Lietuvos politika Lietuvos lenkų atžvilgiu 1988-1994 metais

LTApie lietuvių (Lietuvos TSR ir Lietuvos Respublikos) ir Lietuvos lenkų santykius, apie etnopolitinį konfliktą tarp dviejų tautinių bendruomenių, minimu laikotarpiu, rašė lenkų ir lietuvių istorikai. Lenkiška istoriografija žymiai platesnė ir įvairesnė nei lietuviška2. Šiame tekste aptarsiu dviejų Lietuvos valdžių, dviejų politinių sistemų ir režimų – Lietuvos TSR ir Lietuvos Respublikos – politiką Lietuvos lenkų atžvilgiu. Konkrečiai atsakysiu į kelis klausimus: kokie veiksniai įtakojo politiką ir kokie buvo tos politikos rezultatai. [Iš straipsnio, p. 659]

ENThe text discusses the policies of two Lithuanian governments, under two different political systems and regimes – the Lithuanian SSR and the Republic of Lithuania – towards the Poles in Lithuania. The author addresses two questions: what factors influenced this policy and what were its consequences. Several important structural factors influenced the Lithuanian authorities’ policy towards Lithuanian Poles. The liberalisation policy (perestroika) initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev created conditions for the social activity of both national communities, Lithuanians and Lithuanian Poles. Both communities began to organise rapidly, with various informal organisations claiming to defend the interests of their compatriots; practically all structures representing Lithuanian interests had the same attitude towards Poles in Lithuania – they treated the Polish community as a national minority. Lithuanians believed that only the Lithuanian nation could restore the Lithuanian state. In the revived state, the Lithuanian nation was to determine its relations with other national communities residing in the state based on general democratic principles. Thus, in relations with other national communities, Lithuanians generally followed the principle of nationality. This principle formally did not reject the recognition that other national communities had the same right to preserve and develop their national identity as Lithuanians. However, in the case of interethnic relations in political practice, the tension between national values and democratic principles became almost inevitable. Poles in Lithuania were concerned whether Lithuanians would be able to respect democratic rules enough to guarantee the unimpeded development of the Polish national minority. The national principle on which Lithuanians rebuilt their state rendered Poles an indistinguishable national minority, similar to all other national minorities residing in Soviet Lithuania.However, from the perspective of Lithuanian Poles, they had full rights to demand special treatment for their national community. If Lithuanians intended to create a state based on the national principle rather than the civic principle, then national territorial autonomy could be a good tool for protecting the national interests of Poles. However, Lithuanians perceived the idea of territorial autonomy as a threat not only to the territorial integrity of the country but also to the state as a whole. The Soviet Lithuanian authorities’ policy towards Lithuanian Poles was influenced by several specific factors. First, the unexpected rapid ethnic mobilisation of Lithuanian Poles. Secondly, the authorities were even more disoriented by the political nature of this ethnic mobilisation – the demand by Lithuanian Poles for the establishment of Polish national territorial autonomy. Thirdly, the first demands for autonomy were raised by party activists from the Šalčininkai and Vilnius regions. The government’s goal was to eliminate or at least limit the activities of Polish autonomy supporters. If successful, the Soviet authorities in Lithuania (the Communist Party of Lithuania) could present themselves as defenders of Lithuanian national interests. However, this policy had little impact on the activities of Polish autonomists. After 1990, the policy of the Republic of Lithuania’s government towards Lithuanian Poles did not fundamentally differ from the previous policy of the Soviet Lithuanian government. The main goal remained to limit the activities of Polish autonomists. Most Lithuanian politicians believed that autonomy supporters were closely cooperating with and supported by conservative forces in Moscow. The new Lithuanian government attempted to balance Moscow’s influence on the Polish community by developing cooperation with Warsaw and Solidarity politicians, with whom contacts had been established as early as December 1989.The authorities sought to limit the influence of autonomists through a “soft power” policy (including Polish politicians in negotiations, promising various concessions, etc.) or by adopting a ‘hard’ policy, applying administrative, political, and legal pressure. After the failed August coup in 1991, autonomists lost the support of the conservative part of the CPSU, and the main autonomy structure – the Coordination Council – ceased to function. Practically at the same time, Vilnius began a policy of pressure on the Polish community – it dissolved two district councils, introduced direct administration, and repeatedly postponed local council elections. It also began judicial persecutions of autonomists. The effects of such a policy were twofold: no autonomous structures remained, but the tension between the Lithuanian state and the Polish community not only did not decrease but even increased. After the elections to the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania in November 1992 and the presidential elections in February 1993, the Lithuanian government’s policy towards the Polish minority began to change. The Lithuanian Democratic Labour Party (LDLP), former secessionists from the CPSU, decisively won the Seimas elections, and its leader Algirdas Brazauskas also won the presidential election by a large margin. The new government’s policy was based on several premises: avoiding the escalation of national tensions and limiting conflicts in domestic politics and relations with neighbouring countries. Several other circumstances also influenced the normalisation of relations with Poland: the LDLP continued the course of integration with Western structures, and Lithuanians and Lithuanian Poles were encouraged to reconcile by Pope John Paul II during his visit to Lithuania in 1993. In April 1994, Lithuania and Poland signed an interstate agreement that legally regulated the issue of national minorities in their mutual relations.