People's Parliament

The so-called People's Parliament (Liaudies Seimas) was a tool for legitimising the annexation of Lithuania by the Soviet Union in 1940.

Origins and actions of the People's Parliament

On June 14, 1940 the Soviet Union gave an ultimatum to Lithuania to form a new government and to allow free access to Lithuanian territory for the Red Army. On June 15, 1940 the Soviet Union occupied Lithuania. The People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Vladimir Dekanozov arrived to supervise the process of the annexation of Lithuania.

On June 27, 1940, the pro-Soviet Government headed by Justas Paleckis (this government had assumed power illegally as it was not appointed by the President as the constitution required) signed the dissolution of Parliament act, citing the Constitution of 1938, and implemented a scenario for the annexation of Lithuania by the Soviet Union foreseen in the then-secret Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (signed in Moscow on 23 August 1939).

On July 6 Dekanozov’s government announced that on July 14 there would be elections for a new parliament, the People's Parliament. The Communist Party of Lithuania announced the formation of the Union of the Toiling People of Lithuania that offered a slate of candidates, including some ten non-members of the Communist Party, with just one person designated for every seat in the new parliament. On July 11 and 12, the Soviet authorities reduced the possible points of opposition by arresting leading figures of the old regime and deporting some of them to the interior of the Soviet Union – this although Lithuania was still formally an independent state.

Dekanozov used the Lithuanian government, and the Lithuanian Communist Party, as his instruments to carry out the will of the Soviet party leadership. Throughout the process, Soviet propagandists insisted there was only one acceptable path for the country, and all were obliged to follow it. They concentrated on creating an image of mass support, and they called for determined measures against those who somehow opposed the new order and wanted to sabotage the elections of July 14.

The People's Parliament was the basic tool for legitimising the annexation of Lithuania. This People's Parliament, usurping the right of sovereignty to decide the fate of the state, violated the still valid provisions of the Constitution on the limited competence of Parliament.

During its first session on 21 July 1940, the People's Parliament voted in favor of Lithuania joining the Soviet Union and elected twenty representatives to deliver a declaration to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR asking for admission to the Soviet Union: the president of Lithuania Justas Paleckis, Interior Minister Mečys Gedvilas, a former priest, chief control inspector Liudas Adomauskas, Agricultural Minister Matas Mickis, Minister of Education Antanas Venclova, writer Liudas Gira, Minister of Defence and Commander of the Army Vincas Vitkauskas, chairman of the trade unions Motiejus Šumauskas, Communist Party activist Karolis Didžiulis-Grosmanas, writer Petras Cvirka, poetess Salomėja Nėris, K. Petrauskas, worker Pranas Zibertas, S. Vaineikienė, Icikas Meskupas-Adomas, soldier V. Ditkevičius, P. Petrauskas, J. Demskis, M. Kutraitė, and B. Abdulskaitė [http://www.lietuvos.net/istorija/1940_1990/] . Each member of the delegation received 5000 Litas payment for their signatures, which was a substantial sum for that time [http://www.rasyk.lt/index.php/fuseaction,articlesView.view;id,707;pn, lt icon Viktoras Alekna. "Apie S. Nėries gyvenimo vingius ir jos gyvenimo meiles" (On paths of Salomėja Nėris life and her love). Omni.lt, 05 December 2004] ] .

The annexation of Lithuania by the Soviet Union was finalised on August 25, 1940, when the People's Parliament declared itself the provisional Supreme Soviet of Lithuania.

Portrayal in Soviet historiography

From the 1950s onward, Soviet historians started presenting the events of 1940 in Lithuania as a "socialist revolution" having occurred after the meeting of the People's Parliament; after 1965 the "socialist revolution" became a historic phenomenon independent of the Red Army. In May 1969 a historical conference in Tallinn blessed the model of socialist revolution, and in the 1970s this became "historical truth". According to the Soviet propaganda, the Lithuanian people, like the Estonians and the Latvians, had supposedly carried out a socialist revolution independent of Moscow's influence and had voluntarily requested admission into the USSR.

References

* [http://www3.lrs.lt/pls/inter/w5_show?p_r=282&p_k=2 Fourth Seimas 1936 - 1940]
*lt icon [http://www.leonoxiiifondas.lt/index.php?id=193 Dainius Žalimas: Lietuvos nepriklausomybės praradimas: svarbiausių istorinių faktų apžvalga]

ee also

* History of Lithuania