Communist Party of Armenia (Soviet Union)
Introduction The '''Communist Party of Armenia''' (, ) was a branch of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union within the Armenian SSR, and as such, the sole ruling party in the Armenian SSR.
History The first Marxist group in Armenia was founded by Stepan Shaumian in 1899 in Jalaloghli (modern-day Stepanavan). In 1902, Shaumian, Bogdan Knunyants and Arshak Zurabov founded the Union of Armenian Social Democrats was founded in 1902 in Tiflis (Tbilisi) as a branch of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. Like its parent organization, it split into a Bolshevik and Menshevik faction.During the existence of the First Republic of Armenia (1918–1920), the Armenian Bolsheviks actively struggled against the government led by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutiun). In September 1919, the Bolshevik organizations of Armenia created the Armenia Committee (Armenkom) of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks). In May 1920, they led a failed armed uprising against the ARF-led government. Many of Armenian Bolsheviks were executed or forced to flee to newly sovietized Azerbaijan following the failed uprising, and the communists' activities in Armenia practically ceased.On 30 June 1920, the Russian Communist Party authorized the creation of the Communist parties of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, which were to be subordinated to the Caucasian Bureau of the party. Another party called the Communist Party of Armenia, which had been created in 1918 to spread Bolshevik propaganda among Western Armenian refugees, was merged with the main Communist Party of Armenia. In November 1920, the Armenian Revolutionary Committee (Armrevkom, chaired by Sarkis Kasyan) was created in Baku to facilitate the sovietization of Armenia. On 29 November 1920, Armrevkom crossed into Armenia from Azerbaijan together with the Red Army and declared the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic.The Communist Party of Armenia's first congress took place in January 1922, the same year that the Soviet Union was officially founded with the Transcaucasian SFSR (and with it Soviet Armenia) as a constituent member.Many of the party's leaders were accused of being Trotskyists or Dashnakist and executed in 1937.===Dissolution and succession===In the elections for the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR in 1990, the Communist Party of Armenia came in second to the non-communist Pan-Armenian National Movement. On 4 August 1990, Levon Ter-Petrosyan was elected chairman of the Supreme Soviet. This was the first time that a non-communist party had come to power in a Soviet republic. The 19th Congress of the Communist Party of Armenia, held on 7 September 1991, decided to dissolve the party. The party's last leader, Aram G. Sargsyan, created the Democratic Party of Armenia. The same year, the new Armenian Communist Party was established under the leadership of Sergey Badalyan, which considered itself the successor of the Soviet Communist Party of Armenia.
Leaders The title of the leader of the party almost always was "First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Armenia".PictureNameTook officeLeft officePolitical partyFirst Secretary1105x105px'''Gevorg Sargisovich Alikhanian'''(1897–1938)December 1920May 1921CPA'''General Secretary'''2133x133px'''Askanaz Mravian'''(1885–1929)May 1921January 1922CPSU'''First Secretary'''3155x155px'''Ashot Hovhannisyan'''(1887–1972)January 19226 July 1927CPSU4105x105px'''Hayk Ovsepyan'''(1891–1937)6 July 19278 April 1928CPSU5frameless'''Haykaz Kostanyan'''(1897–1938)8 April 19287 May 1930CPSU6105x105px'''Aghasi Khanjian'''(1901–1936)7 May 19309 July 1936CPSU7132x132px'''Amatuni Vardapetyan'''(1900–1938)21 September 193623 September 1937CPSU8136x136px'''Grigory Arutinov'''(1900–1957)23 September 193728 November 1953CPSU9105x105px'''Suren Tovmasyan'''(1909–1980)28 November 195328 December 1960CPSU10105x105px'''Yakov Zarobyan'''(1908–1980)28 December 19605 February 1966CPSU11100x100px'''Anton Kochinyan'''(1913–1990)5 February 196627 November 1974CPSU12105x105px'''Karen Demirchyan'''(1932–1999)27 November 197421 May 1988CPSU13105x105px'''Suren Harutyunyan'''(1939–2019)21 May 19885 April 1990CPSU14105x105px'''Vladimir Movsisyan'''(1934–2014)5 April 199030 November 1990CPSU15105x105px'''Stepan Pogosyan'''(1932–2012)30 November 199014 May 1991CPSU16105x105px'''Aram Sargsyan'''(1949–)14 May 19917 September 1991CPSU
Publications The party published the daily newspaper ''Sovetakan Hayastan'' ("Soviet Armenia") and the monthly magazine ''Leninyan Ughiov'' ("On Lenin's Path").
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