KLAIPĖDA UNIVERSITY LITHUANIAN INSTITUTE OF HISTORY. Artūras Svarauskas

Transcription

1 KLAIPĖDA UNIVERSITY LITHUANIAN INSTITUTE OF HISTORY Artūras Svarauskas IDEOLOGICAL AND STRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT OF CHRIS TIAN DEMOCRACY IN THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA IN Summary of Doctoral Dissertation Humanities, History (05 H) Klaipėda

2 Dissertation prepared at Klaipėda University in Scientific supervisor: Dr. Česlovas LAURINAVIČIUS (Lithuanian Institute of History, Humanities, History (05 H). The evaluation of the dissertation and the public defence will be carried out by the University of Klaipėda and the Lithuanian Institute of History appointed Scientific Committee for History: Chairman: Assoc. Professor Dr. Vygantas VAREIKIS (Klaipėda University; humanities, history 05 H) Members: Dr. Algimantas KASPARAVIČIUS (Lithuanian Institute of History; humanities, history 05 H) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Saulius KAUBRYS (Vilnius University; humanities, history 05 H) Dr. Vladas SIRUTAVIČIUS (Lithuanian Institute of History; humanities, history 05 H) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Arūnas STREIKUS (Vilnius University; humanities, history 05 H). Opponents: Dr. Regina LAUKAITYTĖ (Lithuanian Institute of History; humanities, history 05 H) Prof. Dr. Habil. Liudas TRUSKA (Vilnius Pedagogical University; humanities, history 05 H) The public defence of dissertation is announced to take place October 28, 2011 at 13:00 in the Aula Hall of the Klaipėda University. Address: Herkus Mantas street 84, LT-92294, Klaipėda, Lithuania. The summary of the doctoral dissertation was sent out on September 27, The dissertation is publicly available at the libraries of Klaipėda University and the Lithuanian Institute of History. 2

3 KLAIPĖDOS UNIVERSITETAS LIETUVOS ISTORIJOS INSTITUTAS Artūras Svarauskas KRIKŠ ČIONIŠ KOS IOS DEMOKRATIJOS IDĖJ INĖ IR STRUKTŪRIN Ė RAIDA LIETUVOS RES PUBLIKOJE M. Daktaro disertacijos santrauka Humanitariniai mokslai, istorija (05 H) Klaipėda

4 Disertacija rengta metais Klaipėdos universitete. Mokslinis vadovas: Dr. Česlovas LAURINAVIČIUS (Lietuvos istorijos institutas, humanitariniai mokslai, istorija - 05 H). Disertacija ginama Klaipėdos universiteto ir Lietuvos istorijos instituto istorijos mokslo krypties taryboje: Pirmininkas: doc. dr. Vygantas VAREIKIS (Klaipėdos Universitetas, humanitariniai mokslai, istorija - 05 H) Nariai: dr. Algimantas KASPARAVIČIUS (Lietuvos istorijos institutas, humanitariniai mokslai, istorija - 05 H) doc. dr. Saulius KAUBRYS (Vilniaus universitetas, humanitariniai mokslai, istorija - 05 H) dr. Vladas SIRUTAVIČIUS (Lietuvos istorijos institutas, humanitariniai mokslai, istorija - 05 H) doc. dr. Arūnas STREIKUS (Vilniaus universitetas, humanitariniai mokslai, istorija 05 H). Oponentai: dr. Regina LAUKAITYTĖ (Lietuvos istorijos institutas, humanitariniai mokslai, istorija - 05 H) prof. habil. dr. Liudas TRUSKA (Vilniaus pedagoginis universitetas, humanitariniai mokslai, istorija - 05 H). Disertacija bus ginama viešame Istorijos mokslo krypties tarybos posėdyje 2011 spalio 28 d. 13 val. Klaipėdos universiteto Auloje. Adresas: Herkaus Manto g. 84, LT-92294, Klaipėda, Lietuva. Disertacijos santrauka išsiuntinėta 2011 m. rugsėjo 27 d. Disertaciją galima perţiūrėti Klaipėdos universiteto ir Lietuvos istorijos instituto bibliotekose. 4

