Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (1918–19)

Germany had lost World War I and signed the Compiègne Armistice on November 11, 1918. Its military forces then started retreating from the former Ober Ost territories. Two days later, the government of the Soviet Russia renounced the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which had assured Lithuania's independence.[3] Soviet forces then launched a westward offensive against Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine in an effort to spread the global proletarian revolution and replace national independence movements with Soviet republics.[4] Their forces followed retreating German troops and reached Lithuania by the end of December 1918.[5]

Soviet front line in January 1919 (red line). The goal of the Soviet offensive was to follow retreating German troops and create Soviet republics in the regions they had vacated.

In Lithuania, the communists were not active until late summer 1918. The Communist Party of Lithuania (CPL) was organized by the 34 delegates at its first Congress, held in Vilnius between October 1 and 3, 1918.[2] Pranas Eidukevičius was elected as the first chairman. The party decided to follow examples set by the Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik) and organize a socialist revolution in Lithuania. The plans were instigated and financed by Moscow and supervised by Adolph Joffe and Dmitry Manuilsky.[6] On December 2, Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas sent a delegate to bring 15 million rubles to finance the "revolution".[6] On December 8, the CPL formed the eight-member provisional revolutionary government led by Mickevičius-Kapsukas. Its other members were Zigmas Aleksa-Angarietis, Pranas Svotelis-Proletaras, Semyon Dimanstein, Kazimierz Cichowski, Aleksandras Jakševičius, Konstantinas Kernovičius and Yitzhak Weinstein (Aizikas Vainšteinas).[7] Modern historians doubt if the provisional government really met in Vilnius as claimed by the Soviet sources;[6][8] it is more likely that the government followed the advancing Red Army. Between December 16, 1918, and January 7, 1920, the government resided in Daugavpils, which had been captured by the Red Army on 9 December 1918.[6]

The government issued a manifesto, printed with a December 16 date, declaring the establishment of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic.[2] The manifesto was first published in the Russian newspaper Izvestia on December 19 and then announced on radio.[6] It was then published in Vilnius five days later.[9] A draft of the manifesto, prepared by Kapsukas, stressed the need of close ties with communist Russia and ended with the slogan "Long live the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic with incorporated Soviet Lithuania!"[2] The final version, edited by Stalin and the Russian Communist Party, eliminated references to the union with Russia and replaced the slogan with "Long live freed Soviet Lithuanian Republic!"[6] Kapsukas did not want to establish an independent Soviet republic as he had campaigned for many years against social patriotism, separatism and Lithuanian independence. Influenced by Rosa Luxemburg, he had rejected the idea of self-determination.[10]

The newly formed LSSR asked for assistance from the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) and it duly recognized the LSSR as an independent state on December 22.[11] The same day, the Red Army took over Zarasai and Švenčionys on the Lithuanian–Soviet border. The provisional government then seemed to dissolve and did not attempt to gain wider recognition.[2] The Lithuanian Army, in its infancy, was unable to offer resistance to the Soviet advance. On January 5, 1919, the Red Army captured Vilnius and, by the end of January 1919, the Soviets controlled about two-thirds of Lithuania's territory.[5]

Similar republics were established in Latvia (the Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic) and Estonia (the Commune of the Working People of Estonia).

LSSR was new, weak and had to rely on Russian assistance.[11] In Russia, the Soviets were generally supported by the industrial working class, but this was too small in Lithuania.[12] On January 21, the RSFSR granted a loan of 100 million rubles to the provisional government.[13] The LSSR did not form its own army. In February 1919, Kapsukas sent a telegram to Moscow arguing that conscription of local Lithuanians to the Red Army would only encourage Lithuanians to volunteer for the Lithuanian Army.[1] Meanwhile, in the territory it had occupied, the Soviets created revolutionary committees and councils based on Russian models.[1]

The Soviets demanded large war contributions from captured cities and villages. For example, Panevėžys was required to pay 1 million rubles, Utena 200,000 rubles, while 10 rubles were demanded from villages.[12] They nationalized commercial institutions and large estates, assigning land for use in collective farming rather than redistribution to smaller farms.[12] Economic difficulties and cash shortage was illustrated by a decree published in January 1919 prohibiting financial institutions to pay more than 250 rubles per week to any resident.[14] In a country of staunch Catholics and determined nationalists, the Soviet promotion of internationalism and atheism alienated the local population and contributed, ultimately, to the Soviets' eventual withdrawal.[1][12]

Between February 8 and 15, 1919, Lithuanian and German volunteers stopped the Soviet advance and prevented them from taking Kaunas, the temporary capital of Lithuania.[5] At the end of February, the Germans started an offensive in Latvia and northern Lithuania.[16] Faced with military difficulties and unreceptive locals, the Soviets decided to combine the weak Lithuanian and Byelorussian SSRs into the Lithuanian–Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (Litbel), led by Kapsukas.[17] The communist parties were also merged into the Communist Party (bolsheviks) of Lithuania and Belorussia. However, that had little effect and Polish forces took Vilnius in April and Minsk in August 1919 during the Polish–Soviet War.[18] Litbel was also dissolved.

When the tide turned in the Polish–Soviet War, the Soviets captured Vilnius on July 14, 1920. They did not transfer the city to the Lithuanian administration, as agreed in the Soviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty, signed just two days before. Instead, the Soviets planned a coup to overthrow the Lithuanian government and re-establish a Soviet republic as they did with the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.[19] However, they lost the Battle of Warsaw and were pushed back by the Poles. Some historians credit this victory for saving Lithuania's independence from the Soviet coup.[18][20] During the interwar years, Lithuanian–Soviet relations were generally friendly, but, a few months after the outbreak of World War II, the Soviet Union decided to occupy the Baltic states, including Lithuania, in July 1940. Official Soviet propaganda described the occupation as the "restoration of Soviet power by revolutionary masses."[2]

• History of Lithuania
• Kingdom of Lithuania (1918)
• Republics of the Soviet Union