The Nineteenth Party Conference in Moscow, which concluded with a firm commitment to perestroika, strengthened Gorbachev\u2019s position and opened wider opportunities for democratic change in the Soviet Union. On July 9, S\u0105j\u016bdis arranged a \u201cwelcome back\u201d rally to increase public pressure and accountability on the Lithuanian Conference delegates. The rally in Vingis Park in Vilnius was attended by more than 100,000 people. National flags, though officially still not recognized, fluttered throughout the crowd. The national anthem was sung by thousands for the first time since the end of the war.<\/p>\n
Brazauskas, in his address to the meeting, demonstrated that the authorities were willing to concede some of the people\u2019s wishes: he declared that the government had cut the financing of further construction at the Ignalina nuclear station and that the national Lithuanian flag was soon to be officially recognized. There was no trouble at the rally; order was kept by S\u0105j\u016bdis volunteers. S\u0105j\u016bdis received financial support from the public: donations at the rally which amounted to 20,650 rubles. \u201cThe miracle has happened,\u201d so was the rally described in the newspaper S\u0105j\u016bd\u017eio \u017einios. \u201cGorbachev\u2019s perestroika turned into Lithuania\u2019s rebirth.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the Vingis event political life became highly dynamic. Social groups that had so far remained neutral became ardent supporters of S\u0105j\u016bdis. The day of July 20, 1988, became a \u201cblitzkrieg\u201d of protest activity (the day marked the 48th anniversary of the declaration of Lithuania as a Soviet republic). A photography exhibit on S\u0105j\u016bdis\u2019 activities was opened (and later continually renewed). On the same day began a \u201cride for ecology\u201d by a group of 100 bicyclists. The group traveled 900 kilometers throughout the country and organized 24 rallies along the way, all in support of S\u0105j\u016bdis. Also on July 20 an ecological march from the small town of Zubi\u0161k\u0117s to the coast of the Baltic Sea sought to draw the public\u2019s attention to industrial pollution, seen as a result of Soviet colonial policy. Further, a \u201crock-n-roll march\u201d through Lithuania began on the same day. Organized by Algirdas Kauspedas, a member of the S\u0105j\u016bdis coordinating group and leader of the popular rock band Antis, the march typified the change in attitudes: \u201cYesterday you shouted \u2018more metal,\u2019 today you shout \u2018freedom for Lithuania\u2019\u2014this is truly a rebirth!\u201d<\/p>\n
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact Exposed<\/strong><\/p>\n Of particular importance for the growth of S\u0105j\u016bdis\u2019 authority was the rally of August 23, 1988 (the 49th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact). The Soviets had claimed that in 1940, as a result of a \u201csocialist revolution,\u201d Lithuania voluntarily joined the Soviet Union. The secret protocols of the pact, however, left it beyond doubt that Lithuania, as well as Latvia and Estonia, were forcibly annexed. On August 21 S\u0105j\u016bd\u017eio \u017einios published the secret protocols while Literat\u016bra ir Menas [a literary magazine: Literature and Art] published the entire text of the pact. This was the first time the text of the protocols was published openly in the USSR. (The protocols had been printed underground in 1972).<\/p>\n Some 250,000 people, many bearing national flags bound with black ribbons, attended the commemoration in Vilnius. For nearly three hours, historians, S\u0105j\u016bdis activists, representatives of the Catholic Church, and government officials addressed the largest rally in Lithuania\u2019s postwar history. The spirit of the rally was well expressed by the poet Justinas Marcinkevicius: \u201cLong live the nation freed from the fetters of the past.\u201d Rallies were also held in Kaunas (50,000 participants), \u0160iauliai (6,000), and Kretinga (5,000). After the rallies, S\u0105j\u016bdis support groups were established throughout the country. Professor Alfred Senn captured this turning point in his book Lithuania Awakening: \u201cS\u0105j\u016bdis now stood almost as a second government in Lithuania. Historians spoke among themselves of dvoevlastie (dual power), a reference to the uneasy balance between the Petrograd Soviet and the Provisional Government in the first months of the Russian Revolution of 1917. S\u0105j\u016bdis had no official authority, it could pass no laws, but it had a moral authority to which the population responded.