Pasipriešinimo židiniai : pogrindinė spauda 1944-1987 metais

Abstract

During the Soviet period, the resistance to occupation developed in various nonviolent ways. In order to resist denationalization, to preserve traditional national values and historical memory, to deny the pattern of life and ideology imposed by the authorities, and to protect human rights, there was a demand for press which would reflect real situation. During the 20th century, Lithuanian press was published only for 33 years under the independent state of Lithuania. After the second Soviet occupation, the free printed word with its firm traditions in Lithuania was revived in the under ground. The underground journalists and the military resistant press contributed a lot not only to the enlightenment of society, but also to the development of a new attitude of the society to the Lithuanian democratic traditions, to spreading information about the virtue of the Constitution of 1922, and about the necessity of restoring the democratic republic. In this respect, the underground military-resistant press was democratic mostly in its purport, supporting not the authoritarian regime, but democratic traditions. The military-resistant press repeatedly highlighted that it was not the superior force and not the arms as the determining factors in the freedom fight, but the patriotism and the spiritual disposition of the nation. This was the mission assigned to the independent, uncensored underground press. Lithuanian underground press in its volume, especially in the period of 1975-1980, had a status not only in the USSR, but also in the entire Eastern Europe. The Chronicle (Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania) was the underground publication which existed in the Soviet Union for the longest period of time without interruption. The informative mission of the underground press (directly and non-directly reaching the West and then returning to Lithuania via the foreign radio broad casts) significantly contributed to developing the consciousness and public spirit of the society, to diminishing fear and indifference, and to increasing the understanding of democratic values. Finally, after the intensive changes started taking place within the Soviet Union, the uncensored. underground press was substituted by the uncen sored alternative press.