5 SUMMARY Introduction. In the context of nationalis m and modernisation of society Catholicism evolved from the concept of confessional and ecclesiastical structure to a set of spiritual, cultural, professional, caritative and political organisations, the rise of which dates back to the second half of the 19 th century. Initiated by Pope Leo XIII, the network of confessional Catholic organisations started to develop, which sought to cover as broad domain of public life as possible and to isolate the believers from the calamit ies of modernis m strengthened by nationalism, liberalis m and, in particular, socialism, as reflected in the thought of the Holy See. Thanks to the Catholic organisational network, from the late 19 th century onwards the European Catholics were no longer united by the sole link of religious identity but by belonging to the same organisations founded on confessional grounds. Common Catholic interests beyond the borders of the Church emerged. By bringing together Catholic males, females and youth of various professional and social backgrounds, urban and rural inhabitants, the rich and the poor, intellectuals and the illiterate, laymen and clergy, the network of confessional Catholic organisations played a function of a peculiar barrier protecting religion and believers fro m the attack of secular and anticlerical ideologies and enabled direct participation of Catholicis m in a number of areas of public life subject to public administration. Such a peculiar feature of Catholicis m dating back to the modern times became a starting-point and a cornerstone for Christian democratic parties in Europe. Therefore, the Catholic political parties that played an active role in the interwar period were not isolated political instruments in a secular public institute. They were accompanied by peculiar Catholic pressure groups social-economic organisations, professional unions, Catholic intellectual and spiritual movements, a number of youth associations and unions. In the first half of the 20 th century an all-embracing network of confessional organisations attempted to formalise the Catholic unity, thus seeking to highlight a peculiar character and Catholic separation from the social groups that were indifferent or opposing towards religion. A separate Catholic sub-culture, in other words a Catholic state within a secular 5

6 state, was built through these associations. Historiography refers to this exceptional phenomenon of the end of the 19 th century the 1 st half of the 20 th century as self-contained Catholicism or Ghetto Catholicism ((M. Conway, T. Buchanan, K. van Kersbergen). Actively supported by the clergy, Catholic self-containment, or ghetto, first and foremost, had to unite Catholic as Catholic, to organise them, and thus build up and strengthen an exceptional and peculiar identity by becoming an undivided and solid force in political decision-making. Even though the initiative of the Catholic ghetto rose in the context of the 19 th century clash between secular ideologies and Catholicism, i.e. it first manifested a defensive character of Catholicis m, in 1918 it transformed into a mobilised and creative force in Europe protecting the political stakeholders favourable to the Church, whom the developing Christian democratic parties sought to become. Object. In the late 19 th century the early 20 th century the Catholic selfcontainment affected the transition of the concept of Catholicis m from a mere confession to a broad public and political factor. Apart from being a religion, in the interwar period Catholicism was perceived as an environment penetrating into the matters of daily life. It defined the problem of the research object: what is the Lithuanian political Christian democracy and where are its limits? In the interwar period the Christian Democratic Party was a certain umbrella, which tried to unite and take advantage of a broad network of confessional Catholic organisations and church parishes. Therefore, it was not always clear in Lithuania where parties start and where the limits of activities of Catholic organisations or church parishes end. Commonly, the same person used to be both an active member of LCDP and a member of a number of other Catholic associations, and often a priest, who coordinated the functioning of the entire network in his parish in the direction favourable to the party. The constituent parts of such a multiple mechanis m used to divide the functions of LCDP and contribute to the implementation of political goals of the party. The latter aspect was an exceptional and original feature of the Christian democratic party model compared to other parties in the interwar years. Therefore, the dissertation approaches the Lithuanian Christian 6

7 Democratic Party (LCDP) from the perspective of the network of professional (Lithuanian Labour Federation (LLF)), agricultural-economic (Lithuanian Farmers Union (LFU)), cultural-intellectual (The Young Catholics) organisations, church parish structure, Katalikų akcija associations and youth (corporations of students belonging to Ateitininkai youth organisation at Vytautas Magnus University) organisations rather than the narrow positions of party structure. The dissertation focuses on the ideological development and party structure of the Lithuanian Christian democracy by highlighting the issues of its dynamics as an umbrella organisation. In other words, the thesis attempts to stress than in the interwar political discourse LCDP did not function as a separate clearly defined political organisation but combined and brought to its activities Catholic organisations of a broad professional, economic, cultural and confessional type, as well as the parish network. Hence, the dissertation mainly focuses on the analysis of the range of issues related to the functioning of this multiple political mechanis m by highlighting the factor of individual composite parts of Christian democracy. The Lithuanian Christian democracy is not approached in a narrow sense in the thesis and does not imply LCDP exclusively. It renders a broader sense of the entire Catholic organisational network subordinated to the party s interests. Hypothesis. The indefiniteness of the party in the interwar period had both strengths and weaknesses in respect of other political forces. One of the problematic moments in the functioning of LCDP was that by establishing, supporting and subordinating to their political interests the organisational network of believers, the Christian Democrats created preconditions for the development of active citizenship within the society, but at the same they followed an authoritarian principle Catholics with Catholics only, which strictly restricted and regulated the functioning of this network in the direction that was in favour to them. Despite their adjustment to, and activities in the framework of public structures created by political liberalis m and the term democracy in their title, the Lithuanian Christian Democrats were nevertheless not yet mature enough to become a modern democratic party in the interwar period. Such a hypothesis is grounded on the following 7

