Valstiečių savimonė kaip istorijos mokslo objektas

LTLuominės ar baudžiavinės santvarkos laikotarpiu, ypač nacionalinio išsivadavimo judėjimo metais valstiečių, pažiūros į kitus socialinius sluoksnius bei valstybės valdžią, jų siekimai ir kova pakeisti savo padėti priklausė nuo to, kiek buvo susiformavusi valstiečių pilietinė, tautinė ir politinė savimonė. Specialių darbų apie Lietuvos valstiečių savimonę nėra. Nacionalinę valstiečių savimonę kiek plačiau palietė V. Merkys ir E. Vidmantas, nagrinėdami lietuvių savimonės raidą nuo XVIII a. pabaigos iki 1904 m. Apie valstiečių politinės savimonės apraiškas 1905 m. revoliucijoje rašė A. Tyla. Šiame rašinyje daugiausia dėmesio skirsime Lietuvos valstiečių pilietinei savimonei. Bandysime atsakyti į klausimus: 1) kada atsirado ir kaip plėtojosi valstiečių pilietinė savimonė; 2) kaip ji siejosi su valstiečių tautine ir politine savimone; 3) kokie istorijos šaltiniai atspindi jų savimonę ir kokie gali būti jos tyrimo metodai [p. 364].

ENL. Mulevičius ("Peasantry self-consciousness as History Subject") understands peasantry self-consciousness as a phenomenon of social psychology. Civil self-consciousness of peasantry is reflected in their self-government structures. In the period of feudalism company courts were a kind of self-government structure formed by Lithuanian peasants. Still almost no data on their functioning has survived. Not much is known about the activities of self-goverment structures established by peasants in XIX c. either. West European analogues prove that in the period of feudalism already peasants enjoyed civil and political rights. Peasants in Sweden and Switzerland made the greatest influence on political and economic life of their respective countries. In spite of the fact that the data on self-government structures formed by Lithuanian peasants is not available, there is no doubt that Lithuanian farmers stood for their rights since ancient times. This can be proved by their applications and complaints handed in to the state government or court. It is best of all to judge about civil rigths of peasantry in connection with freedoms their were given. Among such freedoms there was the possibility to mowe to another place for earnings, to buy a piece of land or a house and similar. Still historiography knows no unanimous view on the problem. L. Mulevičius basis his view on the version by J. Jurginis, a famous Lithuanian historian, who contends that the acknowledgment of civil rigths for peasantry was largely caused by the constitution of May 3 1791, and especially by the universal of Polanec of May 7, 1794. Peasants complaints and suits cannot be always instructive of the real intentions of peasants - they might have been protecting their interests either in hope to preserve the old state of the things or to achieve something new.Still from the second half of XVIII c. peasants became more persistent in their attempts of changing their status. Civil consciousness was more quick to appeare in peasantry than national consciousness, and the latter appeared earlier than political consciousness though the boundary between these two is hard to trace. By the end of XIX c. peasants had a clear awareness of being a nation. In the period of revolution of 1905 political movement clearly dominated in Lithuanian country. Peasants were granted the right to send their representatives to the parliament only in 1906, in the Minor Lithuania they could do this since 1898.