A. Brazauskas, three days of mourning were declared in Lithuania.

On the same day, A. Brazauskas was buried at the Antakalnis cemetery in Vilnius.

Memory

Awards and titles

He was awarded the highest orders of 15 states, other honors and awards. Including:

Golden chain of the Order of Three Stars (Latvia)
Chain of the Order of the Cross of the Land of Mary (Estonia, 12 August 1997)
Order of the White Star, 1st class (Estonia, 30 September 2004)
Order of the White Eagle (Poland, )
Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 1st degree (Ukraine,)
Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor (France)
Chain of the Order of the White Rose (Finland)
Order of the Seraphim ( Seraphimerorden, Sweden)
Order of the Elephant ( Elephantordenen, Denmark)
Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer (Greece)
Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit (Greece)
Grand Cross of the Order of Merit (Norway)
Grand Cross decorated with the ribbon of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Italy)
Chain of the Order of the Bust of the Redeemer (Uruguay)
Grand Cross of the Order of the Liberator of San Martin (Argentina)
Grand Cross of the Order of the Republic (Uruguay)
Order of the October Revolution (USSR, August 2, 1985)
Order of Honor (Russia, June 16, 2010) - for his great contribution to strengthening cooperation and good neighborly ties between Russia and Lithuania

Doctor honoris causa

Honorary Doctor:

Other honorary titles

Honorary citizen of the Shvenchensky district (decision of the self-government of the Shvenchensky district dated June 27, 2002).

Books

Lietuviškos skyrybos. Vilnius: Politika, 1992 (“Divorce in Lithuanian”, also published in Russian and German translations)
Divorce in Lithuanian. Vilnius: Politics, 1993
Penkeri Prezidento metai, 2000 (translated into Russian, 2003)
Apsisprendimas
Lietuvos galia: atlikti darbai ir mintys apie ateitį. Kaunas: Šviesa, (Spindulys). 142, p.: iliustr. Tir. 30,000 egz. ISBN 5-430-03996-9.

Write a review of the article "Brazauskas, Algirdas Mykolas"

Notes

Links

Predecessor:
Jonas Žemaitis-Vytautas
(not directly)

Presidents of Lithuania
-

Successor:
Valdas Adamkus

Excerpt characterizing Brazauskas, Algirdas Mikolas

All the time that he was on the battery at the gun, he, as often happens, without ceasing, heard the sounds of the voices of the officers speaking in the booth, but did not understand a single word of what they were saying. Suddenly the sound of voices from the booth struck him with such a sincere tone that he involuntarily began to listen.
“No, my dear,” said a pleasant voice that seemed familiar to Prince Andrei, “I say that if it were possible to know what will happen after death, then none of us would be afraid of death.” So, my dear.
Another, younger voice interrupted him:
- Yes, be afraid, don’t be afraid, it doesn’t matter - you won’t escape.
- And you’re still afraid! “Eh, you learned people,” said a third courageous voice, interrupting both. “You artillerymen are very learned because you can take everything with you, including vodka and snacks.
And the owner of the courageous voice, apparently an infantry officer, laughed.
“But you’re still afraid,” continued the first familiar voice. – You’re afraid of the unknown, that’s what. Whatever you say, the soul will go to heaven... after all, we know that there is no heaven, but only one sphere.
Again the courageous voice interrupted the artilleryman.
“Well, treat me to your herbalist, Tushin,” he said.
“Ah, this is the same captain who stood at the sutler’s without boots,” thought Prince Andrei, recognizing with pleasure the pleasant, philosophizing voice.
“You can learn herbalism,” said Tushin, “but still comprehend the future life...
He didn't finish. At this time a whistle was heard in the air; closer, closer, faster and louder, louder and faster, and the cannonball, as if not having finished everything it needed to say, exploding spray with superhuman force, plopped into the ground not far from the booth. The earth seemed to gasp from a terrible blow.
At the same moment, little Tushin jumped out of the booth first of all with his pipe bitten on his side; his kind, intelligent face was somewhat pale. The owner of the courageous voice, a dashing infantry officer, came out behind him and ran to his company, buttoning up his boots as he ran.

