The CPDPR was founded on 8 October 2014. Boris Litvinov, who previously was the head of a regional branch of the Communist Party of Ukraine in the Kirovsky District, Donetsk,[failed verification][6][7] was proclaimed chairman of the party. Litvinov headed the People's Council from July to October 2014.[7] After his dismissal as chairman of the People's Council, rumors emerged that Litvinov had been briefly arrested, yet Litvinov himself denied them.[7]
Litvinov stated that the CPDPR would support the candidacy of Alexander Zakharchenko, the first President of the Donetsk People's Republic, in the 2014 general election for the country's premiership.[5] The CPDPR themselves were banned from participating in the elections because the party "made too many mistakes" in their submitted documents.[8] According to some Russian media, the final party's lists were edited in Moscow.[7] Selected members were allowed to be on the party list for the Donetsk Republic political organization.[7] Three members of the CPDPR were elected to the People's Council: Boris Litvinov, Vadim Zaibert, and Nikolai Ragozin.[7] Zaibert was later killed in action and not replaced, thus leaving only two members of the party in the People's Council.[9]
In 2015, the Leninist Communist Youth Union (Komsomol) of the party was founded, headed by First Secretary Vadim Popkov and Second Secretary Anton Saenko.[3]
In 2016, Litvinov and Ragozin were expelled from the People's Council due to a "loss of confidence", thus leaving the party with no representatives.[7]
In 2022, following the annexation of the Donetsk People's Republic by the Russian Federation, the CPDNR became a republican branch of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.[10]