\u201d<\/p>\n Hands Around the Baltic Sea and Ignalina \u2013 Precursors of the \u201cBaltic Way\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n By merging with S\u0105j\u016bdis, the Green movement\u2014which had been active before the formation of S\u0105j\u016bdis\u2014also gained in strength. In September 1988 some 15,000 people in Estonia, 50,000 in Latvia, and more than 100,000 in Lithuania came together to form hand-in-hand chains to embrace the Baltic Sea as a symbolic gesture of protection from catastrophic pollution. On September 16-18, S\u0105j\u016bdis led a protest action, called \u201cThe Ring of Life,\u201d at the Ignalina nuclear station. More than 15,000 people encircled the station, demanding the suspension of construction of a new reactor (construction continued despite Brazauskas\u2019 July announcement of a halt) and a safety examination of units in operation.<\/p>\n On September 17 the first legally published newspaper of S\u0105j\u016bdis, \u201cAtgimimas,\u201d appeared, signaling an upsurge in independent publications. Soon nearly 150 independent periodicals were in circulation. On September 19, 1988, the coordinating group of S\u0105j\u016bdis appeared for the first time on national television. The movement was winning over the whole country and was strong enough for more radical action.<\/p>\n Test of Fortitude<\/strong><\/p>\n The first prominent conflict between S\u0105j\u016bdis and the authorities occurred at the end of September 1988. The conflict was triggered by the militia\u2019s use of force against a peaceful demonstration by the Lithuanian Freedom League. Though the meeting was not officially permitted, some 15,000\u2013 20,000 people attended. Making full use of rubber batons the militia dispersed the crowd. The next day S\u0105j\u016bdis lodged official protests and called for a rally on Gediminas Square. For the first time S\u0105j\u016bdis held a rally together with the more radical Freedom League. Landsbergis urged the crowd to keep calm and to resist provocations. An avalanche of protest letters and declarations flooded the Supreme Council and the Council of Ministers.<\/p>\n The Triumph of S\u0105j\u016bdis<\/strong><\/p>\n S\u0105j\u016bdis was imbued with a victorious spirit when it convened its first congress October 22\u2013 24, 1988. Within the short period of five months since its founding the ideas of S\u0105j\u016bdis were supported throughout Lithuania. It controlled an independent press network and had access to national television. The problems and conflicts that would later demand unflinching solidarity, commitment, and inventiveness were still beyond the horizon.<\/p>\n The congress took place at the Sports Palace, with more than a thousand participants and nearly four thousand guests and reporters. The proceedings were shown on national television \u2013 in effect, the whole country took part in the event. In his address Brazauskas read Gorbachev\u2019s congra tulations to S\u0105j\u016bdis (\u201ca positive power that can well serve the goals of the reform\u201d) and expressed his hope that the movement\u2019s program would \u201cleave a proper place for the Lithuanian Communist Party.\u201d<\/p>\n The program adopted at the congress still acknowledged the movement\u2019s ties with perestroika: S\u0105j\u016bdis \u201cas a spontaneous social movement \u2026 supports and extends the democratic and humanist reforms of the socialist society initiated by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.\u201d Nevertheless, the program contained statements that went beyond the confines of perestroika: \u201cS\u0105j\u016bdis holds illegal the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939, it\u2019s supplementary protocols, and its consequences for Lithuanian sovereignty\u2026 The main goals of S\u0105j\u016bdis are openness, democracy, and the rule of law, as well as political, economic, and cultural sovereignty of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic.\u201d As the quotation shows, while the program of S\u0105j\u016bdis was definite as concerned the political sovereignty of Lithuania, it was far less certain concerning radical social change.<\/p>\n The congress elected a Seimas (meaning diet, the term used in Lithuania as far back as the fifteenth century) as the movement\u2019s representative body, consisting of 220 members. The Seimas then elected a 35 person Executive Council (Taryba). The only woman on the council was an economist, Kazimiera Prunskiene.<\/p>\n The S\u0105j\u016bdis congress had created an alternative power structure to the official authorities, a structure that was grounded in the people\u2019s moral support, not on a repressive apparatus. The main events, however, were still ahead.