Prince Andrei stood on horseback on the battery, looking at the smoke of the gun from which the cannonball flew out. His eyes darted across the vast space. He only saw that the previously motionless masses of the French were swaying, and that there really was a battery to the left. The smoke has not yet cleared from it. Two French cavalry, probably adjutants, galloped along the mountain. A clearly visible small column of the enemy was moving downhill, probably to strengthen the chain. The smoke of the first shot had not yet cleared when another smoke and a shot appeared. The battle has begun. Prince Andrei turned his horse and galloped back to Grunt to look for Prince Bagration. Behind him, he heard the cannonade becoming more frequent and louder. Apparently, our people were starting to respond. Below, in the place where the envoys were passing, rifle shots were heard.
Le Marrois (Le Marierois), with a menacing letter from Bonaparte, had just galloped up to Murat, and the ashamed Murat, wanting to make amends for his mistake, immediately moved his troops to the center and bypassing both flanks, hoping to crush the insignificant one standing in front of him before the evening and before the arrival of the emperor. him, squad.
"Began! Here it is!" thought Prince Andrei, feeling how the blood began to flow more often to his heart. “But where? How will my Toulon be expressed? he thought.
Driving between the same companies that ate porridge and drank vodka a quarter of an hour ago, he saw everywhere the same quick movements of soldiers forming up and dismantling guns, and on all their faces he recognized the feeling of revival that was in his heart. "Began! Here it is! Scary and fun! " the face of every soldier and officer spoke.
Before he even reached the fortification under construction, he saw in the evening light of a cloudy autumn day horsemen moving towards him. The vanguard, in a burka and a cap with smashkas, rode on a white horse. It was Prince Bagration. Prince Andrei stopped, waiting for him. Prince Bagration stopped his horse and, recognizing Prince Andrei, nodded his head to him. He continued to look ahead while Prince Andrei told him what he saw.
Expression: “It has begun!” here it is!" it was even on the strong brown face of Prince Bagration with half-closed, dull, as if sleep-deprived eyes. Prince Andrey peered with restless curiosity into this motionless face, and he wanted to know whether he was thinking and feeling, and what he was thinking, what this man was feeling at that moment? “Is there anything at all there, behind that motionless face?” Prince Andrei asked himself, looking at him. Prince Bagration bowed his head as a sign of agreement to the words of Prince Andrey, and said: “Okay,” with such an expression, as if everything that happened and what was reported to him was exactly what he had already foreseen. Prince Andrei, out of breath from the speed of the ride, spoke quickly. Prince Bagration pronounced the words with his Eastern accent especially slowly, as if instilling that there was no need to rush. He, however, started to trot his horse towards Tushin's battery. Prince Andrei and his retinue went after him. Behind Prince Bagration were following: a retinue officer, the prince's personal adjutant, Zherkov, an orderly, an officer on duty on an anglicized beautiful horse and a civil servant, an auditor, who, out of curiosity, asked to go to battle. The auditor, a plump man with a full face, looked around with a naive smile of joy, shaking on his horse, presenting a strange appearance in his camelot overcoat on a Furshtat saddle among the hussars, Cossacks and adjutants.
“He wants to watch the battle,” Zherkov said to Bolkonsky, pointing to the auditor, “but his stomach hurts.”
“Well, that’s enough for you,” said the auditor with a beaming, naive and at the same time sly smile, as if he was flattered that he was the subject of Zherkov’s jokes, and as if he was deliberately trying to seem stupider than he really was.
“Tres drole, mon monsieur prince, [Very funny, my lord prince," said the officer on duty. (He remembered that in French they specifically say the title prince, and could not get it right.)
At this time they were all already approaching the Tushin battery, and a cannonball hit in front of them.
- Why did it fall? – the auditor asked, smiling naively.
“French flatbreads,” said Zherkov.
- This is what they hit you with, then? – asked the auditor. - What passion!
And he seemed to be blooming with pleasure. He had barely finished speaking when an unexpectedly terrible whistle was heard again, which suddenly stopped with a blow to something liquid, and sh sh sh slap - the Cossack, riding somewhat to the right and behind the auditor, collapsed with his horse to the ground. Zherkov and the duty officer bent down in their saddles and turned their horses away. The auditor stopped in front of the Cossack, examining him with attentive curiosity. The Cossack was dead, the horse was still struggling.