8 arguments. First of all, by combining the political and confessional public identity, the Christian Democrats were not yet ready for political pluralis m of the Catholic society and grounded their functioning on the principle One party to all Catholics. Second, to control the entire Catholic ghetto, they did not highlight a strict organisational structure as one of the key traits of the party, thus turning it into a certain undefined Catholic movement. Third, to cover and mobilise as wide groups of the devotional society as possible (from workers to farmers, from intellectuals to the illiterate, from village to city residents, from laymen to clergy, etc.) by stressing the role of nationalis m and their own as an outpost protecting Catholicis m in a secular country, they created preconditions for the existence of wide ever-changing ideological positions within the party. By synthesising the ideo logical postulates acceptable to different Catholic social groups, LCDP considered ideology as a means for achieving its political objectives rather than its goal. Goals and Objectives. Taking into account the problematic factors of existence of the Christian Democratic Party in the interwar period (the limits of the party organisation and membership; the problems of confessional and political Catholic pluralis m and the relation with the Church, the network of Catholic organisations and combination of various ideological positions), the analysis of the functioning mechanism of the Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party in the interwar Lithuania is considered the goal of the thesis. In other words, it constitutes of the problems that the party faced as an organisation and the tactics of political activities invoked seeking to represent the entire Lithuanian Catholic society under the conditions of parliamentarism and, in particular, authoritarianism. To achieve the afore-mentioned goal, the following objectives were raised: 1) to reveal the evolution of the concept of ideology of Christian democracy and the implementation of its principles in the interwar Lithuania, which was not only associated with the attempt of Christian democracy in Western Europe to solve the workers issue but also with the integration of the peasant religious society to the structures of modern state. 2) To enumerate the decisive factors for the establishment of the party determining the difficulties in the establishment of the Christian Democrats and affecting their fragmentary organisational character and the absence of a clear 8

9 ideology. 3) To reveal complex inter-relations between the party and the Catholic organisations, associations and movements constituting it in the attempts of the party to represent the interests of all Lithuanian Catholics and the resulting internal tensions and conflicts in respect of the choice of the party structure and the tactics of political activity by specifying the development of relations between the Lithuanian Labour Federation, Lithuanian Farmers Union, Young Catholics Movement, organisations of Katalikų akcija and student corporations and LCDP. 4) To reveal the range of issues in connection to confessional and political identification of the Lithuanian society implemented by the Christian Democrats and the interrelations and interests of the party and the Church. 5) With regard to a broad base of the social party membership and variability of ideological positions, highlight the controversial position of the Christian Democrats in the context of the turning-points in the political life of the Republic of Lithuania 1926 coup and the political crisis and occupation of the country in The goal of the dissertation determined that its focus is not on the analysis of the LCDP policy lines and their implementation in domestic or foreign policy because such a range of issues would require the concentration on the aspect of political activities rather than ideological and structural development of LCDP. As a result, that would lead to the formulation of absolutely different goals and objectives of the dissertation. The thesis focuses on the range of issues which highlights how LCDP acted instead of what LCDP did in the political discourse of the interwar Lithuania. In the meantime, the period of rule of the LCDP bloc in the 1920s remains a relevant and significant topic for future research. Research methods. The analysis of the relations between intricate Catholic organisations linked by complex ties and the Christian Democrats, as well as the range of issues in relation to the identification of the party s activities with the Church, the declared nationalism, radical advocacy of reforms in social spheres accompanied by conservativeness in educational and cultural fields determined the application of descriptive and analytical methods. The method of text analysis is used in the discussion attempting to answer why the concept of Christian democracy adjusted in Lithuania differed from the concept existing in Western Europe; in the emphasis on the key factors 9

10 determining a rapid quantitative popularity of the party as soon as the first years of independence; in the study of impact of the factors of Catholicis m and nationalism on the development of the party. The mechanism of the inter-connection among Catholic organisations, church network and the party, the imposition of the party policy lines on the public domain through these organisations and the LCDP positions and stance in respect of the democratic regime (1926), as well as the period of political crisis in the country ( ), are highlighted by means of empirical data. Historiography. One of the key problems of a number of Western European research studies on the topic of Christian democracy is the grounding of a number of them on pre-established patterns, i.e. the dominant positions are taken by the quest of the origins of Western European Christian democratic parties founded after World War II and a wish to trace them back to the late 19 th century the early 20 th century, i.e. the times of the famous encyclicals of Leo XIII Rerum novarum and Graves de Communi re. Also, attempts are made to artificially link a number of such Catholic parties that functioned in the interwar period with modern Christian democrats which originated after World War II, by ignoring antidemocratic and corporative tendencies in the activities and mindset of such parties and their leaders. The researchers of Christian democratic history often tend to omit the inconvenient 1930s, which witnessed the admiration of authoritarian or even totalitarian tendencies among a larger part of European society (M. Fogarty, S. N. Kalyvas). Up to the 1990s the ideological mot if in historiography of East- Central Europe, specifically Lithuania, was even more vivid compared to the West. The Soviet historiography tried to show the negative activities of bourgeois parties by suppressing the revolutionary rise of the masses and unwillingness to represent the interests of working people (I. Gricevičiūtė, A. Gaigalaitė, J. Aničas, G. Raudeliūnienė). By contrast, exile authors tried to focus on the exclusively positive side of this phenomenon (A. J. Kasulaitis, A. Graţiūnas). In the final decade of the 20 th century Western Europe and Lithuania alike saw a significant increase in academic literature focusing on the history of the range of issues on the origins of Christian democracy. However, the 10