<\/p>\n Towards Independence<\/strong><\/p>\n As a growing political force, S\u0105j\u016bdis pursued three main goals: (1) exerting moral pressure on the executive and the legislature, (2) winning elections to the parliament, and (3) winning international recognition of Lithuania\u2019s forcible annexation in 1940. With legislative power, S\u0105j\u016bdis could utilize provisions of the Soviet constitution to further its program. The Soviet constitution formally granted that a \u201cunion republic is a sovereign Soviet socialist state\u201d (clause 76), that it had \u201cthe right of free secession from the Soviet Union\u201d (clause 72), and had \u201cthe right to establish relations with foreign nations, to enter into international agreements, to exchange diplomatic and consular representation, and to take part in the activities of international organizations\u201d (clause 80).<\/p>\n Civil Disobedience \u2013 Boycotts, Petitions and the Baltic Way<\/strong><\/p>\n In December 1988 Christmas was freely celebrated in Lithuania for the first time since the war. On Christmas Eve people were asked to turn off their lights for half an hour and to put candles in their windows as a symbolic referendum for Lithuanian independence. It was a truly impressive sight: in a moment the drone of electric lights in the cities was replaced by the twinkling of thousands of candles. Human solidarity seemed almost tangible.<\/p>\n New Year\u2019s Eve was marked by a mass boycott of dairy products due to their poor quality. The action, organized by the Greens and S\u0105j\u016bdis, was directed against the state monopoly Agropromas (an agricultural products\u2019 trust). The consumption of dairy products fell by 30%.While the boycott achieved some of its goals (the quality of dairy products improved, at least for some time), its real significance lay in revealing the vast potential of forms of noncooperation. In spring 1989, car owners refused to comply with a tax increase on private automobiles. An automobile picket line surrounded the Lithuanian Supreme Council. The increase was repealed in several months\u2019 time.<\/p>\n When the secret protocols of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact were published openly in the Lithuanian press, there remained little doubt about the illegal nature of the 1940 Soviet occupation. In July, 1989, a Baltic-wide petition campaign was started. The petition, addressed to the governments of the Soviet Union, West Germany (FRG), and East Germany (GDR), read: \u201cWe demand that the governments of the USSR, FRG, and GDR proclaim the secret protocols of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact invalid as of the date of their signing. We demand that the Soviet Union eliminate the consequences of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, withdraw its occupying army from the Baltic states and permit the nations of these states to determine their political and economic system in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia themselves.\u201d Over 1.5 million signatures were collected in Lithuania alone.<\/p>\n S\u0105j\u016bdis of Lithuania and the Popular Fronts of Latvia and Estonia marked the 50th anniversary of the signing of the pact by a huge event called \u201cThe Baltic Way.\u201d On August 23, 1989, two million people in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia joined hands in a continuous 650 kilometer chain linking the capitals Vilnius, Riga, and Tallinn to protest the Soviet occupation and to demonstrate Baltic solidarity. The Baltic petition had marked influence. A commission of the Lithuanian Supreme Council officially recognized the existence of the protocols in August 1989. At the second meeting of the Congress of People\u2019s Deputies of the USSR in December 1989, a special commission of the USSR Supreme Soviet declared the pact illegal.<\/p>\n Step by Step<\/strong><\/p>\n The year 1989 can be called the year of symbolic independence: nearly all public organizations, unions, and societies declared their separation from Moscow and established or reestablished their independence from Communist party controlled structures. The reestablishment of organizations that existed in independent Lithuania, such as Valstie\u010di\u0173 s\u010djunga (a farmers union), the Scouts, the Ateitis Federation (Catholic Youth Association), and the Catholic women\u2019s association Caritas, contributed to the revitalization of national consciousness. Prewar political parties were reestablished. such as the Social Democrats and the Christian Democrats, while others were newly created, such as the Labor Union and Independence Union. S\u0105j\u016bdis was officially recognized as a social organization. An intricate network of groups closely related to S\u0105j\u016bdis emerged. With this explosion of independent social, economic, political, cultural, and national organizations, it was no coincidence that the Supreme Council of Lithuania was the first in the Soviet Union to discard the constitutional provision mandating the \u201cleading role of the Communist Party\u201d and was the first to legalize the multiparty system.