First Secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine


The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine was a party leader of the republican branch of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The office's name alternated throughout its history between First Secretary and the General Secretary.
The secretary was the de facto leader of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic through Article 6 of the Soviet Constitution, which made the Communist Party of the Soviet Union the "leading and guiding force of the Soviet society". These powers were revoked with the revision to Article 6 on 24 October 1990 that removed the Communist Party's monopoly on power.
The First Secretary was elected at a plenum of the Central Committee, while each Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine was elected at the each Party's Congress. The longest serving secretary was Volodymyr Shcherbytsky with some 17 years.

Name change

Historical scope

The post of Secretary was elected by a plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine beginning since July 1918. Until 1920 it was a single post of the Central Committee Secretariat. In 1920 Nikolay Bestchetvertnoi was dismissed as the secretary and the Provisional Bureau of the Central Committee elected Stanislav Kosior as the Party's Secretary.
Later in 1920 there were introduced a post of the Second Secretary which acted as a deputy of the First Secretary. In 1921 after Vyacheslav Molotov was dismissed as the First Secretary, he was replaced with Feliks Kon as the Responsible Secretary. Kon became the only party official with such title which he held until end of 1921. Starting with 1921 beside the First and the Second secretaries, there were elected some additional secretaries, first of which became Stanislav Kosior.
In March 1925 on a statement of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine the post held by Emanuil Kviring had changed its name to the General Secretary. Less than a month later a plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine reelected the party's leader Lazar Kaganovich with the new title name. In January of 1934 Stanislav Kosior was elected as the First Secretary returning to previous name which has been kept until the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
From 1927 to 1930, the Communist Party of Ukraine also had posts of a candidate to Secretariat members. Between 1931 and 1932 there were secretaries for specific types of industry as well as a separate secretary for the Donbas. In June of 1937 there was introduced a post of the Third Secretary which existed until January of 1949. In May of 1940 a practice of electing a secretary for specifically assigned industry was renewed and continued throughout the World War II until the next planum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine in January of 1949.
Until 1952 the Communist Party of Ukraine was officially known as the Communist Party of Ukraine.

List of first and second secretaries

Other members of Secretariat

Third Secretary

Other Secretaries

Candidates to the Secretariat