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Reform Movement of Lithuania Lietuvos Persitvarkymo Sąjūdis | |
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| Abbreviation | LPS (Sąjūdis) |
| Leader | Vytautas Landsbergis (1988–1990) |
| Founded | 23 October 1988; 37 years ago (1988-10-23) |
| Headquarters | Vilnius, Lithuania |
| Ideology | Lithuanian nationalism Anti-communism Anti-Sovietism Democratization |
| Political position | Big tent |
| Slogan | For Lithuania |
| Website | |
| http://www.lietsajudis.lt/ | |
TheSąjūdis (Lithuanian:[ˈsâːjuːdʲɪs],lit. 'Movement'), initially known as theReform Movement of Lithuania (Lithuanian:Lietuvos Persitvarkymo Sąjūdis), is a political organisation which led the struggle forLithuanian independence in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was established on 3 June 1988 as the first opposition party inSoviet Lithuania, and was led byVytautas Landsbergis. Its goal was to seek the return of independent status for Lithuania.
In the mid-1980s, Lithuania's Communist Party leadership hesitated to embrace Gorbachev'sperestroika andglasnost. The death ofPetras Griškevičius, first secretary of theCommunist Party of Lithuania, in 1987 was merely followed by the appointment of another rigid communist,Ringaudas Songaila. However, encouraged by the rhetoric ofMikhail Gorbachev, noting the strengthening position ofSolidarity in Poland and encouraged by the Pope and the U.S. Government, Baltic independence activists began to hold public demonstrations inRiga,Tallinn, andVilnius.
At a meeting at theLithuanian Academy of Sciences on 3 June 1988, communist and non-communist intellectuals formed Sąjūdis Initiative Group (Lithuanian:Sąjūdžio iniciatyvinė grupė) to organise a movement to support Gorbachev's program of glasnost, democratisation, and perestroika. The group composed of 35 members, mostly artists. 17 of the group members were also communist party members. Its goal was to organise the Sąjūdis Reform Movement, which became known subsequently simply as Sąjūdis.
On 21 June 1988, the first massive gathering organised by Sąjūdis took place at Soviet Square nearSoviet Palace. Three days later, a gathering took place inGediminas' Square. There, delegates to the 19th All-Union Conference of theCommunist Party of the Soviet Union were instructed about Sąjūdis goals.
About 100,000 people inVingis Park greeted the delegates when they came back in July. Anothermassive event took place on 23 August 1988, when about 250,000 people gathered to protest against theMolotov–Ribbentrop pact and its secret protocol.
On 19 June 1988, the first issue ofsamizdat newspaper "Sąjūdis News" (Lithuanian:Sąjūdžio žinios) was published. In September, Sąjūdis published a legal newspaper, "Atgimimas" (English:rebirth). In total, about 150 different newspapers were printed supporting Sąjūdis.
As stated in the first issues of “Atgimimas”, Sąjūdis was perceived as the reformist initiative by the intellectual authorities with a goal to start the national awakening.[1]
In October 1988, Sąjūdis held its founding conference in Vilnius. It elected a 35-member council. Most of its members were members of the initiative group.Vytautas Landsbergis, a professor of musicology, who was not a member of the communist party, became the council's chairman.[2]
The movement supported Gorbachev's policies, but at the same time promoted Lithuanian national issues, such as restoration of theLithuanian language as the official language. Its demands included the revelation of truth about the Stalinist years, protection of the environment, the halt on construction of a third nuclear reactor at theIgnalina nuclear power plant, and disclosure of the secret protocols of the Nazi-Soviet Non-aggression Pact, signed in 1939.
Sąjūdis used mass meetings to advance its goals. At first, Communist Party leaders shunned these meetings, but by mid-1988, their participation became a political necessity. A Sąjūdis rally on 24 June 1988 was attended byAlgirdas Brazauskas, then party secretary for industrial affairs. In October 1988, Brazauskas was appointed first secretary of the communist party to replaceSongaila. Communist leaders threatened to crack down on Sąjūdis, but backed down in the face of mass protests. Sąjūdis candidates fared well in elections to theCongress of People's Deputies, the newly created Soviet legislative body. Their candidates won in 36 of the 40 districts in which they ran.
In February 1989, Sąjūdis declared that Lithuania had been forcibly annexed by the Soviet Union and that the group's ultimate goal was the restoration of Lithuanian independence. Lithuanian sovereignty was proclaimed in May 1989, and Lithuania's incorporation into the Soviet Union was declared illegal.
On 23 August 1989, the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Nazi–SovietMolotov–Ribbentrop Pact, a 600-kilometre, two-million-strong human chain reaching from Tallinn to Vilnius focused international attention on the aspirations of the Baltic nations. This demonstration and the coordinated efforts of the three nations became known as theBaltic Way. Days after the rally, the federal Supreme Soviet soon made public its admission of the forced accession of the Baltic republics.
In December, the Communist Party of Lithuania seceded from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and agreed to give up its monopoly on power. In February 1990, Sąjūdis representatives (or candidates that were supported by the movement) won an absolute majority (101 seats out of 141) in theSupreme Council of the Lithuanian SSR. Vytautas Landsbergis was elected chairman of the Supreme Council. This led to the declaration of the restoration of independence on 11 March 1990, with Landsbergis becoming the first leader of a restored Lithuania.
Today, Sąjūdis is still active inLithuania, but it has lost almost all its influence.
With independence gained, reform communists and Vilnius liberal intellectuals left Sąjūdis about a month later. One of the reasons of this event was a growing nationalist rhetoric. Some members formed the newIndependence Party, while liberal-leaning members helped to found theLiberal Union of Lithuania. As a result, the movement, still led by its founder V. Landsbergis, mostly included members from theKaunas faction, who were inclined to "differentiate the local population into two clear groups, 'patriots' and 'communists'".[3] The popularity of Sąjūdis waned as it failed to maintain unity among people with different political beliefs and was ineffective in handling the economic crisis.
Moreover, Sąjūdis lost major support from the rural regions of Lithuania, as they proposed agricultural and land reforms without the input and against the interests of mostkolkhoz employees and workers.[4] Sąjūdis retained support in Kaunas andPanevėžys.[5]
In the late summer of 1992, Sąjūdis and several minor parties and movements formed an electoral coalition, "For democratic Lithuania". However, theDemocratic Labour Party (DLP; the former Communist Party of Lithuania) was victorious in theSeimaselections of that year.
Many of the group, including Landsbergis, formed the core of theHomeland Union, now the largest centre-right party in Lithuania.
| Election year | Leader | Seats | +/– |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989[a] | Vytautas Landsbergis | 36 / 42 | New |
| Election year | Leader | Seats | +/– | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990[b] | Vytautas Landsbergis | 91 / 141 | New | Government |
| Election year | Leader | Votes | % (place) | Seats | +/– | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Vytautas Landsbergis | 393,502 | 21.17 (#2) | 30 / 141 |  61 | Opposition |
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