Aušrininkai

In January 1910, Lietuvos žinios began publishing Aušrinė, a supplement geared towards youth.[2] Informal student groups began organizing in various schools across Lithuania (then part of the Russian Empire) that followed the ideology of Aušrinė. Soon other student groups formed around the Catholic Ateitis. The two groups split the student population and often competed with each other.[3] All of these groups were illegal as no student organizations were allowed by the Tsarist regime.[4] Aušrininkai organized social gatherings and meetings to discuss ideas, shared books and periodicals, prepared research papers on Lithuanian or current topics (e.g. What is a Constitution? or Life and Teachings of Charles Darwin), collected folklore, even published their own newsletters.[4] Such groups were active in Marijampolė, Vilkaviškis, Ukmergė, Šiauliai (including member Julius Janonis), Telšiai (led by Butkų Juzė), Vilnius, Panevėžys (from 1913, led by Balys Sruoga).[5] The groups did not have any central leadership and acted mostly on their own based on principles outlined in Aušrinė.[6]

During World War I, most Lithuanian schools evacuated to Voronezh where students reestablished Aušrininkai groups. By end of 1915, they numbered seven groups with 130 students.[7] There was also a unified Voronezh board, chaired by Juozas Lukoševičius. In 1917, Aušrininkai had a choir, string orchestra, and theater group.[8] A small group, which included Julius Janonis and Stasys Brašiškis and became known as visuomenininkai, advocated a more violent revolution and splintered off from the main group in December 1915.[9] Other, smaller groups organized in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Bogoroditsk (Dotnuva Agricultural School), Borovichi (Panevėžys School), Taganrog (Jelgava Gymnasium), Sorochinsk (Veiveriai Teachers' Seminary), Yaroslavl (Marijampolė Gymnasium), and elsewhere.[8][10] In May 1917, Aušrininkai organized a conference which debated the ideology and decided to revive Aušrinė.[10] Students began returning to Lithuania after the Act of Independence of Lithuania in February 1918 and a mass repatriation was organized in June 1918.[11]

Back in Lithuania, Marijampolė Realgymnasium, established by Andrius Bulota, became the most active center of Aušrininkai. Many teachers were leftists and supported the organization.[12] In other schools Aušrininkai faced difficulties as they were met with resistance from school administration, teachers, parents, and local priests. Nevertheless, at different times, students groups existed in Panevėžys, Alytus, Biržai, Telšiai, Kupiškis, Šiauliai, Tauragė, Kaunas, Kėdainiai, Rokiškis, and elsewhere.[13] The groups celebrated May 1, the International Workers' Day, organized lectures, held discussions, performed plays, shared publications, published their own newsletters, etc.[13] The groups were still decentralized, but annual conferences were held in Kaunas.[6]

The first conference, held on 7–9 April 1920, was attended by about 350 people.[14] They refined the ideology, adopted new statute, resolved to work not only with school students but youth in general and to develop ties with other socialist-minded organizations both in Lithuania and abroad.[15] The organization officially adopted legal name of the Organization of Socialist Aušrininkai Students of Lithuania (Lietuvos socialistinės moksleivijos aušrininkų organizacija).[10] Other conferences were held on 28–29 December 1921 (19 delegates), 11–12 April 1922 (25 delegates), 4–5 January 1924, 26–28 June 1925, and 29–31 March 1926. The last two conferences were open to other organizations as well.[16] Other joint events were also held. On 4–16 July 1924, Aušrininkai organized a special expedition to Samogitia during which about 60 people visited different towns (Žemaičių Kalvarija, Telšiai, Plungė, Kretinga) and delivered lectures, performed plays, and organized protests.[17] On 2–4 July 1926, about 100 people attended a meeting of Aušrininkai from Suvalkija in Marijampolė.[10][18] The last small annual conference was held in April 1927 under police supervision; the organization was banned the same month.[19]

As students graduated from schools they continued studies at the University of Lithuania, established in 1922. In early 1923, the Society of Socialist Students had around 70 members.[20] Aušrininkai did not have their own separate organization and formed one of the most active sections within the society. Due to disagreements, the Society of Socialist Students soon split: social-democrats established Žaizdras Society in 1925 and Aušrininkai separated in January 1926.[21] Autonomy of the university protected them from the government order banning the organization outside the university.[22] Aušrininkai continued to be active and even restarted the publication of Aušrinė in 1931. The organization was becoming more radical and some members, including Kazys Jakubėnas and Pranas Čepėnas,[23] supported the Lithuanian section of the Union of Socialists Revolutionaries Maximalists which condoned individual terrorist acts such as assassinations of dignitaries.[24] That led to increased police scrutiny, arrests, and eventual dissolution of the organization in 1938.[25]

In May 1921, twenty people, including two members of Aušrininkai, were arrested in Marijampolė for organizing anti-government demonstrations for the International Workers' Day.[26] The two students were found not guilty,[26] but the organization continued to irritate the government. Lithuanian police and security agencies closely monitored its activities and considered it more dangerous than the illegal Communist Party of Lithuania.[27] In November 1923, political organizations were banned from schools (the organization was still legal outside of schools).[26] The Marijampolė Realgymnasium was closed down by the government in June 1925.[28] In spring 1926, Lithuanian police shot Kostas Batisas, chairman of the Aušrininkai group in Pilviškiai, when he ran away from the officers. The incident provoked student protests.[18]

In May 1926, the election to the Third Seimas of Lithuania was won by opposition parties that lifted martial law, restored democratic freedoms, and declared a broad amnesty to political prisoners.[29] The new government even intended to allow Aušrininkai in schools.[18] However, in December 1926, Lithuanian military, under the official pretext of preventing an imminent Bolshevik revolt, organized the coup d'état that brought Antanas Smetona to power.[29] The new regime clamped down on leftist organizations and arrested hundreds of communists and socialists, including Aušrininkai members. The organization was outlawed in April 1927, though the group at Lithuania University continued to exist.[19] Several Aušrininkai members participated in the Tauragė Revolt in September 1927, and that led to the constant and systematic surveillance by the police.[30]

In May 1929, three members of Aušrininkai attempted an assassination of Prime Minister Augustinas Voldemaras.[31] Two members escaped, but the third, Aleksandras Vosylius, was arrested and received the death penalty.[32] Arrests of other members of Aušrininkai followed.[33] In March 1933, the police searched apartments of over a dozen members of Aušrininkai on suspicions that they were also members of the Lithuanian section of the Union of Socialists Revolutionaries Maximalists. Chairman Kazys Jakubėnas was arrested and sentenced to 18 months in prison.[34] Other members were arrested as well and that lead to decline of the organization. In spring 1936, it only had 12 members. It did not renew its registration for 1937 and the university rector officially dissolved it on 16 February 1938.[25]

Editors of Aušrinė were:[42]