Lietuvių verslininkų sąjungos susikūrimas, jos tikslai ir idėjinės nuostatos

LTStraipsnyje aptariama, kokios aplinkybės lėmė, kad buvo sukurta Lietuvių verslininkų sąjunga, gyvavusi 1930–1940 m. Svarbiausia iš jų yra ta, kad prekyboje ir pramonėje dominavo kitataučiai. Verslininkų sąjunga iškėlė sau tikslą skatinti lietuvius eiti į verslus, kad taip formuotųsi vidurinysis visuomenės sluoksnis (lietuviškoji buržuazija). Tik tada bus iškovota ir ekonominė nepriklausomybė, o jai esant labiau sutvirtės politinės nepriklausomybės pagrindas ir susicementuos tauta. Straipsnyje laikomasi nuomonės, kad XX a. pradžioje lietuvių liaudis jau buvo tapusi tauta, bet tautos virsmo nacija procesas tebesitęsė ir trečiajame, ir ketvirtajame dešimtmetyje. [Iš leidinio]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Liaudis; Tauta; Nacija; Autonomija; Verslas; Population; Nation; Autonomy; Business.

ENAt the turn of the 20th century, national, political and civil self-consciousness of the Lithuanian population had already reached a high level. This was proved by the Great Seimas of Vilnius, which met from 4 to 5 December 1905. As they assembled in the Seimas, peasants and representatives of other walks of life of the Lithuanian community required that the Lithuanian language should be legalised in the education system and public life, and, most importantly, that Lithuania should be granted political autonomy with clearly defined state borders. This meant that the people of Lithuania had already become a nation by that time, however, they still had to mature as a modern nation, i.e., they had to have their own state with Lithuanians predominating not only in agriculture but in all fields of life including business (trade, industry and crafts). Even in the twenties of the 20th century, business was dominated by Jews – the representatives of the largest national minority in Lithuania. Building of the civil democratic system, initiated by the proclamation of independence, was interrupted by the coup d’etat of 17 December 1926, after which a different model of a national state was chosen. That meant that, among other things, Lithuanians were to predominate also in businesses, in urban population and in other fields. Therefore, the creation of an organisation, which would encourage Lithuanians to undertake businesses, became a must. Such an organisation was the Lithuanian Businessmen Union, which existed from 1930 to 1940. It had its branches in the provinces and published its own newspaper. The main proclaimed objective of the Lithuanian Businessmen Union was to create the middle class of the Lithuanian society – Lithuanian bourgeois – by encouraging and inviting Lithuanians to undertake businesses.That would determine domination of Lithuanians over towns and other fields of life and acceleration of the development of the national culture a certain stagnation of which was determined by a small number of the well-off Lithuanians what in turn seriously limited demand for Lithuanian books and periodical publications as well as the usage of other cultural values. Ideologists of the Union were of the opinion that the formation of the middle class of the Lithuanian society would strengthen grounds of political independence. Therefore aspiration of the Union to form the class of Lithuanian bourgeois had to be supported by the nation and the state; at the same time it had to be recognised by the citizens of Lithuania of other nationalities. According to the Lithuanian Businessmen Union – at least during the first five years of its activity – the only way to fulfil that aspiration was that Lithuanians, when undertaking business, should rely on their diligence and be ready for an honest competition with Jews, who had already hold strong positions in businesses, i.e. they should not expect the Government to grant them any exceptional privileges. However, an opinion that the Government had to guarantee equal opportunities to all competitors was getting increasingly popular, without clarifying what it meant though. Moreover, right from the start the Union declared that the budding Lithuanian businessmen, traders in the first place, must be supported by the whole society: a Lithuanian should go shopping only to the shop of another Lithuanian. In other words they came up with a slogan "a Lithuanian goes to a Lithuanian".Jews considered it discrimination and anti-Semitism. Moreover, a certain friction and misunderstanding between them and representatives of Lithuanian nation was strengthen by the fact that Jews adhered to the principles common to a democratic society, meanwhile, Lithuanians reoriented themselves to a different model of development – that of the national state. [From the publication]