Utopijos pilietis Vytautas Putna

LTLietuvos politinės nepriklausomybės ir demokratinio režimo atkūrimas 1990 metais radikaliai pakeitė visuomenės gyvenimą, o pirmiausia jo simbolius. 1993 metais, kaip tik suėjus šimtui metų nuo Putnos gimimo, jo paminklas buvo nugriautas. Tai visiškai logiškas ir neišvengiamas žingsnis, laiko reikalavimas. Tryliktasis paminklo (beje, tipiško sovietinio) gimtadienis tapo ir jo laidotuvių diena. Bet tai irgi savotiška proga pamąstyti apie žmogų, kuris gyveno ne dėl paminklo, tačiau jo sulaukė ir vėl neteko. Dabar Putna jau nebepopuliarus kaip garsus lietuvių kilmės bolševikų karvedys. Mums dabar įdomiausia, kaip ir kodėl tautiniam sąjūdžiui simpatizavęs žmogus pasirinko kitą idealą, pasirinko, daugelio iš mūsų akimis žiūrint, nutautėjimą ir antihumaniškumą, prievartą ir smurtą [p. 261].

ENVytautas Putna is known in historiography as a red general who was executed during the Stalinist regime. His Lithuanian origins until now served as a basis for symbolically localising the Soviet regime (his monument in his homeland was the site of official celebrations), or as an example of losing one's national identity. The article is intended to point out that Putna's decision for Bolshevism was ambiguous, since he participated in the national movement of Riga Lithuanians, painted patriotic pictures, acted in a Lithuanian theatre and wrote poetry. In 1920 he became famous in the Russian civil war. Putna hoped that the world revolution would also reach Lithuania. Putna had a bright career in the Soviet Army, was appointed general, served as a war attache in foreign countries. But Stalinist demoralisation and disintellectualisation did not overcome him: he had ftever forgotten his home region, relatives and acquaintances, emphasised his Lithuanian national identity, and when Lithuanian-Polish relations became especially tense in 1927, he sent a personal telegram to Piłsudski interceding for Lithuania, and, as Juozas Linartas has proven, he was an activist among Lithuanians in Riga. On the other hand the social and political structure of inter-war Lithuania was clearly unacceptable for Putna. The national revival did not succeed in consolidating the whole of Lithuanian society, owing to problems emerging as a result of long historical development. Putna's personally unreproachable decision was judged negatively as a result of historical events.