Origins of Modern Parliamentarianism: overview

The First World War sent shockwaves across the world, leading to the dissolution of some of the largest European monarchies. In Lithuania, it took some time for the Germans to form an understanding of what the country was when they first occupied the Lithuanian territory in 1915. This awareness came about later, when Lithuanian public activists became increasingly vociferous in their demands for the establishment of an independent Lithuanian State. At the end of the First World War, a combination of favourable internal and external circumstances and, most importantly, the manifestation of political will put Lithuania on the map of Europe once again.

At the end of the nineteenth century, public activists in Lithuania mainly consisted of rural intellectuals. This period saw the early emergence of the national ideology, with newspapers such as Aušra, Varpas, and Apžvalga playing an instrumental role. In a sense, this marked the early stage of shaping of the Lithuanian political landscape. However, aspirations for national liberation became more pronounced in the revolutionary period between 1904 and 1906. This was the time when the issue of Lithuania’s autonomy within the Russian Empire was first clearly raised. The issue was associated with the Great Seimas of Vilnius that convened in Vilnius on 4–6 December 1905. The Seimas called for autonomy and self-government rights to Lithuania as part of the Russian Empire, along with the right to appoint Lithuanian officials, use the Lithuanian language in public institutions, and set up Lithuanian schools. Moreover, the aspiration towards a democratically elected parliament was formulated and the boundaries of Lithuania were defined as encompassing the ethnographic territory Lithuania with Vilnius as its capital.

The First World War modified Lithuania’s geopolitical situation and created a favourable international context for pursuing the cause of independence. Stronger requests for autonomy where voiced at the time. The cause united the efforts of Lithuanian intellectuals in the country and beyond. However, the territory of Lithuania was the epicentre of the main struggle. The spring of 1916 marked a shift from the concept of autonomy to that of independence. First formulated as a mere idea, it later grew to become a real cause. As the geopolitical situation in Europe continued to evolve and the culmination of the Great War was near, in the summer of 1917 Germany became concerned over the extension of its political influence in the occupied territories, including Lithuania. With that purpose in mind, it decided to establish a National Council as its subordinate advisory body with limited powers. Lithuanian activists, mainly the informal Political Division of the Lithuanian Relief Society for helping victims of the war in Vilnius, with Antanas Smetona at the forefront, decided to use this opportunity for the benefit of Lithuanian statehood. Representatives of the Lithuanian Relief Society were sent to various places in Lithuania to invite influential, authoritative, active, and politically-minded Lithuanians, including priests, farmers, intellectuals, and estate owners, to come to Vilnius. On the list of invitees were people from various social strata who differed in their education and political views. As a result, the Lithuanian capital hosted the Vilnius Conference at the end of the summer and the beginning of the autumn.

The Conference worked in Vilnius on 18–23 September 1917. It spoke out in favour of an independent and democratic state comprised of the ethnographic Lithuanian lands. The Conference also decided that the final decision on the form of government and relations with neighbouring countries should be made by a Constituent Assembly democratically elected by all the residents of the country. To achieve this objective, 20 persons were elected to form the Council of Lithuania. The Council consisted of representatives from the main Lithuanian political parties, including Christian Democrats, the Party of National Progress, Social Democrats, Socialists, and non-attached members.
In early December 1917, the Council of Lithuania launched negotiations with the occupying German authorities on further political future of Lithuania. On 11 December 1917, the Council published a Declaration coordinated with the German authorities, declaring the re-establishment of an independent Lithuanian state with the capital Vilnius. This was a very significant legal and political step. It freed Lithuania from the Union with Poland and from surrendering its sovereignty to the tsarist Russia. At the same time, the Declaration envisaged binding Lithuania close to Germany by means of four conventions regulating customs, finance, transport, and military affairs. However, Germany kept procrastinating recognition of independence of Lithuania on the basis of the Declaration of 11 December 1917. This caused discontent and internal tensions in the Council of Lithuania. Under pressure from the left-wing social democrats and socialists, the Council gained the determination to act in a more radical way.

On 16 February 1918, the Council of Lithuania, chaired by Jonas Basanavičius, unanimously adopted and declared the Act on Independence of Lithuania. The Act was signed by all the twenty members of the Council. Thereby, the Council of Lithuania, as the sole representative of the Lithuanian nation, based on the right to national self-determination and on the Vilnius Conference’s resolution of 18–23 September 1917, proclaimed the restoration of the independent state of Lithuania, founded on democratic principles, with Vilnius as its capital, and declared the termination of all state ties which had formerly bound it to other nations. The Council also authorised a democratically elected Constituent Assembly to swiftly finalise the process of defining the foundations of the Lithuanian state and its international relations with other states. The declaration of independence was a major achievement, as it provided the legal basis for future functioning of the state. However, the task of state-building was not yet completed. The state-building process took place in a complex, constantly changing and unfavourable political environment. In view of the rapidly evolving international context, the Council of Lithuania had to keep pace with the developments, manoeuvre and seek most efficient ways of state-building. When, in the spring and early summer of 1918, at the peak of the First World War, Germany stopped hiding its plans to annex Lithuania, the country even attempted to restore the Lithuanian state as a monarchy. In order to avoid any possible annexation by the Kaiser’s Germany, the Council of Lithuania declared Lithuania a constitutional monarchy on 11 July 1918 and elected Wilhelm von Uracht, Count of Württemberg, to act as King of Lithuania, granting him the name of King Mindaugas II. The Council renamed itself to the State Council of Lithuania. This was the first case since the end of the 18th century when the wording “the State of Lithuania” was officially used again. However, Lithuania did not eventually become a constitutional monarchy. Following a total defeat of the Kaiser’s Germany in the Great War, the constitutional monarchy model became superfluous and the State Council of Lithuania returned to considerations on the concept of a democratic republic.
 

References:
Maksimaitis Mindaugas, Lietuvos valstybės Konstitucijų istorija (XX a. pirmoji pusė), Vilnius, 2005.

Prepared by Vilma Akmenytė-Ruzgienė