11 key difference in historiography of the two parts of the Continent was and still is that in the West the afore-mentioned period already witnessed the study of cross-european context of Christian democratic parties and the attempted comparison of the parties of various countries (L. E. Evans, M. Conway, T. Buchanan, W. Kaiser). The historiography in Lithuania continues to focus on the national aspect exclusively. Following the liberation from the ideological dictatorship in 1990, historiography attempted to fill the existing empirical gaps on the issues of history of LCDP (R. Laukaitytė, A. Gaidys, D. Bučelis, V. Ţaltauskaitė, D. Čičinienė), by also highlighting the role of LCDP or its leaders in the context of events of Lithuanian political history (A. Kasparavičius, Č. Laurinavičius, G. Rudis, D. Blaţytė-Bauţienė, M. Tamošaitis, L. Truska). The existing historiography only addresses individual episodes of activities of the Christian Democrats during the interwar period. However, an intricate and complex model of its functioning has remained beyond the scope of research. To speak of the LCDP position on one or another issue, or its actions in a specific situation would mean an incomplete and simplified image of the intricate relations existing among various Catholic organisations or movements rendering significant impact on political decisions. In the same way that the position of LCDP alone cannot be detached from other members of the LCDP parliamentary bloc (LLF, LFU) which existed in the 1920s, the Christian Democrats under the conditions of authoritarian regime cannot be discussed in isolation from the position and role of the Young Catholics and a number of other Catholic organisations playing an active part in the political pressure to Antanas Smetona. The reason was the LCDP model of activities aiming at deep integration of the party s ideas to the entire Catholic ghetto; therefore, a formal party structure did not play a decisive role in these activities. The leaders of LCDP identified themselves with the needs and interests of the entire community of believers and the Church, therefore, they tried to take advantage of them as a platform for their activities. Sources. The key problem in relation to the base of research sources is the unavailability of the archives of the Christian Democratic Party and a number of other Catholic organisations that belong to the research object, which did 11

12 not survive in Lithuania to this day. On the other hand, this gap is filled by other sources, which may be divided into archival, published and periodicals. The most informative and most commonly used sources of the first type are the secret documents kept in the Fund of the State Security Department (f.378) and the Fund of the State Security Police (f.438) of the Ministry of the Interior at the Lithuanian Central State Archive (LCSA). This data which were usually addressed to several key public officers of that time only contributes to a thorough and often detailed disclosure of the type and scope of political opposition of the Catholic establishment to the authoritarian regime, as well as the internal backstage activities of the Christian Democrats, which could not always reflect even in the party d ocumentation. Other funds also contain data on the situation in individual Catholic organisations and the difficulties arising out of political activities in the interest of the Christian Democrats under conditions of authoritarianis m (f.1557; f.566; f.383; f.923, etc.). Published sources constitute the second group of sources. They can be divided into the documents of the Christian Democrats published in the interwar period as well as source publications and collections of documents prepared by historians. Periodical press is a particularly relevant and widely used source in the dissertation. Apart from a comprehensive organisational network, Catholics used to publish an equally numerous number of newspapers and magazines. Nearly every more prominent Catholic organisation had its separate semi-official newspaper (Lith. oficiozas). Each group of sources provides a distinct reflection of the changing concept of Christian democracy, the range of issues related to the establishment of the party, the key initiatives for its establishment and the evolution of the Catholic political activities in the interwar period. Content structure. Apart from the introduction and conclusions, the structure of the dissertation consists of 6 chapters and a list of references. The first chapter (Concept of Ideology of Christian Democracy in the 20 th Century) discusses the differences in the concepts of ideology of Christian Democracy in Western and East-Central Europe and enumerates the factors determining the origins of these differences. The specific characteristics of adjustment of 12

