View source for Communist Party of Abkhazia

{{Expand Georgian|აფხაზეთის კომუნისტური პარტია|date=February 2013}} 
{{Infobox political party
| country          = Abkhazia
| colorcode        = red
| name             = Communist Party of Abkhazia
| native_name      = {{lang|ab|Аԥсны Акомунисттә Апартиа}}<br />{{lang|ka|აფხაზეთის კომუნისტური პარტია}}
| logo             = Communist Party of Abkhazia Republic Logo.png
| leader           = [[Lev Shamba]]
| foundation       = March 1921<br />4 March 1995
| headquarters     = [[Sukhumi]]
| position         = [[Far-left politics|Far-left]]
| ideology         = [[Communism]]<br>[[Marxism–Leninism]]
| affiliation1_title = Continental affiliation
| affiliation1     = [[Union of Communist Parties – Communist Party of the Soviet Union|UCP–CPSU]]
| colours          = Red
| flag             = 
| international = [[International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties|IMCWP]]  <small>(Observer)</small>
}}
The '''Communist Party of Abkhazia''' ('''CPA'''; {{Langx|ab|Аԥсны Акомунисттә Апартиа|translit=Apsny Akomunisttw Apartia}}; {{Lang-ka|აფხაზეთის კომუნისტური პარტია|tr}}) is a political party in [[Abkhazia]]. Its current leader is Lev Shamba. 

== History ==
The CPA was founded in March 1921 with the demand of a separate Abkhaz [[Republics of the Soviet Union|Soviet Republic]]. It was then led by [[Efrem Eshba]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://sisauri.tripod.com/politic/abkhazia.htm|title=Avtandil Menteshashvili - Some national and ethnic problems in Georgia (1918-1922)}}</ref> Eshba had formed a [[Bolshevik]] military-revolutionary committee in [[Sukhumi]] in the summer of 1918. Eshba's group demanded direct integration of Abkhazia into the [[Soviet Union]]. During the Soviet period, the CPA was a part of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]. In 1988, the CPA demanded Abkhaz secession.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, the CPA was refounded as an independent party on 4 March 1995.{{cn|date=January 2022}} In the nineties, it was led by [[Enver Kapba]]. During the [[1999 Abkhazian presidential election|first Presidential election of Abkhazia, in 1999]], it supported President [[Ardzinba]] (who ran unopposed).<ref name=sarke990816>{{cite news|title=Daily News August 16, 1999|url=http://sarke.com/daily.asp?IssueID=1&Day=16&Month=8&Year=1999|accessdate=7 January 2012|newspaper=[[Sarke]]|date=16 August 1999}}</ref> During the Ardzinba era, it functioned as a [[loyal opposition]] party.<ref>{{cite news|title=THE SPECIAL FEATURES OF FORMING A MULTIPARTY SYSTEM IN ABKHAZIA|url=http://www.ca-c.org/journal/2002/journal_eng/cac-02/07.krien.shtml|newspaper=CA&CC Press® AB|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160421160526/http://www.ca-c.org/journal/2002/journal_eng/cac-02/07.krien.shtml|archivedate=21 April 2016}}</ref>

The CPA maintains close contacts with communist groups in [[Russia]]. It is affiliated to the [[Union of Communist Parties – Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]. However, unlike many of the other communist organisations in the region, the CPA has denounced the political legacy of [[Joseph Stalin]].

The CPA planned to hold its 8th congress on 30 October 2013, and Lev Shamba announced that he planned to resign as leader, which he had been for eight years, but he was still Chairman by the time of the Party's twentieth anniversary in 2015.<ref name=apress9957>{{cite news|title=Компартия Абхазии готовится к VIII съезду|url=http://apsnypress.info/news/9957.html|accessdate=5 February 2014|newspaper=[[Apsnypress]]|date=6 September 2013|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221205151/http://apsnypress.info/news/9957.html|archivedate=21 February 2014}}</ref>

On 29 February 2016, the Communist Party became a founding member of the [[Council for the National Unity of the Republic of Abkhazia]], uniting political forces that were neither pro-government nor pro-opposition.<ref name="ainform3236">{{cite news|title=В АБХАЗИИ СОЗДАН СОВЕТ НАЦИОНАЛЬНОГО ЕДИНСТВА РА|url=http://abkhazinform.com/item/3236-v-abkhazii-sozdan-sovet-natsionalnogo-edinstva-ra|accessdate=7 March 2016|agency=[[Abkhazia Inform]]|date=29 February 2016}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Abkhazian political parties}}
[[Category:1921 establishments in Abkhazia]]
[[Category:1995 establishments in Abkhazia]]
[[Category:Branches of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Abkhazia]]
[[Category:Communist parties in Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:Communist parties in the former Soviet Union|Abkhazia]]
[[Category:Political parties established in 1921]]
[[Category:Political parties established in 1995]]
[[Category:Political parties in Abkhazia]]
[[Category:Political parties in the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic]]
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{{Europe-communist-party-stub}}
{{Georgia-party-stub}}