The Central Bureau of the Lithuanian Sections of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) () was an organization within the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) that coordinated groups of Lithuanian party members across Soviet Russia in 1917–1921. The Central Bureau played a key role in the formation of the communist movement in Lithuania in the lead-up to the establishment of the first Lithuanian Soviet Republic in 1918, as there was no communist movement there at the time of the October Revolution. The main leaders of the Central Bureau of the Lithuanian Sections were Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas and Zigmas Aleksa-Angarietis, the founding duo of Lithuanian Bolshevism. Five conferences of Lithuanian Bolsheviks in Soviet Russia were held between 1918 and 1921. The Central Bureau of the Lithuanian Sections functioned under the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks).
Background
During World War I, some 300,000 to 400,000 inhabitants of the Lithuanian governorates were evacuated along with the retreating Imperial Russian Army to other parts of the Russian Empire. From 1916 to 1917, some Bolshevik organizations were formed among the Lithuanian evacuees in cities like Petrograd, Moscow, Kharkov and Voronezh. The Lithuanian District of the Petrograd Branch of the Bolshevik Party was founded on November 21, 1916. After the 1917 February Revolution, the Lithuanian Bolshevik organizations began operating legally, at the time having some 150 members. On April 12, 1917, Tiesa ('Truth'), the first Lithuanian-language Bolshevik publication, was launched as the organ of the Lithuanian District of the Petrograd Branch. By mid-1917, some 2,000 Lithuanians had joined the Bolshevik Party.
Provisional Central Bureau
A meeting of the Lithuanian District of the Petrograd Branch was held on September 10, 1917. It decided to disband the Lithuanian District and instructed its members to join the Bolshevik Party work-place cells. The meeting also resolved that Lithuanian Sections be formed within the Bolshevik Party organizations, specifically for agitation and propaganda activities among the Lithuanians in Russia. Thus Lithuanian Bolsheviks would be active both in the territorial party organizations as well as Lithuanian Sections. To coordinate the activities of the Lithuanian Sections, a Provisional Central Bureau was established chaired by Vincas Kapsukas. The Provisional Central Bureau also included Zigmas Angarietis and as its members. On October 10 (23), 1917, the Bolshevik Party Central Committee confirmed the composition of the Provisional Central Bureau of the Lithuanian Sections of the party. The formation of the Provisional Central Bureau was announced in the 25th issue of Tiesa (October 14 (27), 1917), which became an organ of the Provisional Central Bureau of the Lithuanian Sections and the Lithuanian Section of the Petrograd Branch.
Political activities were conducted among Lithuanian workers, which provoked splits along Bolshevik/Menshevik lines in the existing Lithuanian socialist groups. Periodicals of the Lithuanian Sections would appear in Moscow, Kharkov, Odessa and other cities. In particular, the Central Bureau was active in propaganda work among soldiers in national military units. Many books and pamphlets were translated into Lithuanian language. During the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies held in November 1917, the Provisional Central Bureau was represented by Kapsukas, Norbertas Kavaliukas, Jonas Kovalskis, Viktoras Penkaitis, Eugenija Tautkaitė, and Elena Petniūnaitė-Vilūnienė.
Lithuanian Affairs Commissariat
In November 1917, the Council of People's Commissars decided to establish the Commissariat for the Lithuanian Affairs under the People's Commissariat of Nationalities. The Central Bureau of the Lithuanian Sections managed the Commissariat for the Lithuanian Affairs, an institution that dealt with the needs of the evacuated Lithuanian workers, running schools and orphanages, and would eventually organize the return of evacuees back to Lithuania.