13 ideology in different parts of the Continent and the evolution of the concept of ideology itself in time perspective, starting from the late 19 th century the early 20 th century and ending with the modern perception of Christian democracy, are highlighted. The chapter which constitutes of two sections reveals a complex evolutionary road of the concept of contemporary Christian democracy. The transition of this phenomenon from social to political sphere is highlighted. The contribution of Catholic thinkers and the Holy See to the formation of the concept and the link between Christian democracy and political democracy, which was not always identical in the political thought of European Catholics in the first half of the 20 th century, is discussed. The second chapter (Party Institutionalisation of Christian Democracy in the End of the 19 th Century the Beginning of the 20 th Century) defines the place of Christian democratic parties in the political spectrum of the first half of the 20 th century; presents a different mechanis m of the establishment of the party in Western and East-Central Europe by focusing on the case of Lithuania. The main stakeholders participating in the process of formation of the parties of such type (the Church, conservative political elite, active Catholic laymen) and the factors affecting a different road of formation of the Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party compared to the general model of formation of Catholic parties in W estern Europe are highlighted. The evolution of the party organisation of the Christian Democrats until 1920, i.e. the beginning of the Constituent Assembly, is presented. The formation of the Christian Democrats brought several essential party problems to the fore. First, a broad base of social membership deprived the party of a clear ideology. Instead of developing it, LCDP copied the postulates of various Catholic cultural, confessional, professional and economic associations and the Church, by adjusting them to the existing living conditions and public expectations. The party synthesised the borrowed slogans; hence, ideology for the Christian Democrats was a means for achieving political objectives rather than a goal. The second problem that became apparent in the stage of establishment of the party was the problem of the predominant Catholic character of Lithuanian society as an insufficient factor determining the popularity of LCDP. Catholicis m alone seems to be furnished with 13

14 favourable conditions for establishment and popularity of LCDP. However, the problem was far more complex, especially considering that such predominantly Catholic countries as Ireland or Poland either did not have Christian democratic parties or they were not influential. The fos tering of national and Catholic public traditions alone was not a sufficient factor which could turn the Christian Democrats into a dominant party in the 1920s. The post-war and post-revolutionary situation in 1918 determined that social radicalis m, dressed in the robe of Catholicis m, became a key to political popularity. For the society living in poverty the material factor prevailed over metaphysical religious postulates. The outcomes of social radicalis m and nationalism played a significant role in respect of both the popularity of the party and statehood. A comparison between the situation in and the situation in triggers a conclusion that in the former case such radicalis m helped to mobilise the society, whereas in the latter case a strict position of Antanas Smetona condemning any prominent voices of social reforms impelled a larger part of the society to take quite a peaceful approach in accepting the changes in the country on 15 June 1940 with a hope that a new working people s government led by Justas Paleckis would improve their situation. Rally-type activities of the Christian Democrats in mobilising the masses were effective; it should be noted that the key argument in such rallies was neither Catholicis m nor the Church. The land and the identified enemies of Lithuanianhood and independence of the country in the forms of Polishness and Bolshevism were the most popular topic. Atheist Bolsheviks and imperialist Poles were opposed to Catholic Lithuanians. Public mobilisation based on the search for the guilty responsible for nationalis m and social problems fuelled the opposition of Lithuanian peasants against the Polishized landlords. Without focusing on the outcomes of such incitement to Lithuanian statehood and the mode of public organisation, the Christian Democrats took advantage of the domination of a single social group, i.e. working people. It reduced the possibility of weakening and division of the party. Considering the hardships faced by LCDP in uniting the radical and moderate wings of the party, i.e. workers and larger peasants and farmers (LLF-LFU), the hypothetical existence of Lithuanian gentry and their accession to the party would have completely disbanded it. It would not be realistic to bring together the material interests of a landlord or an owner and 14

15 a landless or a day-labourer. Therefore, the Christian Democratic Party perceived in the then sense, i.e. as a monolithic and a single party of all Lithuanian Catholics, would not have had the opportunities to exist. On the other hand, it would have encouraged the strengthening of Catholic political pluralism and the understanding that a Catholic may also belong to other than solely a Christian democratic party, thus not dividing and not weakening Catholicis m and Lithuanianhood. The perception of the latter principle would have enabled the Christian Democrats to approach the model of a plural and democratic Christian democratic party as perceived in a contemporary sense. However, in the first half of the 20 th century the Lithuanian Christian Democrats were not yet ready for that. The third chapter (Christian Democrats and the Problem of Political Catholic Unity in the Interwar Lithuania) analyses the reasons and factors determining the exceptionality of the Christian Democratic Party among other political parties in the interwar Lithuania, which cover the fragmentary character of the organisational structure of the party; the problems arising due to the declared non-classical type of the party; the internal tensions between the wings of the party oriented towards different social groups. The reasons behind the generation conflict within the party and the problems of identification of the young-generation Catholic intellectuals with the activit ies of the party are analysed. The chapter underlines that the interwar Lithuanian Christian Democrats were not yet ready to realise that it was not possible to bring all the Catholic faithful under the same political umbrella. As opposed to the end of the 19 th century the beginning of the 20 th century, Catholicis m and nationality were no longer sufficient factors that could unite the interests of different social Catholic groups. The political pro ject of LCDP (LCDP-LFU- LLF), which sought to join different social groups into a single balanced political unit, was artificial. A short-term united cooperation of LCDP, LFU and LLF was based on the enthusiasm triggered by the patriotic spirit of the fights for independence, the threats posed by a common domes tic and external enemy, identification and escalation of social injustice and attempts to convince the devotional peasant society of the irreplaceability of the Christian Democrats as the sole political force in Lithuania in preserving the norms of the Church, religion and Catholic life. However, the political innovation parliamentary government with the resulting forms of agitation 15