<\/p>\n The Declaration of Independence On February 24, 1990, S\u0105j\u016bdis won a landslide victory in the elections to the Supreme Council of Lithuania: they took 99 seats, as compared to 25 for the independent LCP, seven for the pro-Moscow CPL\/CPSU, and five for independent deputies. Vytautas Landsbergis was elected chairman and Kazimiera Prunskiene was named prime minister. One of her deputy ministers was the leader of the independent LCP, Algirdas Brazauskas.<\/p>\n On March 11, 1990, the Supreme Council of the Republic of Lithuania passed the \u201cAct on the Reestablishment of the State of Lithuania,\u201d the first full declaration of independence by any republic of the Soviet Union:<\/p>\n The Supreme Council of the Republic of Lithuania, expressing the will of the nation, decrees and solemnly proclaims that the execution of the sovereign powers of the State of Lithuania, abolished by foreign forces in 1940, is reestablished, and henceforth Lithuania is again an independent state.<\/p>\n One of the first goals of the new government was to secure international recognition for independent Lithuania. The deputies had hoped that Western governments \u2013 which in the past had repeatedly denounced Lithuania\u2019s annexation \u2013 would immediately recognize the undoing of one of the consequences of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. The government expected that the Soviet Union would have to yield to international pressure and \u201clet loose\u201d Lithuania, as well as Latvia and Estonia. The government\u2019s expectations were premature. Only after 18 months of dedicated and bitter struggle of the Lithuanian people were they to be realized. This struggle is undoubtedly one of brightest pages in the history of nonviolent action.<\/p>\n Independence Buttressed: the Battle of Laws.<\/strong><\/p>\n In addition to the declaration of independence, the government proclaimed that the Soviet law on mandatory military service would no longer be binding in Lithuania. The documents, together with a proposal for talks on all issues related to the reestablishment of an independent Lithuania (including the stationing of Soviet troops), were sent to Gorbachev on March 12. The Lithuanian actions coincided with the Extraordinary Third USSR Congress of the People\u2019s Deputies, convened in order to adopt a restrictive law on secession and to grant extraordinary powers to the president. On March 15 the session resolved that until the secession law was adopted, decrees of the Lithuanian government would have no \u201clegal validity\u201d and that \u201cstate governmental and executive organs of the Lithuanian SSR [should] take all measures to ensure that law and order on the territory of the [Lithuanian Soviet Socialist] Republic be maintained.\u201d In his letter to the session Landsbergis stressed that while resolutions of a foreign power had no legal force in Lithuania, any legitimate interest of the USSR could be the subject of talks. Both sides were convinced of the legitimacy of their positions, with the essential difference that the Lithuanian government had the people\u2019s support while Gorbachev had to rely mainly on force.<\/p>\n Under these circumstances, a twofold strategy was adopted by Lithuania: first, to prove to the world that it was not Moscow but rather the Lithuanian government which had control over the situation on Lithuania\u2019s territory; and second, to maximally exploit the growing disintegration tendencies in the USSR and the political struggle between Gorbachev and Yeltsin.<\/p>\n The first battle line was over Soviet conscription. The Lithuanian government suspended the activity of Soviet conscription centers by cutting their finances. The Supreme Council, in \u201cThe Appeal to Lithuanian Youth,\u201d stated: \u201cThe Supreme Council has repudiated your duty of serving in the armed forces of the USSR. \u2026 Lithuanian courts would not prosecute those who evade the conscription to a foreign army.\u201d Lithuanian physicians refused to work for the conscription centers (forcing the Soviet military to import doctors from Belarus and Russia). Lithuanians serving in the Soviet military outside of Lithuania continued to desert (more than 1000 in 1990). On March 27 Soviet paratroopers invaded and attacked the havens for Lithuanian deserters, such as the Naujoji Vilnia Psychiatric Hospital in Vilnius and the Ziegzdriu Psychiatric Hospital in Kaunas. They broke down doors, cut telephone lines used for emergency communications, tore down the flag of the Red Cross, abused nurses and doctors, and brutally beat and abducted defenseless young Lithuanians and several sick psychiatric patients. The deserters were also attacked in their homes.<\/p>\n State borders formed the second battle line. The Lithuanian government\u2019s decision to begin preliminary border delimitation and controls was countered by Moscow\u2019s order to its border troops to \u201cblock the way for illegal actions that violate USSR law on state borders.