Vincas Mickevicius-Kapsukas (7 April 1880-17 February 1935) was a Communist Party of Lithuania politician and the head of the short-lived Lithuanian SSR and the the Lithuanian-Byelorussian SSR.
Biography[]
Vincas Mickevicius-Kapsukas was born in Wylkowyszki, Congress Poland, Russian Empire (now Vilkaviskis, Lithuania) on 7 April 1880. He came from a family of wealthy farmers, and he became an active member of the national revival movement as a writer and editor for Lithuanian publications and a member of the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania. As his views turned from socialism to communism, Mickevicius became one of the founders and leaders of the Communist Party of Lithuania and headed the short-lived Lithuanian SSR and the Lithuanian-Byelorussian SSR in 1918-1918. After the defeat of these republics during the Lithuanian-Soviet War, Mickevicius left for the Soviet Union, where he worked for Comintern. He died of tuberculosis in Moscow in 1935.