Sovietinių partinių institucijų reakcija į 1972 m. įvykius Kaune

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Kaunas; Pilietiniai neramumai; Sovietinės institucijos; Civil disorder; Kaunas; Sowiet institutions.

ENThe two-days long demonstrations, civil disorder and public anti-Soviet speeches in Kaunas had shocked the Communist regime in Lithuania in 1972. Despite of the fact that about two or three thousand young people were involved in the demonstrations, and the Communists used military force against them, after the suppression of the unrest the Soviets did not start any large-scale repressive measures. The major reason for such behaviour was that the foreign policy of the USSR in 1972 was turned towards detente and cooperation with the USA. Any kind of political instability and mass victimisation was highly dangerous for the diplomatic negotiations with the leaders of the USA. The Soviet Lithuania leaders and the Communist party institutions were also interested of hiding the real nature of the civil disorder because it was their short-sighted policy that provoked the demonstrations. R. Kalanta was declared a mentally ill person, and the anti-Soviet demonstration was interpreted as the riots o f hooligans. At the same time, the Communist leaders such as the first secretary of the Lithuanian Communist party A.Sniečkus were afraid of possible criticism from Moscow. They tried to describe the demonstrations and fights with militia as simple acts of violence provoked by anti-Soviet intellectuals. The result of such efforts was the new accepted policy that accused Lithuanian intellectuals and artists for sympathies towards the West. The Communist party and the KGB soon started new purging of the writers and theatre people in Kaunas as well as in all Lithuania. [From the publication]