\u201d Soviet troops strengthened their positions on the borders and began confiscating all firearms from Lithuanians (including hunting rifles).<\/p>\n The third line of battle developed over the control of buildings and institutions. In the weeks after the declaration of independence, Soviet paratroopers occupied several buildings that had earlier belonged to the Communist party.<\/p>\n First Signs of International Recognition<\/strong><\/p>\n Even though no country officially recognized Lithuania\u2019s independence at first, the March 11 declaration had wide international repercussions. The first to congratulate the Lithuanian people with a \u201creturn to the family of free nations\u201d were the deputies of Poland\u2019s parliament. Lane Kirkland, president of the AFL\u2013CIO, sent a letter of congratulations in the name of 14 million Americans. Congratulations were extended by the Popular Front of Estonia. In Kishinev (Moldava) several thousand people held a demonstration of solidarity with Lithuania.<\/p>\n US President George Bush stated on March 23 that his country supported Lithuania\u2019s right to self-determination: \u201cWe have repeatedly urged the Soviet Union\u2014Soviet government\u2014 to enter into immediate negotiations with the Lithuanian government, which has itself called for those talks.\u201d President Vaclav Havel of Czechoslovakia called for a political dialogue between Lithuania and the USSR and offered his good offices for the negotiations. The European Parliament in Strasbourg, though withholding full recognition, addressed the USSR and Lithuania as two different states that had to resolve their disagreements by constructive dialogue.<\/p>\n The Economic Blockade<\/strong><\/p>\n The Law on Certification Cards\u2014 Lithuania\u2019s first step to bypass the USSR passport control system\u2014adopted on April 5 caused Moscow to lose its patience. On April 17 Gorbachev and Ryzhkov (chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers) sent a forceful telegram to the Lithuanian Supreme Council: \u201cIf within two days the Supreme Council and the Council of Ministers of the Lithuanian SSR do not revoke their aforementioned decisions, orders will be given to suspend delivery of the type of production that is sold on the foreign market for hard currency to the Lithuanian SSR from other Soviet republics.\u201d That meant, above all, oil and natural gas (over 90% of Lithuanian energy resources were supplied by other Soviet republics).<\/p>\n The ultimatum was answered by another Lithuanian proposal to start bilateral talks. On April 25 Moscow cut off gas and oil supplies to Lithuania. The Lithuanian government announced the creation of the Department of National Defense. The blockade continued for 10 weeks. Lithuania\u2019s main industrial enterprises stopped, transportation slowed down, television and radio transmissions became shorter, some food products became scarce. Nevertheless, the blockade did not achieve its main goal\u2014to force the Supreme Council to revoke the March 11 independence declaration.<\/p>\n From the start the government and the population showed great inventiveness. A Blockade Committee was established, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Brazauskas. A public fund was created for donations (which received donations both from private persons and organizations in Lithuania and from those abroad, such as the World Lithuanian Community and the Supreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania). Anti-blockade headquarters were created in all major cities in order to distribute scarce resources, resolve emerging problems, and assist people most hurt by the blockade (such as the workers of shutdown industries). Of equal importance was private initiative: energy resources were clandestinely imported from Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia (ingenious Lithuanians even managed to purchase oil and gasoline from Soviet troops stationed in Lithuania). Paradoxically, the severing of centrally allocated energy resources opened the way for a more free market economy, though the opportunity was not fully exploited.<\/p>\n Public organizations in various countries reacted strongly to the economic blockade. Support demonstrations were regularly held in Sweden. In the Soviet Union analogous rallies were frequent, while contacts between Lithuanians and leaders of democratic movements in other Soviet republics continued to widen. Letters and telegrams in support of Lithuania\u2019s independence were sent from different parts of the USSR. During the blockade people in Moscow brought food to the Lithuanian mission there.<\/p>\n As the blockade took full effect, French President Francois Mitterand and West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl urged Lithuanian leader Landsbergis to consider \u201ca temporary suspension of the effects of the Lithuanian March 11 declaration of independence to get negotiations with Moscow started.