"Senalietuviai" ir "jaunalietuviai" kaip analitinės kategorijos, apibūdinančios lenkų ir lietuvių konfliktą

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Jaunalietuviai; Senalietuviai; Lenkai; Lietuviai; Konfliktai; Krajovcai; New lithuanians; Old Lithuanians; Polish; Lithuanians; Conflicts.

ENThe present article is a follow-up of the discussion with historian Alfredas Bumblauskas. It mainly focuses on three problems: how analytical notions appear in the science of history (specifically how the notion of Old Lithuanians (Lith. senalietuviai) came into use in the Polish and Lithuanian historiography; whether the conflict of the first half of the 20th century regarding Vilnius could be treated as a civil war; and whether the notion of Old Lithuanians is handier in defining part of collective identities of the modern Polish-speaking society of (not only) Lithuania. I’m arguing here that the notion Old Lithuanian appeared in the present-day scholarly literature without reasonable substantiation. Moreover, Buchowski’s claim about its use in the “long 19th century” is not corroborated by any solid primary sources. The article also provides arguments why the conflict over Vilnius could (at least partially) be referred to as the civil war. However, in this context, the conflict between Lithuanians and part of the Poles in Lithuania is meant rather than the conflict between Old and New Lithuanians. In summing up the article, it is pointed out that the notion Old Lithuanian might (though not necessarily) also have certain pejorative connotations, as it implies that modern Lithuanians are New Lithuanians, which may lead to the conclusion about a doubtful link between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and modern Lithuania. [From the publication]