People's Parliament
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The so-called People's Parliament (Lithuanian: Liaudies Seimas) was a puppet parliament, elected to legitimize the annexation of Lithuania by the Soviet Union in 1940. According to the Soviet propaganda, the Lithuanian people, like the Estonians and the Latvians, had carried out a socialist revolution independent of Moscow's influence and had voluntarily requested admission into the USSR.
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[edit] Background
According to the German–Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty, Lithuania was assigned to the Soviet sphere of influence. Almost immediately Lithuanian diplomats were invited to Moscow for negotiations. Soviets proposed the Soviet–Lithuanian Mutual Assistance Treaty: Lithuania would receive a portion of Vilnius Region in exchange for Soviet bases within Lithuania. Similar pacts were already signed with Latvia and Estonia. Finland rejected similar proposal and the Soviets started the Winter War which delayed the occupation of the Baltic States. As the Winter War was over and Germany was winning the Battle of France, Soviets heightened their propaganda accusing Lithuania of abducting its soldiers from the bases in Lithuania and conspiring with Latvia and Estonia against the Soviet Union. On June 14, 1940 the Soviet Union issued an ultimatum to Lithuania, demanding to form a new pro-Soviet government and to allow unspecified number of the Red Army soldiers to enter Lithuanian territory.
Lithuania accepted the ultimatum and on June 15 Russian army entered Lithuania unopposed. Occupied Lithuania lost its independence. The People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Vladimir Dekanozov arrived to supervise the process of the annexation of Lithuania. On June 16, Lithuanian Prime Minister Antanas Merkys, acting as the president, confirmed a new pro-Soviet Government headed by Justas Paleckis. It later became known as the People's Government. Merkys the resigned leaving Paleckis acting president. Writer Vincas Krėvė-Mickevičius became the new Prime Minister. On June 27, Paleckis dissolved the Fourth Seimas of Lithuania, citing the Constitution of 1938.
[edit] Elections
On July 1, Dekanozov's government announced elections to a new parliament, the People's Parliament, to be held on June 14. The Communist Party of Lithuania announced the formation of the Union of the Working People of Lithuania that offered a slate of candidates, including some non-members of the Communist Party. Just one candidate was proposed for every seat in the new parliament. No other organizations were allowed to participate. On July 11 and 12, the Soviet authorities reduced the possible points of opposition by arresting leading figures of the old regime and deporting some of them to the interior of the Soviet Union – this although Lithuania was still formally an independent state. Later elections were extended into July 15. Each voter had his or her passport stamped after voting. According to the official results, voter turnout reached 95% and communist candidates reveived over 99% of the votes. Most of the original election records were destroyed, but few remaining bits show that turnout was indeed high, but a lot of ballots were invalid (missing, destroyed, left blank, or marked with anti-Soviet slogans). Election fraud is evident when results were announced before the polls closed.
[edit] Annexation
During its first session on July 21, 1940, the People's Parliament adopted a resolution creating the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. In the same document it was decided to ask the Soviet Union to admit Lithuania into the Union. Twenty representatives were deliver the declaration to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR: the president of Lithuania Justas Paleckis, Interior Minister Mečys Gedvilas, a former priest, chief control inspector Liudas Adomauskas, Agricultural Minister Matas Mickis, Minister of Education Antanas Venclova, writer Liudas Gira, Minister of Defence and Commander of the Army Vincas Vitkauskas, chairman of the trade unions Motiejus Šumauskas, Communist Party activist Karolis Didžiulis-Grosmanas, writer Petras Cvirka, poetess Salomėja Nėris, K. Petrauskas, worker Pranas Zibertas, S. Vaineikienė, Icikas Meskupas-Adomas, soldier V. Ditkevičius, P. Petrauskas, J. Demskis, M. Kutraitė, and B. Abdulskaitė.[1] Each member of the delegation received 5,000 litas payment for their signatures, which was a substantial sum for that time.[2]
The annexation of Lithuania by the Soviet Union was finalised on August 3, when Soviet Union approved the Lithuanian resulution. The People's Parliament declared itself the provisional Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR.
[edit] References
- Fourth Seimas 1936 - 1940
- (Lithuanian) Dainius Žalimas: Lietuvos nepriklausomybės praradimas: svarbiausių istorinių faktų apžvalga