\u201d The letter prodded Lithuania\u2019s Supreme Council to call a 100-day moratorium (beginning June 29, 1990) on the enactment of the independence declaration as a compromise step. Soviet oil shipments resumed immediately. Negotiations, however, did not materialize for another two months.<\/p>\n The remainder of 1990 witnessed increasing intimidation by Soviet leaders: they threatened to destroy the Lithuanian economy, to set groups of the population against one another, to incorporate parts of Lithuanian territory into the Russian SSR. The Lithuanian Supreme Council, in turn, consistently proposed bilateral talks while it continued to build the institutions of an independent state.<\/p>\n The situation could not have lasted indefinitely without undermining Moscow\u2019s credibility\u2014Moscow had to figure a way to bring Lithuania back into submission. In September 1990 the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU issued an \u201cAddress to Communists and to the People of Lithuania” that urged them \u201cto put a stop to intentional continuation of old wrongs, distortion of the past, and to make the right choice at this complicated stage of historical development.\u201d In October 1990 officials of the USSR refused to guarantee the implementation of agreements on the sale of material resources and goods to Lithuania. The USSR stepped up its terror campaign against young men who refused to serve in the Soviet military. The Soviets also encouraged dissension among non-Lithuanians, many of whom were dissatisfied with deteriorating living conditions.<\/p>\n In order to use mass force to crush Lithuanian independence, the Soviets would have to appear \u201cjustified\u201d in the eyes of public opinion, both at home and abroad. Vociferous campaigns against the Lithuanian Supreme Council and S\u00b9judis leaders were launched in the Soviet media. Obvious fabrications were employed. For example, Soviet television broadcast patently fake instructions of the Lithuanian Defense Department purportedly outlining plans for the imprisonment or deportation of supporters of the pro-Soviet Communist party.<\/p>\n The January Events<\/p>\n On December 1 a presidential decree of the USSR ordered troops to enforce the conscription law in the union republics. On December 13 the USSR recalled its delegation from the joint Lithuanian\u2013USSR negotiations. On December 20 the USSR Defense Ministry introduced military patrols on the streets of Lithuanian cities and in other republics where draft resistance was high. The Supreme Council of Lithuania urged citizens \u201cto keep calm and avoid being drawn into any conflicts provoked by rude behavior of the arrogant military forces.\u201d<\/p>\n A decision by the Lithuanian government gave Moscow an opening to attempt a coup. On January 7, 1991, Prime Minister Prunskiene, citing the staggering cost of state subsidies due to inflation, decided to raise the prices of chief foodstuffs by 320%. The next day members of Edinstvo [a pro-Soviet reactionary group] organized a protest rally at the Supreme Council. The crowd pushed through lines of parliamentary guards and attempted to invade the building. In face of these actions and widespread discontent, the Supreme Council had to revoke the price increases, and Prunskiene and her cabinet were forced to resign.<\/p>\n On the same day, USSR Defense Minister Yazov ordered a special paratroop division from Pskov to enter Lithuania ostensibly to search for Lithuanian deserters. On January 10 Gorbachev threatened the introduction of direct presidential rule and demanded that the Supreme Council \u201cimmediately and completely reestablish the validity of the constitutions of the USSR and the Lithuanian SSR, and revoke the anti-constitutional acts which have been adopted.\u201d In response the Supreme Council stressed that all \u201cissues in dispute must be solved not through military coercion, not through blackmail, but on the principle of negotiations and treaties as recognized by the international community. The State Delegation of the Republic of Lithuania is prepared to continue contact with the State Delegation of the USSR.\u201d<\/p>\n On January 11 a shadowy new \u201cauthority\u201d announced its existence: the National Salvation Committee (NSC). Members of the reactionary groups and the Soviet military constituted its core. The NSC claimed to \u201ctake full responsibility for the fate of the republic.\u201d Soviet troops invaded and occupied the offices of the Lithuanian Department of National Defense in Vilnius, Alytus, and \u0160iauliai. The press center in Vilnius was attacked and occupied. In the onslaught seven people from the crowd that was guarding the building (without weapons) were wounded, four of them from rifle fire. On the same day the press center was occupied, journalists from thirteen separate periodicals published a joint independent newspaper, Laisvoji Lietuva (Free Lithuania).