Lačys Laurinkus. The contribution of all signatories to the restoration of free Lithuania is not the same
True, not all books for signatories reach bookstore shelves. Most lie down in libraries. Of course, those who have been exploring the Sąjūdis and breaking the Baltic for years will not find them easily. Many researchers were born in the years of restored independence, so books about the signatory are an important source for understanding what happened in a unique period in the history of Lithuania during the revolutionary upswing.
The contribution of all signatories to the restoration of free Lithuania is not the same. Not everyone raised their arms in favor. There were Socialists, Social Democrats, Christian Democrats or otherwise Democrats, there were new nationalists, believers and free thinkers.
There is a book by V. Plečkaitis about one person with a unique worldview. Not only is the personality of G.Iešmantas, a complicated and meaningful way of life, but also the environment of a dissident, a poet who has chosen a part of a political prisoner, a journalist from a capital letter, starting with his family, co-workers, without escaping relations with other dissidents.
The biggest advantage of the book is the background of G. Isešmantas’ life and the struggle against the Soviet regime, which is not always perfectly highlighted in essays of a similar genre.
It is true that the existing historical issues of dissident activity in Lithuania are used, but the concise description of various dissidents in one place has not yet been read. This is especially important for new researchers of the dissident struggle against the Soviet regime, as this movement is often perceived as a single phenomenon, without a difference in the worldviews and ideas of the militants. And there would be them.
I myself have taken part in the conversations of “silent resistance” that the most real way for Lithuania is to become a proper but socialist one.
V.Plečkaitis presents G.Iešmantas as a supporter of the ideas of Eurocommunism.
Many prominent figures in the Sąjūdis have openly declared socialism with a human face. V.Plečkaitis not only “opened” this topic, but also organically connected it with the fateful turns of G.Iešmantas’ life. And they’re really impressive.
The journalist, who has successfully climbed the career ladder, is suddenly torn apart by secretly written poems about freedom, which, together with articles signed under a pseudonym, are published in Perspektyvos (an underground publication launched in 1978).
On the way to the publication, which the KGB considered a threat to the system, G.Iešmantas, under the pseudonym Dalius Ieškau, wrote: “I am taking this step consciously, understanding what is waiting. It is needed not only for me, but for the whole of our struggle … In general, poetry has been and is my real life for me. For that reason alone, I care less about my personal destiny. I don’t want to destroy my real life, which I lived not for myself, but for Freedom, for Truth, for Homeland. “
I was in the preparation of the signatory of bright memory, the poet A. Patackas, in the almost wire-bound self-publishing publication Pastogė, the principle of which was not to participate in lies. Some people, after reading the poems or short stories of the publication, said: but it is possible to print it in the magazine “Nemunas”.
G.Iešmantas linked his position to the artist. Of course, he also spread the ideas of Eurocommunism. Strangely, the Soviet government and ideology considered these ideas very dangerous. Maybe it’s because they mobilized an unhappy but not publicly opposed intelligentsia.
G.Iešmantas was imprisoned for eleven years. V.Plečkaitis describes the “court”, imprisonment and deportation in detail and persuasively. Even those who have heard, read or experienced it can find interesting details.
I will quote one place in the book. A KGB official, a colonel, and a senior interrogator, V. Urbonas, according to V. Skuodis (a prominent dissident, aut.),
He even told the interrogators that he had been assigned to the KGB after graduating from the Faculty of Law of Vilnius University and then doing an internship in Moscow for half a year. V.Urbonas has already apologized to V.Skuodis during the years of independence ”. Unusual text about a KGB officer.
I was interested in a slightly different aspect of G.Iešmantas’ personality. After appearing in a Soviet prison from call to call, he seems to have had to give up and rub the idea of ”socialism with a human face.” No, did not throw, did not rub.
1987 Refusing to write a pardon request, which some dissidents used to escape from prison earlier, G. Ismantas wrote in a letter published in an underground publication: “Yes, I was not in the report socialist state …
And I am convinced that such a step would serve the interests of both socialism and peace, the real society of the nations. “
Stunning unity of opinion. After returning to his homeland, he joined the emerging Lithuanian Social Democratic Party, because, according to the signatory B. Genzelis, its program was the most in line with the ideas of Eurocommunism announced by G. Isešmantas.
G.Iešmantas never rushed to the rostrum of the Seimas, he was an “introverted Social Democrat”, as described by Professor A.Bagdon. If it were not for V. Plečkaitis’ book, it would seem to many that there would be no such person at all.