The term General Secretary (alternatively First Secretary) denotes a leader of various unions, parties or associations. The most notable usages are the following.

• The official title of the de-facto leader of the Soviet Union was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Joseph Stalin is known to be the first to elevate the position from the former meaning to the latter. For a time the position was known as the First Secretary. See List of leaders of the Soviet Union for other bearers of these titles.

• The term General Secretary often refers to the Secretary-General of an organization such as the Secretary-General of the United Nations or Secretary-General of the League of Nations

• The General Secretary (or First Secretary) may also be the title used by the head of a political party or group. This meaning is often associated with Communist organizations. However, in some Communist parties such as the Chinese Communist Party under Mao Zedong, the highest position was that of Party Chairman though in other Communist parties this was a titular position.

• The General Secretary may also be the head of a trade union, particularly in the United Kingdom or another association such as a federation of agriculture or farmer's union or a co-operative.

The General Secretary's office or department is often referred to as the Secretariat. The General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (sometimes called First Secretary) was the title synonymous with leader of the Soviet Union after Lenins death in 1924. ... For other uses, see Stalin (disambiguation). ... An approximately chronological listing of Soviet leaders (heads of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Soviet Union). ... A large number of international organizations and other bodies have a Secretary General or Secretary-General as their chief administrative officers or in other administrative capacities. ... The United Nations Secretary-General is the head of the Secretariat, one of the principal divisions of the United Nations. ... The League of Nations was an international organization founded after the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. ... Communism - Wikipedia /**/ @import /w/skins-1. ... Communist Party of China flag The Communist Party of China (Simplified Chinese: 中国共产党; Traditional Chinese: 中國共産黨; pinyin: Zhōnggu ngchǎndǎng) is the ruling party of the Peoples Republic of China. ... â–¶ (December 26, 1893 – September 9, 1976; Mao Tse-tung in Wade-Giles) was the chairman of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China from 1943 and the chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China from 1945 until his death. ... A union (labor union in American English; trade union in Commonwealth English) is an organisation formed by workers. ... A cooperative (also co-operative or co-op) comprises a legal entity owned and democratically controlled by its members, with no passive shareholders. ... Secretariat may refer to: A racehorse who won the Triple Crown in 1973, see Secretariat (horse) In a Communist Party, a Secretariat is a key body that controls the central administration of the party, and if it is a ruling party, the country. ...