16 of insistent and low political culture, complicated material situation of the people exhausted by the hardships of the world war and their expectations for radical reforms as well as the ambitions of party leaders who were about to gain political experience contributed to the dissolution of a united Christian Democratic Party. On the other hand, the problem of effective functioning of political Christian democracy discussed in this chapter is associated with the conflict of politicians of the old and the young generation. In this case, the reason behind internal tensions and conflicts was no longer social but viewpoint - ideological issues. The Young Catholics Movement which came into independent being in the 1930s in the context of the conflict with the old generation of LCDP could hardly yield to any predefined framework by its organisational structure, policy lines, objectives, visions and potential partners in public and political activities. Obsessed with the role of critics of the society and the current situation, they developed the Catholicis m of militant and dynamic type and radicalis m in social and nationality spheres. The lack of consistency was the main quality describing their activities. Apart from the problems of consolidation of interests of social groups within LCDP, such opposition based on diverging world -views prejudiced a peaceful existence of the party during the interwar period. The fourth chapter (Problem of Political Coexistence of the Christian Democrats and the Catholic Church) deals with the problems relating to the ambition of the Christian Democrats to combine the public political and confessional identity; it reveals an ambivalent approach of one of the initiators of the European Christian democratic parties the Holy See towards the existence of the parties of such type in the interwar period; it discusses the intertwined relation between the Lithuanian Catholic Church and the clergy of a lower rank with the party and their political campaign to the advantage of the party interests. The identification of LCDP with the Church was invoked to attract the religious peasant Lithuanian society. However, the Lithuanian Christian Democrats of the interwar period were capable of a clear distinction between the party interests and the representation of the Church s and religious interests alone. LCDP did not consider itself solely a Church party and remained an autonomous secular organisation. The support of the Church to regimes, specific parties and its active participation in political life had a 16

17 negative impact on the Church itself. Invoked for political goals, religion provoked conflicts within the society; using religious dogmas for secular interests, priests-agitators deteriorated the authority of the Church and its servants. In the case of Lithuania, the support of the Church to the party determined such problematic questions as the res triction of the principle of pluralism and a certain declaration of authoritarianism. Owing to its structure-determined hierarchical and authoritarian character, the Church overwhelmed the activities of the party by these tendencies. The use of the Church and authority for discrediting political opponents, the condemnation of organisations beyond the influence of LCDP, the use of religious categories in political rhetoric, the estimation of social and economic activities by confessional indicator brought the interwar Christian Democrats closer to the advocates of the regime based on authoritarian rather than democratic principles. On the other hand, the prominent identification of LCDP with the Church in the first years of independence gradually weakened, but that was not due to the wishes of party leaders or politicising priests. The fifth chapter (Christian Democrats and the Network of Catholic Non-Political Organisations) identifies and analyses the factor of Catholic non-political organisations and students in political activities of the party. Apart from the Christian Democratic Party and half-professional, half-agricultural and political LLF and LFU subordinate to it, a number of spiritual and cultural Catholic associations functioned in the interwar period, which were used by the party leadership as certain pressure groups influencing the political decision-making of unsatisfactory governments. At the end of the 1930s the Christian Democrats of the interwar period could expect support from nearly fifty non-political confessional organisations. Their high number created an impression of existence of a parallel Catholic world in the country. A network of Catholic organisations including and covering nearly all areas of life functioned during the interwar period. The organisations of Catholic education (Žiburys Society), science (Catholic Science Academy), academic and village youth (Ateitininkai, Pavasarininkai), intellectuals (Naujoji Romuva Comrades Union), various charity (Caritas, Saint Vincent a Paulo), temperance (Temperance Society), sport (Gymnastics and Sports Federation), workers (Saint Joseph s Society), 17

18 farmers (Cooperative Union) and a number of other associations representing Catholic ghetto pursued their activities. The most important trait of these organisations was that irrespective of their formal non-political type, a number of their founders or administration members were active figures of the Christian Democrats or the intellectuals sympathising with the party. Irrespective of the difficulties of combining the needs and interests of different social groups in the Catholic ghetto, it was a broad network of various Catholic organisations that enabled the Christian Democrats to exist close to the society, to affect it and to influence its choices for the advantage of the party from below. Students were yet another important promoter of LCDP ideas in the interwar society. Full of youth maximalis m and dynamism, the academic youth in the interwar Central and Eastern Europe distinguished as one of the intellectual forces, which established its important positions in imposing pressure on political competitors. Students Ateitininkai were directly involved in political peripeteia ideological student corporations with political hues functioned at the university. In the interwar Lithuania students constituted the key social group, and not for their maximalis m alone. Due to a complex situation of the educational network inherited from the times of the Russian Empire, the rising modern Lithuanian nation and its young generation, which became the founders of independence in 1918, did not have the opportunity to study at the university situated in ethnographic Lithuanian lands there was no such university. Therefore, when the University of Lithuania was established in the so called Lithuania of Kaunas in 1922, a part of Lithuanian politicians of that time, who were actively involved in the party activities, were also students of the university. Afterwards, in the 1930s, the Catholic corporations of academic youth (Kęstutis, Iustitia, Actvitas, Vytauto klubas) became some of the most active pressure groups invoked by the Christian Democratic politicians in the fight against the authoritarian regime of Antanas Smetona. The sixth, final, chapter ( Successes and Failures of the Christian Democrats in the Political Discourse of the Interwar Lithuania ) enumerates the key factors determining the popularity of the Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party during the interwar period in a quantitative s ense. It also analyses the reasons creating conditions for the party to take the 18

