Apsisprendimas, 1988-1991

LTKnygoje aprašomas Lietuvos žmoniiĮ kelias į nepriklausomybę, 1988 1991 metai, kaip tie įvykiai atrodė tuometinei respublikos ir Maskvos valdžiai. Pasakojama apie autoriaus apsisprendimą lemtingu tautai metu būti su jos žmonėmis, kartu siekti nepriklausomybės ir demokratijos. Apie Algirdo Brazausko, LKP pirmojo sekretoriaus, santykius su Sąjūdžiu ir Tarybų Sąjungos vadovybe. Knygoje nušviečiamos Lietuvos komunistų partijos atsiskyrimo nuo Tarybų Sąjungos komunistų partijos aplinkybės ir pasekmės, 1990 m. rinkimai į Aukščiausiąją Tarybą, darbas Lietuvos Respublikos Ministro Pirmininko pavaduotoju 1991 m. Tai autentiški aprašomų įvykių veikėjo ir dalyvio liudijimai.

ENAlgirdas Brazauskas, the author of the book „Apsisprendimas" („Self-Determination"), commits to paper his reminiscences and thoughts about the 1980s, a decade which was critical to the Lithuanian national rebirth, and restoration of the statehood. This is the second enriched edition of the memoir book published in 1993. The author, who was at that time the leader of a transformed independent Lithuanian Communist Party, was destined to play a significant historic role in the struggle for the independence of the Lithuanian people in 1988-1990. His civic awareness and his line of actions immensely influenced hardly predictable development of Lithuania's liberation. Struggling with the vast imperial power of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, he acted bravely and diplomatically. Through a balanced co-operation with the Soviet Union authorities and the Sąjūdis leaders, Brazauskas, who in fact was the leader of the Lithuanian SSR in 1988-1990, managed to neutralise the pressure which Moscow exerted on the national liberation movement, and thereby significantly contributed to the peaceful restoration of independence in Lithuania. It is to Brazauskas' credit that the re-establishment of the independence proclaimed on 11 March 1990 claimed no victims. The Preface to the book discloses the personality of the author who is so closely associated with the events and facts described in the book. The book starts with the economic survey of the Soviet Lithuania in the 1980s. It tells about the achievements of the Lithuanian people at that time in a number of areas, specifically focusing on the construction of educational and cultural facilities, industrial companies and the European standard motorways. Certain chapters describe problems of the Lithuanian economy alongside well known decision-makers of that time.The author shares his recollections about the Lithuanian Communist Party and its activities in the 1970s and 1980s suggesting to look at the national resurrection of the Lithuanian people and their path towards independence from the angle of the Central Committee of the LCP. „Perestroika" initiated by Mikhail Gorbachiov and the Sąjūdis set up by the Lithuanian intellectual and the academic elite laid down the most essential preconditions for the Lithuanian national rebirth. The book discloses the opinion of the Lithuanian Communist Party concerning the first steps of the Sąjūdis movement and the Constituent Assembly of the Sąjūdis. Before the Assembly Brazauskas, with the consent of the Sąjūdis, was elected the First Secretary of the Lithuanian Communist Party, attended the Sąjūdis Assembly, where he delivered a speech. The book reports on Barazauskas' participation in mass meetings organised by the Sąjūdis movement and highlights his personal impressions. In 1989, the Soviet Union held the USSR People's Deputies elections and the author of the book was among the candidates to the People's Deputies. Brazauskas writes about the elections to the USSR People's Deputies in Lithuania and their subsequent work in Moscow. At that time Sąjūdis activists highly encouraged A. Brazauskas to carry out radical measures to restore independence, while the Soviet Union used all possible means to slow down liberation of Lithuania, its transition to real democracy and aspirations to become a sovereign state. The author gives an account of this very sensitive situation entangled between two extremes. The author remembers that back in late 1989 the Lithuanian Communist Party seceded from the Soviet Union Communist Party thereby destroying dictatorial monolith of the party. It was a very complicated, ambivalent process.The conclusions of the XX Congress of the LCP proclaimed that „the goal of the independent Lithuanian Communist Party is to build the independent and democratic state of Lithuania, implement humanist ideals of socialism - freedom of the individual and social justice - and to ensure the conditions for the historic continuity for the benefit of the entire Lithuanian nation and all people in Lithuania." The leadership of the Soviet Union refused to put up with the decision of the Lithuanian Communists, and in early 1990, Mikhail Gorbachiov, the leader of the Soviet Union, personally came to Lithuania to clarify people's views and to restore „public order". The book describes Gorbachiov and other Soviet leaders' attempts to threaten Lithuanian people and force them to surrender. The book elaborates on Brazauskas' activities, who in early 1990 was President of the Supreme Council Presidium of the Lithuanian SSR; the book focuses on the elections to the Supreme Council of the LSSR, the restoration of the independent of Lithuania, and the elections of the Parliament leadership. After restoration of independence, the author was appointed Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania. He shares his reminiscences about that very complicated period of liberation of the state. The book depicts the tragic events in January 1991, and the Soviet Union efforts to force by arms and violence the Republic of Lithuania to obey to the Soviet Union. The author also highlights the transformation from the totalitarian and coercive Soviet system to democracy. The book describes various meetings and discussions with the Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachiov and other high-ranking officials and leaders of various agencies; it also tells about Brazauskas and his colleagues' „trial" organised in Moscow by the USSR Communist Party authorities after Lithuania's succession from the Soviet Union Communist Party in late December 1989.