Grishkiavichius, Piatras

(also Petras Griškčvicius). Born July 19, 1924, in the village of Kriaunose, in what is now Rokiskis Raion, Lithuanian SSR. Soviet party figure. Member of the CPSU since 1945.

The son of an office worker, Grishkiavichius completed the correspondence curriculum of the Higher Party School Under the Central Committee of the CPSU in 1958. He fought in the Great Patriotic War, serving in the Soviet Army in 1942 and 1943 and in the Žemaitė Partisan Detachment in occupied Lithuania in 1943 and 1944. He began his career as a journalist in 1944. From 1948 to 1950, Grishkiavichius was a member of the staff of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania (CPL). He was managing editor of the republic newspaper Valstiečiu leikračtis (Peasant Newspaper) in 1950 and 1951 and editor of the Vilnius oblast newspaper Raudonoji žvaižde (Red Star) from 1951 to 1953. Between 1953 and 1955 he was deputy editor and first deputy editor of the republic newspaper Tiesa (Pravda).

Between 1955 and 1964, Grishkiavichius served as secretary and second secretary of the Vilnius city committee of the CPL; he was a member of the staff of the Central Committee of the CPL from 1964 to 1971. From 1971 to 1974 he was first secretary of the Vilnius city committee. Grishkiavichius was named first secretary of the Central Committee of the CPL in 1974. In 1976 he became a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU. He was a deputy to the ninth and tenth convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

Grishkiavichius has been awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, three other orders, and various medals.