| Abstract [eng] |
The 19th century is considered politically calm because it was not marked by major wars in European states. However, national and social revivals at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries were common among oppressed nations, especially when Russian Empire is taken into consideration. The Lithuanian nation was one of them. Lithuanian national elite saw that career opportunities in the Empire were limited. This was the reason why the ideas of socialism were absorbed. These ideas fit into the inequality narrative by socialist intellectuals. The subject of the thesis is radicalism in Lithuania on the eve and during the 1905–1907 Russian Revolution. The key in this topic is the idea of socialism because it gained popularity among Lithuanian intelligentsia which engaged in critical thinking to improve the society. The study analyses leftist views in the texts written by the Lithuanian intelligentsia and answers the question of what socialist intelligentsia sought by propagating and spreading socialism in Lithuanian society. This research analyses how Lithuanian intelligentsia adopted socialist philosophy and implemented it in rebellion practices on the eve and during the 1905–1907 Russian Revolution. What is more, Russian culture dominated the Empire, which was why socialist propaganda in Lithuania had an anti-Russian sentiment. Through the prism of Lithuanian socialism, the Tsar as the Emperor of Russia was regarded as the oppressor of the Lithuanian nation in contrast to conventional socialists who considered big businesses as exploiters of society. Though Lithuanian leftists agitated for socialist changes in the state, nationalistic demands were equally important. Leftist intelligentsia’s efforts to introduce socialist ideology to Lithuanian society were partially successful. The ongoing confrontation with the catholic clergy reduced the dissemination of leftist ideas. Also, leftist intelligentsia paid much time in educating the society, because socialists saw illiteracy as the most important reason why leftist ideas could not be transferred to society. This was one of the reasons why socialist radicalism during the Russian Revolution of 1905–1907 was not that intense as the leftist intellectuals had hoped. The intellectuals had to educate society instead of developing socialist ideology in the illegal leftist press. The most crucial reason why socialist propaganda did not attract most of the society to participate in the radical revolutionary movement was that the leftist intellectuals endeavoured to approach workers with socialist ideology according to other states’ examples. The socialist ideology was more developed and more popular in the West, and radicalism had more chances to succeed there. However, Lithuania was an agricultural country, and the peasantry dominated its population. Factory workers for whom the leftist intellectuals dedicated most of their underground press were few. The appearance of the leftist-minded part of the national elite shows that a rapid identity shift in society happened. The socialist intellectuals attracted the Lithuanian society with social and ethnic equality slogans, and in consequence the society became less conservative. The occurrence of national consciousness together with the absorption of socialist ideas through intelligentsia’s texts arose society’s curiosity about Lithuania’s present and future. Leftist intelligentsia’s texts that examined the state’s political and social system received recognition from society. Very soon, the Empire’s social and political structure analysis through the prism of socialist ideology became more radicalized in the texts of the leftist-minded intelligentsia. Most importantly, Lithuanian socialists did not consider themselves radical as they saw revolutionary activities against the Tsar’s authorities as a must. On the other hand, the Lithuanian socialists were deeply divided and failed to lead the revolutionary movement. |
