| Abstract [eng] |
In this paper we analyze the Lithuanian Communist diaspora and attempts by Lithuanian Communists to influence the First World Lithuanian Congress, which was held in Kaunas in August 1935. This congress interested not only U.S. Communists, but also Lithuanian Communists based in Moscow. Their leader Zigmas Angarietis corresponded with the U.S. Lithuanian Communist Antanas Bimba and sent him suggestions on how to act at the congress. Delegates who were sent to the congress took into account those proposals and added their own: to get an opportunity for propaganda speeches, to call attention to the problems of Lithuanian workers, to show other delegates how workers and peasants in Lithuania live, and to raise questions about the state of democracy in Lithuania. Communist delegates were unable to do much at the congress, but they were active in discussions, they filed a petition with the signatures of about 14,000 people from the Lithuanian diaspora. On the last day of the congress, these delegates wrote and spread a proclamation condemning the congress, and adopted resolutions calling on the Lithuanian opposition to President Antanas Smetona’s rule to unite under the “Popular Front” banner. Lithuanian Communists tried to arrange an agreement with Social Democratic and Peasant-Populist Party leaders to act together. There were a few meetings, but because of overall opinion differences and mutual distrust, these attempts failed. Local Lithuanian Communists, who of course could not be delegates of a diaspora congress, tried to be active near the congress hall, to raise red flags, and to hold a demonstration, but these attempts also failed. Nevertheless in this paper these are shown as good examples of everyday Lithuanian Communist activities, their methods, and their difficulties. |
