| Abstract [eng] |
Most influential Lithuanian political parties: Christian Democrats, Party of the People’s Socialists, Social Democratic Party and Nationalist Party played important role in the formation of Lithuanian foreign policy guidelines during the period of parliamentary government in Lithuania. Nevertheless in historiography the role of them usually was ignored and the main focus was on the Government’s foreign policy conception. In our work: “The Foreign Policy Attitudes of Lithuanian Political Parties in 1920 – 1926” we had tried to analyze the foreign policy programs of most influential parties and to identify their impact on Governmental foreign policy concept. Political parties and their leaders had to solve complicated territorial issues that inflamed international status of Lithuania. The dispute of Vilnius imposed an intolerable burden on young state, which threatened to cloud relations with its more powerful neighbors. Although Lithuanian society looked to Poland as to the worst enemy of the nation, the long sighted leaders of Christian Democrats and People’s Socialists through the mediation of Great Western Powers tried to solve territorial conflict with southern neighbor and retain historic capital of the country by peaceful measures. But both states have had to reconcile so called project of Hymans mainly because of resistance of Nationalist and Social Democratic parties, was rejected. The savage publicity campaign pointed against projects of Hymans demonstrated the lack of civic self – awareness and political consolidation in young society. After the Conference of Ambassadors in 1923 defined the new demarcation line between Lithuania and Poland, which meant the official recognition of Vilnius to Poland, Lithuanian political leaders started to distrust in Great Western Powers and to search new alternative ways how to reanimate and internationalize the Vilnius question. First party, which started to promote alliance with revisionist axis of Moscow and Berlin, was Lithuanian National Alliance. They leaders looked to these states as to best confederates against common enemy – Poland. They also thought, that Poland wouldn’t sustain a siege of Soviets and Germans for a long time and when it brake down, Moscow and Berlin would return historic capital to weak, but loyal ally. This geopolitical concept became more and more popular in Lithuanian political circles. On the eve of 1925 People’s Socialists leader M. Sleževičius also started to spoke about necessity to contract closer relations with Soviet Union and Germany. The Lithuanian Social Democratic Party from early 1920’s kept prosovietic political line which was heavily influenced Marxist doctrine and by negative party attitudes towards Western Powers. Finally, after the Locarno Conference and Christian democrats under the leadership L. Bistras developed new political program which oriented Lithuanian foreign policy to close with Moscow and Berlin. Under these circumstances in the first part of 1926 all Lithuanian political parties hold prosovietic and progerman political orientation. But after the unsuccessful negotiations with the Soviets for concluding the bilateral non – aggression pact Christian democrats on the contrary to other parties argued against closer relations with Germany and Soviet Union. |
