Politinės partijos Lietuvoje 1918-1940 m.

LTDokumentų rinkinyje publikuojami Lietuvos politinių partijų 1918-1940 m. dokumentai, saugomi Lietuvos centriniame valstybės archyve, Lietuvos mokslų akademijos Vrublevskių bibliotekos rankraštyne ir kitose atminties institucijose. Kadangi ne visų partijų dokumentai yra išlikę, rinkinyje publikuojami politinių partijų programiniai straipsniai, paimti iš nagrinėjamo laikotarpio periodikos, informatyvi ir įdomi tuometinio Lietuvos valstybės saugumo departamento slapta medžiaga apie politinių partijų veiklą ir kt. Svarbiausi publikuojamų dokumentų paaiškinimai ir Lietuvos politinio gyvenimo kontekstas aptariamas konkrečią politinę partiją ar ideologinę srovę pristatančiame įvadiniame straipsnyje. [Iš leidinio]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Politinės partijos; 20 amžius; Politinis elitas; Tautinės mažumos; Kairiosios partijos; Dešiniosios partijos; Political parties; 20th century; Political elite; National minorities; Left-wing parties; Right - wing parties.

ENPolitical parties played a significant role when a modern Lithuanian state was developing in 1918. Ideological division of Lithuanian intelligentsia into separate political camps which began at the end of the 19th century - the beginning of the 20th century created conditions for the emergence of different models of the political system of the prospective state. Political debate, competition and practical work in parliaments took place in Lithuanian political life until the end of the twenties of the 20th century, in order to implement the programmatic provisions of a specific political party in public administration. In the thirties of the 20th century, the role of the parties had become much less relevant in the political life. Since no set of documents dedicated to Lithuanian political parties, their programmes and practical party-political activities until 1940 have been published so far, the decision was made to prepare a set of documents dedicated to the political parties of the independent Lithuania that operated during the period from 1918 to 1940. The Social-Democrats, the Lithuanian Peasant Populist Union, the Christian-Democrats and the Lithuanian Nationalist Union played an exclusive role in interwar state. They are given much more attention in this set of documents. Because of the limited scope of the publication, the documents episodically discuss the situation of the parties of the national minorities - the set mainly focuses on their activities in the democratic parliaments of the country. Published documents arc divided into four chapters. Each of them has an introduction where documents arc defined shortly. The documents are being published chronologically. They are numbered in order, and each of them has an editorial headingThe heading breafiy describes documents’ content.The whole set of documents features 207 documents and absolute majority of them relied the spectrum of the most important questions of internal politics decided by political parties. Foreign policy issues require a separate publication The first chapter "Parliamentary political parties: establishment, organizational structure and activity" comprises documents numbered 1 to 142. It presents the organisational structure, shows through the programme of each political party the attitude towards Lithuanian domestic policy, pays attention to the parliamentary activities of the parties (election campaigns, coalition negotiations, some aspects of work in parliaments until the end of 1926), the situation during a period of authoritarianism. The chapter is divided into four smaller parts and discusses the activities of the Social-Democrats, the Lithuanian Peasant Populist Union, the Christian-Democrats and the Lithuanian Nationalist Union. Social Democratic Party of Lithuania (SDPL), as the first political party in Lithuania, was established in Vilnius on 1 May 1986. During the constituent meeting of the party, A. Domaševičius and A. Moravskis had prepared the first programme of SDPL. Aspiration to restore independent Republic of Lithuania freely entering the federation with the neighbours that existed in the Grand Dutchy of Lithuania was the main difference between SDPL and other contemporary Social Democratic Polish, Russian, Jewish organizations that operated in the territory of Lithuania. The Social Democrats have become more visible during the World War I, especially after the Vilnius conference in 1917. Two members of the SDPL, M. Biržiška and S. Kairys were elected to the Council of Lithuania (Taryba). S. Kairys was one of the main initiators of making the Act of Independence of Lithuania of 16 February 1918. As democratic left-wing political force, SDPL intended to realize its programme by praticipating in the national parlamentary elections.13 of all 112 parliamentarians of the Constituent Assembly of Lithuania were the representatives of the Social Democrats (they formed the Social Democratic Group). As could have been envisaged, the Social Democrats were in opposition. During the elections of the 1st and the 2nd Seimas, the Social Democrats were very critical of the ideas of the representatives of Lithuanian Popular Peasants’ Union, and especially the Christian Democrats. Contrary to the elections to the Constituent Assembly of Lithuania or to the 2nd Seimas, the left wing parties, specifically Lithuanian Popular Peasants’ Union with 22 mandates and the Social Democrats with 15 mandates out of 85, won the elections to the 3rd Seimas that took place on the 8th and 9th days of May of the year 1926. A majority government consisted of Lithuanian Popular Peasants’ Union, and the Social Democrats had gained two Ministries: V. Čepinskis was appointed as the Minister of Education, and V. Požėla was appointed as the Minister of the Interior. After the coup d’etat of 17 December 1926, and especially after the putsch of 9 August 1927 that was organised by the left-wing part of SDPL led by J. Plečkaitis and J. Paplauskas, but was lost, many members of SDPL had no other choice but to emigrate, while others retired from political activity. The party ceased to exist. In the short term, SDPL had lost its active members; the activities of the party were paralyzed. Until the beginning of the occupation, the activities of the Social Democratic Party were more like meetings of like-minded people that took place at the home of the old leaders K. Bielinis, Liuda Purėnienė and Antanas Purenąs, and of others. The party was not engaged in other more active activities. [Extract, p. 710-711]