<\/p>\n On the evening of January 11 a task force of KGB paratroopers, Alfa, arrived in Vilnius. Around midnight on January 12\u201313, representatives of the NSC demanded the Supreme Council\u2019s resignation and \u201cannounced\u201d the introduction of direct USSR presidential rule. On January 13, at 2 a.m., paratroopers in armored vehicles advanced on the radio and TV center and the television transmission tower in Vilnius. People had formed human barricades to protect the structures. In the attack on the tower 13 civilians and a KGB officer were killed and 702 people were wounded. Loudspeakers from the tanks and armored personnel carriers announced that the NSC had taken political power, that a curfew was to be introduced at 6:30 a.m., and that the chief of the Vilnius military garrison, Major-General Uskhopchik, had been appointed military commandant of Vilnius.<\/p>\n Nonviolent Action in the January Events<\/strong><\/p>\n In challenging the Soviet empire, the Supreme Council of Lithuania was well aware that its chief weapon rested with the mass support and solidarity of the Lithuanian population and the democratic community abroad. That support could only be earned and sustained by preserving the nonviolent character of the attempted political and social changes. The first resolutions of the council stressed the importance of nonviolent discipline in the pursuit of independence. A March 19, 1990, resolution, for example, emphasized that Soviet \u201cmilitary officers and their families are in no way responsible. It would be improper to bother or harass them, or encourage antagonism toward them. Let us be friendly and polite: we will thus part on good terms.\u201d<\/p>\n On January 8, as Soviet intentions of a coup became evident, Vytautas Landsbergis made a radio appeal: \u201cCome and help your own government, otherwise a foreign one would overcome us.\u201dRichard Attenborough\u2019s movie Gandhi was shown on national television. From January 8 on, a round-the-clock civilian watch began at the Supreme Council building and in the next days around other strategic facilities such as the TV transmission tower. In an orderly manner, according to a defined schedule, people came from all over Lithuania to keep watch. Citizens of Vilnius offered them food and room for rest. Unarmed policemen and undergraduates of the police academy joined the watch, with the task of preventing armed confrontations.<\/p>\n On January 12, some 7,000\u20139,000 people gathered around the TV transmission tower, mostly young Lithuanians. The crowd sang, played music, and amused themselves deep into the night. When local radio brought news of tanks and other military vehicles on the move, people formed a human barrier around the tower. The tanks came forward, crushing cars, busses, and trucks that stood in their way. One woman and one man were crushed to death under the tank treads. Soviet soldiers beat Lithuanians in their path with rifle butts. As stated, the troops opened fire, killing fourteen people.<\/p>\n The soldiers’ brutality, however, did not crush the people\u2019s will to resist. In the words of one student:<\/p>\n We all thought that they would come next to the parliament. I was afraid, and so were others, but in general the mood was more angry. That was so even when people came from the TV tower and told us what had happened; some of my friends came and their faces were quite changed, stony. \u2026 Landsbergis broadcast over the loudspeakers, asking us to move to the side, so as not to be caught in the crossfire when the parliament was attacked. He said something like \u2018we need live witnesses, not more victims\u2019; but we didn\u2019t move.<\/p>\n Thousands thronged around the building. Heavy machinery from a nearby construction site was used to erect tank barriers. People sang and prayed. The Catholic priest Robertas Grigas conferred absolution on all present. Inside, servicemen of the defense department, armed mostly with sticks and old hunting rifles, erected defenses.