An Anthology of Lithuanian Political Thought, prepared by the Political Sphere Institute, has been published

An Anthology of Lithuanian Political Thought, prepared by the Political Sphere Institute, was published this summer.

The anthology consists of Belarusian translations of texts written by the founders and most significant representatives of the Lithuanian national movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The texts presented in the volume offer a clear view of the ideas, aims, and demands of the Lithuanian movement, and also make it possible to understand its cultural and political foundations. According to the compilers of the anthology, studying the ideas of the Lithuanian national movement is necessary for a deeper understanding not only of the history of Lithuania, but also of Belarus and Central and Eastern Europe.
The publication is intended for historians, political scientists, representatives of other disciplines, as well as lecturers, students, and all those interested in history and political thought.

To order the anthology, please send the relevant request to [email protected]

CONTENTS (pdf)

From the compiler

Tomasz Błaszczak. Lithuanian Political Thought at the Turn of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

I. PRECONDITIONS OF NATIONAL IDENTITY: FOLKLORE, HISTORY, LANGUAGE

Simonas Daukantas. Songs of the Samogitians

Simonas Daukantas. Phaedrus’ Fables

Motiejus Valančius. First Letter to the People on the Temperance Question, 25 December 1858

Petras Vileišis. The Past of Vilnius

Petras Vileišis. The Importance of the Lithuanian Language and the Patriotism of Writers

Jonas Basanavičius. Let Us Collect Tales!

Jonas Basanavičius. Do We Need an Ethnographic Society?

II. THE IDEA OF THE NATION AND MASS PRINT

Petras Vileišis. New Year

Petras Vileišis. Announcement from “Vilniaus žinios”

Jonas Šliūpas. A Few Words about Newspapers

Vincas Kudirka. Bells of the Fatherland, “Varpas”, 1895, No. 12

Vincas Kudirka. Bells of the Fatherland, “Varpas”, 1898, No. 5

Vincas Kudirka. Bells of the Fatherland, “Varpas”, 1893, No. 3

Vincas Kudirka. Bells of the Fatherland, “Varpas”, 1891, No. 6

Vincas Kudirka. On the Touching of Lithuanian Women, Language, and the Truths of Villagers

III. THE BEGINNING OF NATIONAL REVIVAL AND THE FORMATION OF ETHNOCULTURAL CONSCIOUSNESS

Jonas Basanavičius. Preface

Petras Vileišis. Muscovy’s European Policy and the Catholic Church

Petras Vileišis. The Wishes of the Muscovites

Vincas Kudirka. Lithuanian Brothers!

IV. THE LITHUANIAN POLITICAL MOVEMENT: THE FIRST PARTIES

Programme of the Lithuanian Democratic Party (draft)

Programme of the Democratic Party of Lithuania

Manifesto of the National Party of Lithuanian Democrats

Draft Programme of the Lithuanian Union of Christian Democrats

V. THE IDEA OF AUTONOMY AND STATEHOOD

On the Autonomy of Lithuania. Lithuanian Memorandum to Russian Prime Minister S. Witte

Resolutions of Lithuanians of Suwałki Governorate

Resolution of the Peasants of Lithuania Who Gathered in Vilnius on 22 November (5 December) 1905

Opening Speech by J. Basanavičius at the Beginning of the Congress of Lithuanians in Vilnius

Jonas Totoraitis. The First Congress of Lithuanians in Vilnius

Juozas Tumas. Our People and Their Intelligentsia during the Vilnius Seimas

Adomas Dambrauskas-Jakštas. Where Is the Centre of Present-Day Lithuania: in Kaunas or in Vilnius?

Resolution of 16 February 1918 (Declaration of Lithuanian Independence)

APPENDICES

Biographies of the authors of the anthology’s texts

Brief information on persons, organisations, and geographical objects mentioned in the anthology’s texts

Name and geographical index