General Secretary
The office of General Secretary (or First Secretary) is staffed by the chief officer (sometimes also the leader) of:
- Some political parties, especially Communist Parties
- Some church organizations, such as the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches
- Some trades unions, especially in the United Kingdom
- Consumer organizations, such as the National Consumers League
- The General Secretariat for Macedonia and Thrace, a government agency for the Greek regions of Macedonia and Thrace
See more about General Secretary of the Communist Party.
A similar title is Secretary-general.
[edit] General Secretaries of current Communist parties
The official title of the leader of most Communist parties is the "General Secretary of the Central Committee". When a Communist party is in power, the General Secretary is usually the country's de facto leader (though sometimes this leader also holds state-level positions to monopolize power, such as a presidency or premiership in order to constitute de jure leadership of the state).
| Official title | Incumbent | Term start | Other names |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea | Kim Jong Un (Acting) | 29 December 2011 (de facto) | Chairman of the Worker's Party of Korea (1949-66) |
| First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba | Raúl Castro
|
19 April 2011 | |
| General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam | Nguyễn Phú Trọng
|
19 January 2011 | Chairman of the Workers' Party of Vietnam (1951-69) |
| General Secretary of the Communist Party of Mongolia | Sükhbaataryn Batbold
|
8 April 2009 | Chairman of the Communist Party of Mongolia (1921, 1923-28)
First Secretary of the Communist Party of Mongolia (1928-40, 1954-58) |
| General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party | Choummaly Sayasone
|
1st term: 21 March 2006 2nd term: 21 March 2011 |
Chairman of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (1991-2006) |
| General Secretary of the Communist Party of China | Hu Jintao
|
1st term: 15 November 2002 2nd term: 22 October 2007 |
Chairman of the Communist Party of China (1922-25, 1943-82) |
| General Secretary of the Communist Party of Britain | Robert Griffiths
|
January 1998 | |
| First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation | Gennady Zyuganov
|
14 February 1993 |
[edit] General Secretaries of former Communist parties
| Official title | Incumbent | Term start | Other names |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union | Office abolished (last: Mikhail Gorbachev)
|
Until 24 August 1991 | Technical Secretary of the Bolshevik Party(1917-18)
Chairman of the Secretariat of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) (1918-19) Responsible Secretary of the RCP(b) (1919-22) First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1953-66) |
| First Secretary of the Albanian Party of Labour | Office abolished (last: Ramiz Alia)
|
Until 4 May 1991 | |
| First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party | Office abolished (last: Mieczysław Rakowski)
|
Until January 29, 1990 | |
| General Secretary of the Bulgarian Communist Party | Office abolished (last: Petar Mladenov)
|
Until January 15, 1990 | |
| General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party | Office abolished (last: Nicolae Ceaușescu)
|
Until 22 December 1989 | |
| General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany | Office abolished (last: Egon Krenz)
|
Until 3 December 1989 | |
| General Secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party | Office abolished (last: Károly Grósz)
|
Until 7 October 1989 | |
| General Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea | Office abolished (last: Pol Pot)
|
Until 8 December 1981 |
