USSR: Lithuania: Moscow Splits the Communist Party on the Eve of Elections

One of the major confrontations at the plenum was over the Lithuanian Communist Party's declaration of independence (with the obvious aim of regaining political credibility, after it was swept from the boards by Sajudis in last year's election for the Congress of People's Deputies). The Soviet CP leadership clearly was not prepared to give the Lithuanian CP so wide a margın for maneuver. It sponsored a split in the party, giving support to a Moscow loyalist group calling itself the Lithuanian Communist Party (on the Platform of the CPSU).