Mykolo Römerio Lietuvos valstybingumo koncepcija ir pastangos ją įgyvendinti 1911-1919 metais

LTSusiklosčius tam tikroms aplinkybėms M. Römeriui pavyko priartėti prie esminių Lietuvos ir jos liaudies reikalų, savitai įsitraukti į mūsų minėtus procesus ir kaip teoretikui, ir kaip praktikui. Bene ryškiausia tokio savitumo išraiška yra M. Römerio „naujojo“ Lietuvos valstybingumo koncepcija ir su ja susiję praktinės politinės jo veiklos faktai 1911-1919 m. Istoriografijoje (ir Lenkijos, ir Lietuvos) ji kol kas daug dėmesio nesulaukė. Galėtume paminėti tik jo, kaip krajovco, pažiūrų apibūdinimą gerai žinomuose Juliuszo Bardacho (Julijaus Bardacho), Jano Jurkiewicziaus (Jano Jurkevičiaus) veikaluose bei Česlovo Laurinavičiaus straipsnyje, kuriame nagrinėjama M. Römerio Lietuvos valstybingumo tradicijos, pilietybės, tautos sąvokų samprata [p. 89-90].

ENAn analysis of the processes of the national revival in the 19th century Europe shows that under the conditions of the modernisation of society nobility in some countries did not manage to join successfully in the process of formation of new nations and new nation states. A part of the descendants of the old nobility of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania, who although Polonized linguistically and culturally, but preserved intact their old-style mentality associated with the GDL statehood, had to search for its way of adapting this mentality to the new situation. As an example of such a search, the evolution of the concept of modern statehood of Mykolas Rómeris, a member of the old Römeriai family famous in Lithuania, and his activities in 1911-1919 related with this concept, are discussed in the article. Two main groups of factors which determined Römeris’s concept of Lithuania’s statehood should be noted here. First, Römeris’s self-consciousness and directly related to it his ideology of the krajowcy which formed his views on: (a) historical Lithuania, (b) the possibilities to harmonise the needs and aspirations of the nationalities (Lithuanians, Poles, Bielorussians) of the country (c) Poland and the mission of Polish culture in the country. Second, his evaluation of the geopolitical situation of historical Lithuania and that of modern Lithuania as a nation-state. In 1911-1919 Römeris formulated the idea of independent historical Lithuania (Lithuania and Bielorussia), relating it to the restoration of Poland’s independence. According to this idea, Lithuania would be a modern Jagiellonian Commonwealth (Rzeczpospolita Jagiellońska).Historical Lithuania, a free democratic state, would be connected with a modern democratic Poland by alliance, federation or confederation, which would guarantee the security for both states and abolish the threat of Germany and Russia in the region. A possibility for evolution of these connections into a union of the Baltic states was provided in the concept. In his search for the possibilities to realise the independent statehood of historical Lithuania, Römeris made attempts to employ the structures of the Masonic lodges of Russia (The Great Orient), the local lodges of Vilnius (Jedność, Litwa, Białoruś), the legions of Piłsudski, Polish political institutions and groups (The Chief Popular Committe, Independence Block), but without success. The Polish politicians were predominantly of national democratic orientation, they were concerned only with the interests of the Polish people and the restoration of Poland. They were for desintegration of historical Lithuania and the incorporation of its lands in which any manifestation of Polish civilisation could be traced into the modern Polish nation state rather than for the restoration of the aforementioned one. Römeris’s concept of historical Lithuania was in correlation with the main features of the programme of the Great Oriental Empire planned and carried out by Jan Piłsudski in 1919. That is why in April 1919 he joined the programme. Having failed to get interested in these plans Lithuanian politicians of democratic orientation who considered them as imperialistic on the part of Poland, he left his political activities for good. His concept of historical Lithuania was not realised. Pilsudski’s policy of the "accomplished facts" strained the relations between Lithuania and Poland which was used by national democrats (endeks).The Riga Treaty of March 1921 between Poland and Soviet Russia, the military operation of General Żeligowski in October 1920 and the resolution adopted by the assembly of Middle Lithuania (Litwa Środkowa) in 1922 determined and realised the division of a considerable part of lands of historical Lithuania between Russia and Poland. The processes taking place under the influence of the modern nationalist ideology (gaining strength in the national identity and the expansion of the idea of a nation state) on the territory of historical Lithuania had advanced to such an extent that it was not possible to use them for the realisation of Römeris’s idea of Lithuania’s statehood, or to conform it with the values of ideology of the krajowców (the priority of the historical over national consciousness, restoration of a historical state). For this reason this conception of Römeris should be considered as an unsuccessful attempt to combine traditionalism (in a sense of Jagiellonian union) with post-romanticism (in a sense of a modern multinational state).