Prince Bagration, squinting, looked around and, seeing the cause of the confusion, turned away indifferently, as if saying: is it worth engaging in nonsense! He stopped his horse with the manner of a good rider, leaned over a little and straightened the sword that had caught on his cloak. The sword was old, not like the ones they wore now. Prince Andrei remembered the story of how Suvorov in Italy presented his sword to Bagration, and at that moment this memory was especially pleasant to him. They drove up to the very battery where Bolkonsky stood when he was looking at the battlefield.
-Whose company? – Prince Bagration asked the fireworksman standing by the boxes.
He asked: whose company? but in essence he asked: aren’t you shy here? And the fireworksman understood this.
“Captain Tushin, your Excellency,” the red-haired fireworksman, with a freckled face covered in freckles, shouted, stretching out in a cheerful voice.
“Well, well,” Bagration said, thinking something, and drove past the limbers to the outermost gun.
While he was approaching, a shot rang out from this gun, deafening him and his retinue, and in the smoke that suddenly surrounded the gun, the artillerymen were visible, picking up the gun and, hastily straining, rolling it to its original place. The broad-shouldered, huge soldier 1st with a banner, legs spread wide, jumped towards the wheel. The 2nd, with a shaking hand, put the charge into the barrel. A small, stooped man, Officer Tushin, tripped over his trunk and ran forward, not noticing the general and looking out from under his small hand.
“Add two more lines, it will be just like that,” he shouted in a thin voice, to which he tried to give a youthful appearance that did not suit his figure. - Second! - he squeaked. - Smash it, Medvedev!
Bagration called out to the officer, and Tushin, with a timid and awkward movement, not at all in the way the military salutes, but in the way the priests bless, placing three fingers on the visor, approached the general. Although Tushin’s guns were intended to bombard the ravine, he fired with fire guns at the village of Shengraben, visible ahead, in front of which large masses of the French were advancing.
No one ordered Tushin where or with what to shoot, and he, after consulting with his sergeant major Zakharchenko, for whom he had great respect, decided that it would be good to set the village on fire. "Fine!" Bagration said to the officer’s report and began to look around the entire battlefield opening before him, as if thinking something. On the right side the French came closest. Below the height at which the Kiev regiment stood, in the ravine of the river, the soul-grabbing rolling chatter of guns was heard, and much to the right, behind the dragoons, a retinue officer pointed out to the prince the French column encircling our flank. To the left, the horizon was limited to a nearby forest. Prince Bagration ordered two battalions from the center to go to the right for reinforcements. The retinue officer dared to notice to the prince that after these battalions left, the guns would be left without cover. Prince Bagration turned to the retinue officer and looked at him silently with dull eyes. It seemed to Prince Andrei that the retinue officer’s remark was fair and that there was really nothing to say. But at that time an adjutant from the regimental commander, who was in the ravine, rode up with the news that huge masses of French were coming down, that the regiment was upset and was retreating to the Kyiv grenadiers. Prince Bagration bowed his head as a sign of agreement and approval. He walked to the right and sent an adjutant to the dragoons with orders to attack the French. But the adjutant sent there arrived half an hour later with the news that the dragoon regimental commander had already retreated beyond the ravine, for strong fire was directed against him, and he was losing people in vain and therefore hurried the riflemen into the forest.
- Fine! – said Bagration.
While he was driving away from the battery, shots were also heard in the forest to the left, and since it was too far to the left flank to arrive on time himself, Prince Bagration sent Zherkov there to tell the senior general, the same one who represented the regiment to Kutuzov in Braunau to retreat as quickly as possible beyond the ravine, because the right flank will probably not be able to hold the enemy for long. About Tushin and the battalion covering him were forgotten. Prince Andrei carefully listened to the conversations of Prince Bagration with the commanders and to the orders given to them and was surprised to notice that no orders were given, and that Prince Bagration only tried to pretend that everything that was done by necessity, chance and the will of private commanders, that all this was done, although not on his orders, but in accordance with his intentions. Thanks to the tact shown by Prince Bagration, Prince Andrei noticed that, despite this randomness of events and their independence from the will of their superior, his presence did an enormous amount. The commanders, who approached Prince Bagration with upset faces, became calm, the soldiers and officers cheerfully greeted him and became more animated in his presence and, apparently, flaunted their courage in front of him.