19 dominant position during the parliamentarian rule in Lithuania and its ambivalent position in the turning-points of Lithuanian political history. It is asserted in this chapter that the reason behind the successes of LCDP, i.e. rapid popularity of the party established in in the political life of Lithuania in the 1920s, was determined by 7 factors. 1) A significant majority of a single dominant confession (Catholic ), social (peasantry) and ethnic (Lithuanian) group of the population; 2) the support of women and peasant rural sector; 3) the post-war non-popularity of conservatism in 1918 and non-competitiveness of potential competitors in the political right; 4) the ability, often artificial, to escalate a negative impact of socialism and communis m as well as real and alleged threats to the preservation of public traditions and the state; 5) the support of a wide network of confessional organisations and associations; 6) the support of religion, church organisation and its leadership and the use of religious faith to acquire the popularity of the party, to control the society and to ground policy; 7) the flexibility of the party and its ability to take advantage of t he support from the Church, by remaining an autonomous organisation of laymen or the priests alienated from priesthood. On the other hand, irrespective of political domination of the Christian Democratic bloc in Lithuania, the party and the politicised Catholic organisational network under its influence was not always successful in the context of political turning-points, i.e. in the context of the 1926 coup and the political crisis of the country in This chapter attempts to analyse the reasons why a party, which referred to itself as democratic, contributed to the overturn of the lawful government and the breach of the Constitution adopted by their own votes at the end of A lso, the chapter takes an empirical approach in revealing the ambivalent actions of the party s elite in the eve of the first Soviet occupation and its first days. The main research conclusions. Christian democracy which originated at the end of the 19 th century the beginning of the 20 th century and embarked on the road of political institutionalisation can be evaluated as an idea, a movement or, in a general sense, as a long-term evolutionary process of the history of Christianity. Initiated by Pope Leo XIII and supported by the social teaching of the 19

20 Church, it first became a Catholic political movement that evolved into the political movement of all Christian confessions in the aftermath of World War II with the principles of personalism and pluralis m as its underlying ideas, the advocacy of political democracy and the joint social responsibility in economic system by preserving the continuity of moral and Catholic life norms. The conditions for the Christian democratic parties led by secular Catholics and co-existing with the Church to emerge were created by the Church and the conservative political elite of the late 19 th century seeking to withstand the changes in the political life brought by the processes of socialism, liberalis m and modernisation. Christian democracy initiated by Leo XIII had to become the third road between liberalis m and socialism. This third road based on the principles of Catholic morality had to solve the workers issue, i.e. the social problems of workers in the direction acceptable to the Church, thus moving workers away from their fascination with secular and antireligious ideologies. By contrast to the West, the idea of Christian democracy, from its very origins in the late 19 th century the early 20 th century, had a shade of political rather than social activities in Lithuania. The type of Lithuanian Christian democracy was influenced by the Catholic clash with the public administration apparatus of Orthodox tradition and the Polishness of local nobility as alien to Lithuanian national and through them social interes ts. The clash itself gave a shade of political activity to Christian democracy. The development of Lithuanian Christian democratic organisational structures in was only a short-term episode determined by political conditions of the time. However, due to unfavourable imperial government and the position of local spiritual hierarchy, the aspirations of the nationally-minded clergy of lower rank to establish a national, confessional, mass, popular-type party were not implemented in The party was not established in the beginning of the 20 th century. Despite the fact that the name of Christian democracy became known, until it did not that much imply a party as a specific political organisation but the activities of nationally-minded clergy and organised Lithuanian Catholic laymen striving to foster religion and nationality, to stress social issues and the promotion of the idea of an independent state, which took an active form at the end of World War I. 20

