The political rhetoric of elections to the Lithuanian seimas (1920-1926)

Abstract

This essay analyzes and evaluates the rhetoric employed during parliamentary election campaigns to the Lithuanian Seimas from 1920 to 1926. The booklets, leaflets, newspaper articles, and other campaign materials published in 1920 by the competing political parties weren’t scholarly studies. Rather, their purpose was to expand society’s political horizon before the upcoming election, to raise political literacy, and to help form a political creed oriented in a particular ideological direction. The Constituent Assembly (Seimas) election in 1920 showed that the preparation of the Lithuanian parties for the election campaign complied with the election requirements. The most important campaign themes centered around the Catholic Church and landed property. These agitation themes acted very strongly on society’s political consciousness. Ideology was used only for political purposes; its shortcomings weren’t discussed. This tendency is common to all the Seimas election campaigns during the period from 1920 to 1926. Still, generally speaking the Constituent Assembly (Seimas) election campaign was quite democratic. The campaign of 1922 continued previous organizational practice. The rhetoric was again dominated by attitudes towards the Church and land ownership. In addition, the work accomplished during the Constituent Assembly period was criticized but the accusations raised did not serve to broaden political discussion. The assumption seems warranted that the campaign speeches in 1922 showed signs of growing demagogy and populism. The campaign during the 1923 election was determined by the political tension following the dissolution of the Seimas of 1922. The main rhetorical focus in 1923 was on national minorities as the political forces accused each other of organizing international conspiracies. [...]