| Abstract [eng] |
The post-war years have brought many different changes to the world. Young people were the part of society that also remained indifferent and contributed to the ongoing change. In Soviet Lithuania, the optimism of many disappeared following the events of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Nevertheless, young people did not give up and became involved in passive resistance through the hippie subculture, the ethnocultural movement (hikers, Ramuvians, folklorists) or the Catholic movement (“Friends of the Eucharist or isolated cases). The relevance of the work is based on the fact that although there are studies on non-violent resistance of Soviet-era youth, it has not been studied in detail how non-violent resistance of youth manifested itself in Šiauliai. In additon, it was not compared what activity was in the periphery compared to the former temporary capital Kaunas. There is a lack of research on non-violent resistance among young people in the early 60s and late 70s. The scientific relevance would be that the work would help to better study the Soviet period and learn how Soviet society developed, to better understand the values of young people in the Soviet era who were not loyal to the system. The object of the study is the nonviolent youth resistance. The aim of the research is to investigate the nonviolent youth resistance and how it manifested in Kaunas and Šiauliai during the Soviet period. In order to achieve the aim, the following objectives have been distinguished: 1. To discuss the theory of disobedience and the concept of nonviolent resistance. 2. To reveal the forms and intensity of non-violent resistance of young people in Lithuania, discussing the events of Kaunas Spring, the hippie subculture and other movements. 3. To investigate and compare the manifestations of non-violent resistance of youth in Kaunas and Šiauliai after reviewing the composition of youth and educational institutions in cities. The nonviolent resistance is a general term that includes endless specific methods of protest, non-cooperation when resisters go into conflict by doing or refusing to do certain things without using physical violence. The results of research of Kaunas and Šiauliai cities show that there was an active non-violent resistance of young people against the Soviet government in the early 60s and late 70s. The non-violent resistance manifested itself in many different ways: through the distribution of recalls, the establishment of anti-Soviet groups (their number decreased in the 70s), which were more active in Kaunas, writing with foreign radio stations, the hippie subculture, which was especially active in Kaunas, but its manifestations could also be found in Šiauliai. In the 70s, the youth was also active during the activities of local historians in Šiauliai and Kaunas. Soviet symbols were actively despised and tricolors were raised in both Šiauliai and Kaunas. For religious beliefs, the catholic youth did not join the official Soviet organizations such as the Communist Youth. This took place both in Šiauliai and Kaunas. |
