Raštai. T. 2, Lietuva Reformų seimo metu. Iki 1791 m. gegužės 3 d. konstitucijos
LTAdolfo Šapokos (1906-1961) antrame „Raštų“ tome publikuojamas pirmas ir savo apimtimi plačiausias veikalas „Lietuva Reformų seimo metu. Iki 1791 m. gegužės 3 d. konstitucijos“. Tai vienas pirmųjų ir iki šiol išsamiausias tyrimas apie Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštystės politinę padėtį Ketverių metų seimo (1788-1792) veiklos laikotarpiu. 1936 m. parašyta ir tik šiandien skaitytojams pristatoma pirmoji žymaus istoriko disertacija daugiau kaip 70 metų išgulėjo Lietuvos bibliotekų rankraščių fonduose, tačiau iki šiol neprarado mokslinės reikšmės. Veikale plačiai aptariama Ketverių metų seimo išvakarės ir politinės kovos 1788 ir 1790 m. priešseiminiuose seimeliuose, seimo darbas, reformų projektų parengimo užkulisiai, Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštystės atstovų indėlis rengiant reformų programą. Siekdamas atskleisti Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštystės situacijos specifiką, autorius pateikia platų visos Abiejų Tautų Respublikos politinio gyvenimo vaizdą.
ENThe Adolfas Šapoka work, Lithuania during the Reform Diet. Up until the 3 May 1791 Constitution, is one of the first and so far the most thorough study about the political situation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during the especially significant period of the activities of the Four Year Diet (1788-1792) in the late 18th century. This work, which was written in 1936 and is becoming available to a wide circle of readers only in the early 21st century, lay for over 70 years in the manuscript holdings of Lithuanian libraries and was, in fact, extensively used by Lithuanian and foreign researchers. The dissertation written by Adolfas Šapoka in the 1930s has not yet lost its scientific significance. Its persistent value and authenticity are increased not only by the abundant archival sources the author used: diligently collected instructions from all the dietines of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during the period in question, which are today preserved in the archives of two states: Lithuania and Belarus (some of these documents have not survived to the present day.), but also by his conceptual insights. Adolfas Šapoka was one of the first to raise and assess the significance of ‘The Mutual Guarantee of the Two Nations’, a document adopted by the Diet on 20 October 1791, on the development of Lithuanian-Polish national relations and he substantiated an assertion about the preservation of Lithuanian statehood not only after the 1569 Union of Lublin but also after the publication of the 3 May Constitution. The work broadly discusses the eve of the Four Year Diet and the political struggle in the 1788 and 1790 pre-diet dietines and thoroughly illuminates the Diets work, what was happening on the sidelines in preparing the draft reforms, and the contribution of the representatives of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in organising the reform programme.Adolfas Šapoka revealed the specific nature of the situation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the chronologically narrow four-year period not only by using 551 primary sources (Diet journals and constitutions, the speeches given in the Diet by the envoys of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, dietine instructions, memoirs, correspondence, etc.) but also by presenting a broad image of the political life of the entire Commonwealth of the Two Nations. Adolfas Šapokas work, Lithuania during the Reform Diet. Up until the 3 May 1791 Constitution, is so far the most thorough study in the Lithuanian historiography that covers the reforms of the Four Year Diet and the participation of the parliamentarians from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in their preparation. The work is also significant in that it is so far the only study, which is devoted to the history of one diet, in the Lithuanian historiography encompassing research on the early Modern Era. The traditions of such research are widely cultivated in the countries of Western Europe and in neighbouring Poland. After Adolfas Šapoka wrote this fundamental work, practically no such research has been continued in Lithuania. Adolfas Šapokas work, Lithuania during the Reform Diet. Up until the 3 M ay 1791 Constitution, consists of an introduction, a list of sources and literature, seven chapters, and conclusions. The introduction discusses the topic’s problem and the level of its investigation, raises the work’s aim, defines the objectives, and discusses the literature and sources on the topic. The first chapter, called ‘The Question of Reforms and the Domestic and Foreign Condition of the Commonwealth on the Eve of the Diet’ analyses the Commonwealth's national structure, discusses the Commonwealth as a class state of nobles, the origin of the liberum veto and its meaning, the theory of the universal equality of the nobility, and the actual reality.It pays special attention to a discussion of the role of the Diet, as an institution expressing the will of the nobility, in the Commonwealth’s noble society and to an analysis of the reasons for the decline in the significance of the central executive power. In reviewing the maturation of the idea of the reforms and of the first attempts at state-wide reforms, Adolfas Šapoka discusses the question of reforms found in the journalism of the 17th and first half of the 18th centuries, the Čartoriskiai (Pol. Czartoryscy) reforms and their failure, the efforts to reform the state in the 1767-1768 and 1773-1775 Diets, and the significance of the creation of the Permanent Council. The subchapter devoted to an analysis of Lithuanian-Polish national relations focuses on the fusion of the Lithuanian nobility and the Polish szlachta into a single estate nation’ and the unification of the public institutions. It also distinguishes the problem of Lithuania’s national organisation during the Čartoriskiai reforms and the reorganisation conducted under Russian influence. It pays special attention to a discussion of the condition of the state and society after the First Partition as well as to a review of the formation of cultural and economic conditions favourable to the reforms. In discussing the geopolitical situation in Europe in the 1780s, he concentrates on the change in Russian-Prussian relations, the creation of the Northern Alliance, and the influence of these changes on the domestic and international situation of the Commonwealth of the Two Nations. The work thoroughly discusses the Commonwealth’s domestic situation on the eve of the 1788 Diet, analyses the influence and role of the political factions, the Russian and Prussian struggle over influence in the Diet, and the establishment of the Prussian positions. [...].
