Vladas Niunka (17 August 1907 – 26 December 1983) was a Lithuanian communist politician and publicist.
[1] For his communist activities, he was arrested seven times by the Lithuanian police and spent about five years in prisons.
He edited and published several communist newspapers, including Tiesa, Propagandistas, Komunistas.
He was a long-term member of the Central Committee of CPL (1938–1983) as well as deputy (1947–1983) and chairman (1955–1963) of the Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR.
[1] During World War II and in 1948–1961, Niunka was secretary of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of CPL.
He dedicated the last two decades of his life to academic work researching anti-communist policies and activities of the Catholic Church.
Due to financial difficulties, he could not attend classes in Kaunas and instead took correspondence courses in law while working as a teacher in Šiauliai.
[5] Antanas Sniečkus returned to Lithuania in 1936 and began looking for new people to fill leadership positions within the CPL.
He was tasked with approaching left-wing activists (social-democrats and others) about creating a unified popular front.
He published newspapers Liaudies frontas and Antifašistas aimed at this, but ultimately he was not successful.
[14] Niunka was a deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Lithuanian SSR from January 1945 to November 1948.
[17] In 1961, Niunka left the Politburo and the Propaganda and Agitation Department, but remained a member of the Central Committee of CPL.