| Abstract [eng] |
I have chosen the subject “Ideas of Economic Independence in Soviet Lithuania in 1988-1989”, because it is not widely investigated in Lithuanian historiography. Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic was established after Soviet Occupation of Lithuania in 1940 and existed to 1990. The Lithuanian SSR was renamed the Republic of Lithuania again on March 11, 1990, all legal ties of sovereignty were cut with the Soviet Union as Lithuania declared the restitution of its independence. But its way to independence was long and not easy. The last five years of occupation beginning in 1985, when Mikhail Gorbachev made significant changes in the economy were perestroika and glasnost. His policy of glasnost gave some freedom for media and hope for occupied nations. The objective of master thesis is to investigate process and development of ideas of economic independence in Soviet Lithuania (1988-1989). To obtain the objective I made three tasks: 1) to review Soviet Lithuanian economy in the end on 1980s and to show discussions about Lithuanian SSR as dependant republic of Soviet Union; 2) to introduce “Lithuania’s economic independence conception” and to analyze its implementation; 3) to review ideas about its own currency and to introduce Lithuania’s system of money and credit conception. In the end I came to these conclusions: 1) Soviet Lithuania’s economy was integrated to Soviet Union’s central economy and there was no self-sufficiency for Soviet republics; 2) in the discussions about dependency of Soviet Lithuania’s economy from Soviet Union, Lithuanian economists reasoned denied Soviet government affirmations that Soviet Lithuania is dependant; 3) The ideas of Soviet Lithuania were systematized in “Lithuania’s economic independence conception” (1988). This conception determined political, law and economic conditions, and only with these conditions republic economy could be independent; 4) Lithuania’s economic independence conception did not threatened disintegration of Soviet Union, but it had some essential independent state features like: a) all property situated in Lithuania’s territory should be Lithuanian, b) Lithuania’s government institutions are not under central Soviet rule jurisdiction anymore; 5) in 1988 and 1989 the important discussion was about its own currency. In media this idea was discussed no less, than the idea of Lithuania as dependent state on the Soviet Union or not. Discussions about own currency were summarized and systematized in “Lithuania’s system of money and credit conception”. |
