Politinė galia ir lietuviškas etniškumas. Vėlyvasis stalinizmas ir ankstyvoji destalinizacija Lietuvoje 1944-1956 m.

LTKnygoje analizuojami politinės galios – sovietinio stalininio ir postalininio režimų – santykiai ir sąveika su lietuvišku etniškumu (etnokultūra). Tokia pagrindinė šio išsamaus darbo idėja ir objektas. Autorius kruopščiai nagrinėja, kaip ir kodėl vėlyvojo stalinizmo sąlygomis lietuviškas etniškumas buvo integruojamas į oficialią sovietinę kultūrą; kokią įtaką sovietinio režimo liberalizacijos procesas turėjo lietuvių inteligentijos etnokultūriniams reikalavimams ir kaip jie buvo įtraukiami į politinę dienotvarkę; ir kaip bei kodėl vyko etniškumo politizacija. [Anotacija knygoje]

ENThe book is focused on several closely inter-related issues: it considers how and why Lithuanian ethnicity was integrated into the official Soviet culture under the conditions of late Stalinism; secondly, how the process of liberalisation of the Soviet regime influenced the ethno-cultural demands (and their inclusion in the political agenda) of the Lithuanian intelligentsia, and how and why ethnicity was politicised. The first part of the book addresses the issues of the incorporation of the legacy of Lithuanian culture (literature) into Soviet Stalinist culture as well as the institutionalisation of Lithuanian ethnic culture and the formation of political symbols. It discusses the process and institutions of the involvement (and engagement) of Lithuanian ethnic culture in the geopolitical space of the Soviet Union during Stalinism and the early years of de-Stalinisation. The second part examines the peculiarities of the formation of Soviet party cadres, based on the activities of the Party School of the republic. It discusses the causes of ethnic tensions between the newcomers from various republics of the Soviet Union and Lithuanian communists within the party and the expression of Lithuanian national communism. The third part of the book analyses the preconditions and development of de-Stalinisation. It focuses on the reactions of the Lithuanian party leadership and Lithuanians to de-Stalinisation in 1953 and 1956. The study led to a number of key conclusions. During the late Stalinist period, Lithuanian ethnicity (ethno-culture) was an important factor shaping Soviet modernity.The cultural ‘identity engineering’ of Stalinism was based on a few basic premises: firstly, on the idea of detachment from and hostility to Western cultural influences; secondly, on the integrating influence of Russian culture on the peoples of the Soviet Union; and thirdly, on the idea that Soviet culture was ‘national in its form and socialist in its content’. In order to rebuild the economy destroyed by the war and to sovietise the republic, the leadership of the Lithuanian SSR had to secure the support and cooperation of the titular nation, the Lithuanians. However, a significant part of Lithuanians regarded Soviet power as alien, hostile, and anti-national. Sovietisation was identified with Russification and forced assimilation. The Soviet Lithuanian ruling elite realised that it was impossible to involve Lithuanians in the building of a socialist Lithuania by coercion and violence alone. Therefore, similarly to the communists of the Central European countries, the leadership of the Lithuanian SSR used other means to demonstrate the Lithuanian-ness of the new Soviet power and Soviet modernity to the Lithuanians. The term national communism would be the most appropriate to describe the ‘other means’. In other words, the leadership of Soviet Lithuania tried to incorporate Lithuanian ethnicity (Lithuanian ethno-culture) into the Soviet system, with the hope to consolidate the legitimacy of the government. Such a policy was inconsistent, though.In the summer of 1944, the Bureau of the Central Committee of the Lithuanian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) (hereinafter CC LCP (B)) adopted a resolution to declare Kudirka’s ‘Tautiška giesmė’ (National Hymn) the ‘state anthem’ of the Lithuanian SSR. In the same year, the Bureau also discussed the ‘principles of the restoration of the Soviet system’ in Lithuania. Two projects were proposed to the Bureau of the CC LCP (B). One of them contained a provision which pointed to a certain ambition of political autonomy of at least a part of the top political echelon. In the summer of 1945, a congress of mainly Lithuanian intellectuals was organised during which the Soviet Lithuanian authorities supported the aspirations of the Lithuanian intelligentsia to ‘Lithuanise Vilnius’. The first song festival of Soviet Lithuania was held in 1946. . The study showed that (1) the leadership of the Lithuanian SSR viewed Lithuanian ethnicity and Lithuanian ethno-culture instrumentally, as a sufficiently effective tool to strengthen the legitimacy of the Soviet rule and to accelerate the Sovietisation of the nation, (2) there were figures in the leadership of the republic and in the party who believed that it was possible to organically reconcile Lithuanian ethnicity with the imperatives of the formation of a new socialist society, and (3) the tendencies of national communism in the policy of the LCP (B) were in fact expressed only insofar as they received support from Moscow. However, as the confrontation with the West intensified, the Kremlin abandoned this policy of support and moved towards a consistent and systematic Sovietisation of Lithuania. [...]. [From the publication]