Imitavusi valstybę : "vidurio Lietuvos" (1920-1922) vidaus politika

Abstract

The aim of the present article is to investigate and reveal the local politics of "Central Lithuania" (1920 10 19 - 1922 03 24), a formation made up of East Lithuanian and West Byelorussian territories with Vilnius as its centre. These territories were occupied by the Polish army in October 1920. Studying the existing sparse research on the subject as well as archival documents, we can disclose its local politics, activities of the administration, the economical situation, and social problems. The administration of "Central Lithuania" exibits some features of a state administration, yet it was not a state but rather an imitation of it. Zeligowski's decrees confirm the fact that all power was in his hands. The majority of the members of the provisional ruling committee and lead ers of various departments were local Poles who had to submit to the Polish government, yet, being ideologically different, they were not all unanimously for annexing the region to Poland. The industry was stagnant while the financial system had to be recreated anew. However, despite numerous hardships, new factories were being established, a number of smaller enterprises appeared, and the communication service was reno vated. The greatest attention was given to the local trade, the export to Poland was growing though it was still four times lower than the import from this county. Lack of resources was the main reason why the reforms in agriculture, which were being slowly and discorderly implemented, finally came to a halt. On this territory with multicultural population, four languages - Polish, Lithuanian, Byelorussian and Yiddish - were granted equal rights. Russian, though widespread, was restricted in usage and Polish was in fact promoted beyond any proportion. Such policy was provoking a negative reaction on the part of other nations. Impovements can be noted in education and labour laws. New active Polish organizations appeared while the Lithuanian ones were suppressed. Factitious pretexts were often an excuse to punish Lithuanian teachers or close Lithuanian schools. Lithuanian newspapers were published, yet they were strictly censored, suspended or changed their titles.