Prince Bagration, having reached the highest point of our right flank, began to descend downwards, where rolling fire was heard and nothing was visible from the gunpowder smoke. The closer they descended to the ravine, the less they could see, but the more sensitive the proximity of the real battlefield became. They began to meet wounded people. One with a bloody head, without a hat, was dragged by two soldiers by the arms. He wheezed and spat. The bullet apparently hit the mouth or throat. Another, whom they met, walked cheerfully alone, without a gun, groaning loudly and waving his hand in fresh pain, from which blood flowed, like from a glass, onto his overcoat. His face seemed more frightened than suffering. He was wounded a minute ago. Having crossed the road, they began to descend steeply and on the descent they saw several people lying down; They were met by a crowd of soldiers, including some who were not wounded. The soldiers walked up the hill, breathing heavily, and, despite the appearance of the general, they talked loudly and waved their hands. Ahead, in the smoke, rows of gray greatcoats were already visible, and the officer, seeing Bagration, ran screaming after the soldiers walking in a crowd, demanding that they return. Bagration drove up to the rows, along which shots were quickly clicking here and there, drowning out the conversation and shouts of command. The entire air was filled with gunpowder smoke. The soldiers' faces were all smoked with gunpowder and animated. Some hammered them with ramrods, others sprinkled them on the shelves, took charges out of their bags, and still others shot. But who they shot at was not visible due to the gunpowder smoke, which was not carried away by the wind. Quite often pleasant sounds of buzzing and whistling were heard. "What it is? - thought Prince Andrei, driving up to this crowd of soldiers. – It can’t be an attack because they don’t move; there can be no carre: they don’t cost that way.”
A thin, weak-looking old man, a regimental commander, with a pleasant smile, with eyelids that more than half covered his senile eyes, giving him a meek appearance, rode up to Prince Bagration and received him like the host of a dear guest. He reported to Prince Bagration that there was a French cavalry attack against his regiment, but that although this attack was repulsed, the regiment lost more than half of its people. The regimental commander said that the attack was repulsed, coining this military name for what was happening in his regiment; but he himself really did not know what was happening in those half an hour in the troops entrusted to him, and could not say with certainty whether the attack was repulsed or his regiment was defeated by the attack. At the beginning of the action, he only knew that cannonballs and grenades began to fly throughout his regiment and hit people, that then someone shouted: “cavalry,” and our people began to shoot. And until now they were shooting not at the cavalry, which had disappeared, but at the foot French, who appeared in the ravine and fired at ours. Prince Bagration bowed his head as a sign that all this was exactly as he wished and expected. Turning to the adjutant, he ordered him to bring two battalions of the 6th Jaeger, which they had just passed, from the mountain. Prince Andrei was struck at that moment by the change that had occurred in the face of Prince Bagration. His face expressed that concentrated and happy determination that happens to a man who is ready to throw himself into the water on a hot day and is taking his final run. There were no sleep-deprived dull eyes, no feignedly thoughtful look: round, hard, hawk-like eyes looked forward enthusiastically and somewhat contemptuously, obviously not stopping at anything, although the same slowness and regularity remained in his movements.

early years

Born in Rokiskis into a family of employees. He graduated from high school in Kaišiadorys (1951) and in the same year entered the Kaunas Polytechnic Institute. He graduated from the institute with a degree in hydraulic engineering (1956). Worked in various construction organizations.

1965-1967 - Minister of the Construction Materials Industry of the Lithuanian SSR.
1967-1977 - First Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Committee of the Lithuanian SSR.
1977-1987 - Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania (KPL).
1988-1989 - First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania.
1988-1989 - member of the Commission on Legislation of the CPSU Central Committee.

In March 1989, he was elected People's Deputy of the USSR for the Vilnius-Leninsky territorial district, and was a member of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (Union Council).

On December 20, 1989, the Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union adopted a resolution to withdraw from the CPSU. Algirdas Brazauskas was elected first secretary of the independent Communist Party of Lithuania.

In January 1990, he was elected Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR and, ex officio, became a member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

In December 1990, at the founding congress of the Democratic Party of Labor of Lithuania (DPTL, Lietuvos demokratin? darbo partija), he was elected its chairman.