Moteius Shumauskas

(also Motiejus Šumauskas). Born Nov. 2 (15), 1905, in Kaunas. Soviet state and party figure. Hero of Socialist Labor (1975). Member of the CPSU since 1924.

The son of a worker, Shumauskas became a worker himself in Kaunas in 1922. In 1925 and 1926 he was a member of the Central Committee of the Komsomol of Lithuania, and in 1928 and 1929 he served in the Panevézys underground raion committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania. In 1930 and 1931, Shumauskas was secretary of the Central Committee of the Komsomol of Lithuania, and in 1930 he became a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania. In 1931 he was sentenced to six years’ hard labor; in 1939 he was sent to a concentration camp.

After the restoration of Soviet power in Lithuania in July 1940, Shumauskas became chairman of the Central Bureau of Trade Unions of the Lithuanian SSR and people’s commissar of local industry of the republic. From 1941 to 1946 he served as a deputy chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars of the Lithuanian SSR. In 1942, during the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45, he joined the Soviet Army. In 1943 and 1944 he headed an operational headquarters of the Lithuanian partisan movement and of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania; during the same period he also served as secretary of the Northern underground oblast committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania, and in July 1944 he became chairman of the Vilnius city executive committee.

From 1944 to 1950, Shumauskas served as chairman of the State Planning Committee of Lithuania, and in 1946 and 1947 he served concurrently as deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Lithuanian SSR. From 1950 to 1953 he was first secretary of the Siauliai oblast committee. From 1954 to 1956 he served as second secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania. In 1953 and 1954, Shumauskas was first deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Lithuanian SSR, and from 1956 to 1967 he was chairman of the council. From 1967 to 1975 he was chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR and deputy chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

Shumauskas was a candidate member of the Central Committee of the CPSU from 1956 to 1976. He served as a deputy to the second through ninth convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In December 1975 he became a personal pensioner. Shumauskas has been awarded five Orders of Lenin, two other orders, and various medals.