1940: Lithuania

Soviet Encirclement.

When the mutual assistance treaty between the Soviet Union and Lithuania was signed, on Oct. 10, 1939, and Lithuania was permitted to regain her old capital, Vilna, it seemed that the little republic would enjoy complete internal autonomy, under Russian protection.

The Russian garrison, which, following the mutual assistance treaty, was stationed on Lithuanian territory, did not interfere with the internal life of the republic. The situation was economically deplorable, especially due to the great number of refugees from Poland. In the first months of 1940, it seemed, however, reasonable to expect that most of the refugees would be either absorbed or would succeed in leaving the country for some other place of refuge. This was the period of the so-called 'phony war.'

Soon, the European war became less 'phony,' and Germany successively invaded Norway, Holland, Belgium and France. Soviet Russia, on the other hand, expanded her frontiers by annexing parts of Poland and Finland, after the unhappy Russo-Finnish war.

However, the conquests of Germany unbalanced to such an extent the European power relations, that Soviet Russia again began to feel insecure, especially after Germany tried to gain a foothold in the three small Baltic countries.

Whatever the truth of a so-called secret agreement between Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia may be, it served as an excuse for Russia to absorb the three small republics. As usually in such cases, also some incidents, of rather minor importance but conveniently exploited, occurred. A few Russian soldiers stationed on Lithuanian soil were kidnapped and one Red Army soldier seems to have been killed by the Lithuanian police. Immediately a protest far beyond the importance of the case was made by Premier Molotov. Many arrests followed the Soviet charges, and one of the arrested, it was alleged, admitted working on behalf of a foreign government.

It soon became apparent that the 'kidnapping' case would serve as a pretext for comprehensive political demands by the Soviet government. Russia addressed an ultimatum to the government of Lithuania, charging Lithuania with having violated the spirit of the mutual assistance pact, in signing a secret military treaty with Latvia and Estonia. The Russians demanded that the Lithuanian Minister of the Interior and the Head of the Police be tried for the shooting of a Red Army soldier by the police. The Russians asked that sufficient troops be permitted to enter Lithuania to avoid the repetition of 'provocations.' Furthermore, the ultimatum requested that the future government of Lithuania be of such a nature as to permit cooperation with Soviet Russia. One hour before the time set in the ultimatum, it was accepted by the Lithuanian government. Its acceptance was communicated to Moscow by Foreign Minister Juozas Urbsys, and Soviet troops immediately occupied the key cities of Vilna, Sianliai, Penevezys, and Rossieny, on June 15.

President Antanas Smetona and several officials fled to Germany, where they were interned by the Nazi authorities. President Smetona remained in Germany until the middle of September, when he received a United States diplomatic visa and went to Switzerland.

Following the ultimatum and the occupation of the country by Soviet troops, the government headed by Mr. Antonas Merkys resigned, Mr. Merkys assuming the functions of President Smetona in the interval, until a government acceptable to Russia would be formed. Two days later, the two other Baltic States, Latvia and Estonia, were likewise occupied by Russian troops.

On June 17, Mr. Justas Paleckis, forty-one year old journalist and left-wing socialist, became Premier of Lithuania and formed a Cabinet satisfactory to Russia.

The new Premier denounced the former government as 'a personal dictatorship' and declared himself in favor of close relations with the Soviet Union. All Communist prisoners were freed, and the Communist Party legalized. Elections to a new Parliament, which, in effect, were a referendum on the incorporation of Lithuania in the Soviet Union, were called. There was virtually only one election ticket of the 'working people's block,' consisting of 'workers, peasants and employed intellectuals.' All other tickets had been rejected on technical grounds.

Later it was reported that 90 per cent of the electors went to the polls and voted the single ticket on the ballots.

Lithuania Becomes a Soviet Socialist Republic.

The newly elected Parliament, as expected, unanimously agreed, on Aug. 25, to adopt a Soviet Constitution and to become a Soviet Socialist Republic. The agreement only countersigned the decision of the seventh session of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. which, on Aug. 7, had granted the demands for incorporation presented by a delegation from Lithuania. Mr. Paleckis was appointed President of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, while Deputies Baranauskas and Gedvilas, respectively, were made President of the provisional Supreme Soviet and President of the Council of People's Commissars. The Supreme Soviet of Lithuania also voted to transfer the Lithuanian capital from Kaunas to Vilna, before May 1, 1941. Thus disappeared the independent Lithuanian Republic, created after the World War. Thus Lithuania became one of the Socialist Soviet Republics which compose the Soviet Union.

By the incorporation of Lithuania, Russian territory increased by 22,959 square miles, and her population by 2,879,070. According to a resettlement treaty, signed between Germany and Russia, the 45,000 Germans of Lithuania are to be repatriated.

British and American Reactions.

The Soviet absorption of the Baltic States was condemned by Britain and the United States. In a statement issued on July 22, Mr. Sumner Welles, Under Secretary of State, declared that the political independence and territorial integrity of the Baltic States had been 'deliberately annihilated' by 'devious processes.' The people of the United States, he said, 'are opposed to predatory activities, no matter whether they are carried on by the use of force or by the threat of force. They are likewise opposed to any form of intervention on the part of one State, however powerful, in the domestic concerns of any other State, however weak.'

As it did in the case of the countries occupied by Germany, the United States Government proceeded to freeze Baltic securities in this country, unofficially estimated at $17,000,000, and denied clearance to ten or eleven ships of the Baltic countries, which happened to be in American ports at the time when the Soviet Union absorbed Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Similar action was taken by the British government, which froze Baltic securities estimated at £4,000,000 sterling. The British government is holding in its ports about thirty Baltic vessels claimed by the Soviet Union.

The attitude of Britain and the United States was vigorously criticized by Mr. Molotov in an address to the Supreme Soviet. On Aug. 1, Mr. Molotov described the decision of the American Government to hold the property of the Baltic States as being 'illegal,' and accused the United States of imperialist designs on European possessions in the Western Hemisphere.

Social Reforms.

Following the Soviet absorption of Lithuania, social reforms along Bolshevik lines have been introduced in the country. All Lithuanian farms exceeding 30 hectares (75 acres) have been expropriated. Large estates and church property have been taken over for division among peasants with little or no land. Religious marriages have been abolished and civil ceremonies introduced. Any Lithuanian couple failing to register in a town-hall before receiving the blessing of a priest is subject to arrest and to a fine up to 5,000 litas. However, the church marriage after the civil ceremony is not prohibited, but is considered a personal matter without legal value.

Divorces, which until the incorporation were virtually impossible in predominantly Catholic Lithuania, have been made legal. The Concordat with the Vatican has been cancelled by the leftist government. Most of the Jewish newspapers, especially the Zionist papers, have been banned. However, no complete assimilation of the Lithuanian Soviet Republic into the rest of the Soviet Union seems to have occurred by the end of 1940. While, for instance, no exit permits are issued for residents of the Soviet Union, the refugees in Lithuania, and especially in Vilna, are still given the opportunity to leave the country, if in possession of a visa from an overseas country. Thus, hundreds and even thousands who were known for their nationalist or even anti-communist activities, were allowed to leave Lithuania.

The gradual assimilation is, however, going on, and the collectivization of farms has already begun. It is to be expected that in the near future the former republic of Lithuania will be just one more soviet republic within the U.S.S.R. and that the still existing social and economic differences between the old and the newly annexed territories will soon disappear. It is, however, worth noticing that the Soviet government, in the recently acquired areas, does not introduce bolshevization at once, but tries to make the transition as smooth as possible.