21 Two independent Lithuanian Christian democratic parties founded in Russia and Lithuania in 1917 without any links to the initiatives of united into a single political organisation in November Such a joint conference of the Russian and Lithuanian Christian democrats created preconditions for the rise of a modern Lithuanian Catholic political party. Due to the changes in international policy which brought more freedom to public and political life in Lithuania, the Christian Democrats and other political forces alike were only vested with the opportunity to start implementing the approved political programme, to have an actually functioning leadership of the party elected in the general meeting of members, to establish the branches of the party freely and to expand the organisational structure, as well as to participate in the political life of the country as a party at the end of 1918 only. However, the establishment and functioning of the party in the interwar period highlighted several key problems of Lithuanian Christian democracy. First. The party attempted to bring together the believers of different social groups and ideological positions in the environment of a single party and to become the sole political representative of Lithuanian Catholics. An all-embracing type of the party determined that LCDP did not have a clear ideology. In the developing party copied the entirety of various Catholic cultural, professional and economic associations and adjusted the postulates of the Church to the existing living conditions and public expectations. The party synthesised the borrowed slogans, therefore, for the Christian Democrats ideology was more a means for achieving their political objectives than a goal. Second. By combining confessional and political Lithuanian identity, in the interwar period the Christian Democrats acted as an umbrella political party grounding its activities on the establishment and subordination of new and existing confessional non-political associations and a church parish network. The subordination of a broad network of Catholic organisations, church structure and the press to political interests in the interwar period, in particular the political discourse of the 1920s, determined that apart from confessional meaning the concept of a Catholic acquired ideological and political sense. The third problem is associated with the attempts of the party s leadership, supported by the institution of the Catholic Church, to condemn 21

22 the political or ideological pluralis m of Lithuanian Catholic society. LCDP and the Catholic organisational network under its influence sought to become the only voice of all Lithuanian Catholic believers, which denied and tried to restrict the political independence among Catholics and did not tolerate their political competition. Such unity can be interpreted as the copying of the hierarchy taken over from the structure of the Catholic Church, which manifested in authoritarian tendencies in secular political activities. The Catholic unity, i.e. belonging to confessional Catholic associations only and support of the Catholic party exclusively, was considered a natural, undisputable and self-explanatory thing. The party leaders suppressed the political awareness and understanding of the dominant Lithuanian peasant society, according to which voting for other parties was not considered a sin. By denying the political pluralism of believers, the Christian Democrats moved the political awareness of the interwar society in two opposite directions. On the one hand, it strengthened and preserved the community spirit of the devotional Lithuanian Catholic society, certain exceptionality and isolation from the representatives of other confessions, the indifferent and the social groups opposing to religion. Such Catholic selfcontainment became one of the key factors determining the popularity of the Christian Democrats in the interwar period. On the other hand, the support of the idea of the Catholic ghetto distinguishing by a restriction of the political choice of the Catholic society raises doubts as to the democracy of the Christian Democratic Party. If the Christian Democrats refused to strengthen their self-containment, it would have caused an understanding that a Catholic may also belong to other than the Christian Democratic Party, thus not dividing and not weakening Catholicism and Lithuanianhood. The understanding of the latter principle would have enabled the approach of the interwar Christian Democrats to the model of a plural and democratic Christian democratic party, as it is understood in a modern sense. However, in the first half of the 20 th century Lithuanian Christian democrats were not yet ready for that. The fourth problem of the interwar Lithuanian Christian democracy is associated with the fragmentation of its organisational structure. To become the party of all Lithuanian Catholics, LCDP grounded its activities on the extensive network of Catholic associations, unions, clubs and 22

23 organisations of other profile and the parish network; that prevented the Christian Democrats from creating a structure of a clear, strict and formal party organisation, which is one of the key elements of a modern political party. Therefore, the interwar political Christian democracy in Lithuania was not the Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party only. LCDP acted through a broad network of Catholic non-political organisations and parishes, which became an integral and inherent part of the party and made a direct and indirect contribution to the implementation of political objectives of the party. The attempts to bring all organised Catholics into a single party organisation undermined a smooth functioning of the party. The interwar period witnessed an ongoing and clear opposition between a radical (Lithuanian Labour Federation), modern reformist (Young Catholics), moderate (Lithuanian Farmers Union) and conservative (clergy) position. LLF and LFU established under the auspices of LCDP in 1919 as half - professional and agricultural, half-political organisations for the purpose of gaining the votes of workers and larger peasants raised internal tensions, which often evolved to conflicts. The independence of political organisations of Catholic workers and farmers in Western Europe resulted in the rise of political emancipation of Catholic workers and Catholic farmers as soon as the first years after World War II. However, in the 1920s in Lithuania the policy lines were not drawn by Catholic workers and Catholic farmers themselves but by the leaders hip of political parties representing their interests. Having acquired the experience of parliamentary work but acting under the umbrella of the Christian Democrats, in the mid-1920s, triggered by personal ambitions of the leaders and the differences in the programmes of organisations on social, economic and political issues, they engaged in their pursuit of independence. The unity of the LCDP parliamentary bloc formed in 1920 started crumbling in the mid-1920s. In 1927 and 1926 LFU and LLF finally separated from LCDP and evolved from agricultural and professional organisations to independent political parties, which gradually disbanded for the reason of authoritarian regime and internal Catholic competition. The weakening of LLF and LFU after the coup of 1926 was determined by external and internal factors. In the former case the actions of the government imposing direct restrictions to active functioning. In the latter 23