<\/p>\n The unarmed people on the square were determined to halt the attack on the Supreme Council at any cost. However, the attack never materialized. While we do not have access to secret cables that would outline Soviet decision making, clearly the dogged determination of the Lithuanian people was an important factor in deterring the continuation of this military assault. International Reaction<\/strong><\/p>\n On January 13, Yeltsin and the leaders of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania mutually recognized the sovereignty of the Baltic states and strongly denounced the use of Soviet military force. Governments, non-governmental organizations, and individuals registered their support: the reception bureau of the Supreme Council counted 25,400 letters and telegrams in support of Lithuanian independence by the end of January. Large rallies of support were held in Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, Minsk, Kishinev, and Tbilisi. The Moscow City Council of People\u2019s Deputies adopted a resolution \u201cto denounce the anti-constitutional use of military force against civilians and the legally elected government\u201d in Lithuania. Municipal deputies in Leningrad appealed to Gorbachev: \u201cimmediately cease the illegal use of military force in Lithuania,\u201d \u201cwithdraw from all occupied buildings within 48 hours,\u201d and \u201cimmediately begin negotiations with the Lithuanian government.\u201d<\/p>\n Soviet aggression finally moved Western leaders to view \u201cBaltic independence as an international problem and not just an internal domestic affair of the Soviet Union.\u201d Strong international protests ensued. On January 14 the prime ministers of Sweden, Iceland, Norway, Denmark, and Finland officially denounced the behavior of Soviet troops in Lithuania. NATO officials in Brussels warned that Moscow\u2019s actions in Vilnius could spoil the good will between NATO and Moscow. The European Parliament demanded \u201cthat all recently allocated troops be immediately withdrawn from the Baltics.\u201d Members of the European Community demanded \u201cthat the current actions of the Soviet Union towards Lithuania not be continued or carried over to the other Baltic states. Otherwise, they will have to react accordingly to this situation and break off relations with the Soviet Union.\u201d On January 16 the foreign minister of Denmark, Elleman Jensen, offered refuge to the Lithuanian government in case it would have to operate in exile. Denmark also offered to shelter prospective refugees from the Baltics. A radical resolution was adopted by the Alting (parliament) of Iceland: \u201cthere is no more appropriate way to solve the problems of the Baltic states than to fully and unconditionally recognize their independence.\u201d Indeed, Iceland was the first state to do so on February 11, 1991.<\/p>\n The ability of the Lithuanian people to remain calm in a most complicated situation, to resist provocations of the foreign troops, to refrain from any acts of physical resistance so desired by the enemy played a decisive role in turning world public opinion in favor of Lithuania\u2019s independence. The image of resolute, defiant, yet nonviolent civilians asserting their independence in the face of ruthless Soviet brutality further undermined the remaining hold of the Soviets on the Baltics. ?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By\u00a0GRA\u017dINA MINIOTAIT\u0116. The possibilities of glastnost (or \u201copenness\u201d) were first seized [in Lithuania] by intellectuals: writers, artists, and scholars. The circulation of literary magazines exploded; many at first concentrated on the exposure of Stalinist atrocities, but then proceeded to fundamental critiques of the socialist system. The first expressions of openness in Lithuania were tinged with …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1711,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[79,102],"class_list":["post-1706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-history-1900","tag-draugas-news","tag-miniotaite-g"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.draugas.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Vilnius,](\"http:\/\/draugas.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Untitled_Clipping_011416_022644_PM.jpg\")
![\"\u201cFreedom](\"http:\/\/draugas.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Untitled_Clipping_011416_022859_PM.jpg\")
\nDuring the attack on the radio and television tower, live broadcasts of the atrocities continued until the Soviets wrested control. Because of clever camera layout, the whole of Lithuania\u2014and consequently the whole world\u2014could observe the details of the paratroopers\u2019 attack. When the tower and radio stations were seized, the Supreme Council\u2019s separate radio transmitter inside the parliament building went off the air too. Yet several hours later technicians managed to connect with the transmission aerial in Kaunas. Soon after 5 a.m. the latest news from the Supreme Council was back on the air. Citizens from Kaunas and neighboring localities gathered around the Sitkunai transmission center and the Kaunas radio station. An appeal to Soviet troops \u201cDo not shoot at peaceful people!\u201d was read over the radio. The protection of the Sitkunai aerial was vital to secure the flow of information to the country.<\/p>\n![\"Vytautas](\"http:\/\/draugas.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Untitled_Clipping_011416_023019_PM.jpg\")