Vladas Sirutavičius is a doctor of humanities, an associate professor at the Institute of International Relations and Political Science at the University of Vilnius and a senior researcher and the Lithuanian Institute of History. In 2008, together with his fellow-historian Česlovas Laurinavičius, he wrote the book called Lithuania’s History: Sąjūdis. From Perestroika to March the 11th in which the Baltic Way features prominently and about which there is an entire chapter. Both wrote it based on archival material and eyewitness accounts.
“Brave mice”
Both historians have described the Baltic Way in great detail. The book relates that already at the beginning of August 1989 the US daily The Washington Post featured an article by journalist David Remnick about Lithuania and Sąjūdis. He wrote ironically about Sąjūdis, comparing Lithuanians to brave mice defiantly roaring at the Kremlin.
The historians however note that at that time with the 50th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact approaching, few people followed formal Sąjūdis programs. The people and the Sąjūdis leaders themselves believed that the restoration of independence was becoming a reality.
Both Vladas Sirutavičius and Česlovas Laurinavičius write that within Sąjūdis itself there were intrigues. The Lithuanian Communist Party (LCP) was being accused of ambiguity and there were demands for it to be concise. Even Vytautas Landsbergis gave moderate support saying that “with our categorical wording we can not only find ourselves deadlocked, we can also corner our opponents.”
The book states that the meeting between the LCP and the Sąjūdis leaders shortly before the Baltic Way took place was not friendly and the LCP representatives expressed concern about the growing threat from the Union.
The famous Vytautas Landsbergis interview
The historians write that as the 23rd of August drew closer there was a feeling that there’d be no significant confessions or repentance – new political decisions did not bode well for Lithuania.
On the 20th of August the very same Washington Post published an interview with Vytautas Landsbergis which it called “Lithuania’s Freedom Manifesto”. It clearly defined the events of 1940 as an occupation and expressed the wish that secret protocols be declared invalid.
In the interview, Vytautas Landsbergis stated “Sąjūdis believes that Lithuania still has the right as a Soviet republic to secede, but it won’t raise that issue now because the Soviet Constitution has no basis for Lithuania’s right to self-determination.
“The professor also mentioned Lithuanian Russians, describing them as “outside the intelligentsia” and “influenced by the ideas of Russian messianism”.
How did it all happen?
The historians still debate where the idea of a human chain came from. It is thought that the idea came about during the Baltic Assembly in Tallinn. Others say that human chains were already happening before that in America and China. It is said that the US and China had even equipped their satellites to track the Baltic chain of people.
Preliminary figures put the number participants in the Baltic Way as 200 thousand Estonians, 250 000 Latvians and half a million Lithuanians. In Kaunas alone it is stated that around 100 thousand people took part.
Vladas Sirutavičius and Česlovas Laurinavičius write that there was a persistent struggle between the LCP and Sąjūdis and that the Baltic Way was organised on the initiative of Sąjūdis alone. The leaders of the LCP, according to the historians, possibly didn’t take part because they feared repression.
Different views in Moscow
Moscow turned most of its attention to Lithuania because that’s where participation in the Baltic Way was the greatest. Furthermore, that same year Lithuanians had signed a petition for the withdrawal of Soviet troops.
On the 23rd of August however ‘Pravda’ published an article entitled ‘Just the Facts’ in which it attempted to show the Soviet reader that things in Lithuania were becoming unacceptable.
Another newspaper, ‘Izvestiya’, wrote more objectively about Lithuania and so the historians assumed that the echelons of power in Moscow held somewhat differing opinions about the Baltic States. As Dr. Sirutavičius later said that up to now it’s just not clear what discussions were really taking place in Moscow.
Nevertheless, Dr. Sirutavičius and Mr. Laurinavičius’s book affirms that Moscow was in actual fact not as menacing as it was made out to be. Moreover, whatever “hot” plans Moscow had for Lithuania were “cooled down” on the 28th of August by President George Bush’s speech in which he urged Mikhail Gorbachev to show more understanding towards the Baltic republics.
On September the 14th the European Parliament welcomed the fact that “millions of people in the Baltic States had protested against the secret agreements”.
- How do you remember that day?
- In 1989 I’d just started working at the Institute of History and so I was a “budding historian”. I remember driving to the Baltic Way with friends and we all stopped somewhere. I remember well that people were very friendly that day and we saw airplanes flying overhead and from which flowers were dropped down on us.
- Did you prepare yourself especially for the event?
- Actually not, I didn’t even take along something to eat. Yet it was just something that had to be. Nobody forced you but you yourself understood that it had to be. People coordinated everything very peacefully with help from the police hardly being necessary. They were just looking around, scared of that huge stream of people but everyone made way for everyone else.
Most of all I remember the rapport and empathy. I was struck by the human and not the political aspect of it all. There was a huge feeling of solidarity.
Some people imagine that a nation is just a community that we judge by its achievements and culture. In the Baltic Way you could truly see what a nation is all about. Although there were arguments about how many Lithuanians did or didn’t participate, Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians showed that we were strong nations. People without any great political sentiments were well aware of who they were and what they wanted.
- Do you as an historian believe that the Baltic Way helped pave the way to an independent Lithuania?
- It’s now that we understand the significance of the Baltic Way but at that time, we were just following an event and watching each other react to it, what it meant. Its importance was just taking shape. At that time everything was a bit vague. Of course, we as historians were interested in what would follow. We spoke a lot amongst ourselves about how it would all end and how Moscow would react, but that’s all.
- What did your fellow historians think?
- At that time, we were more ordinary people than historians. We just compared and debated but it was a clear example of non-violent resistance and leadership.
I do not know if many at that time understood what non-violent resistance meant, what it shows and how it defines a community that pursues its goals in peaceful ways and therein is a feature of the culture of our countries. Context however is also important here because fundamental political and geopolitical changes were also taking place peacefully. We became part of that context. Now however that context is different; violence is a matter of course and is relatively easily tolerated by society. Then it was different.
- You and Česlovas Laurinavičius are two of the few historians who are studying the Baltic Way. Why is this event so little researched by academics?
- The Baltic Way is an important event but no less important was the context that encompassed it. We delve more into the event itself and on what was taking place in the ten years from 1980 to 1990. Of course, the Baltic Way was a highly significant occurrence in those ten years.
True, there hasn’t been a lot of research done on the Baltic way, but, for example, I recently met with a young school girl who wants to spend the summer writing about the Baltic Way. I think it’s good that school children are given assignments like that. They learn lots, come to know new names and get to know what happened. On that level it’s a very good initiative.
Nobody knows how much must yet be written for there to be enough. Maybe one day somebody will create a new narrative which will be interesting from an academic point of view.
- Do you notice any relevance of the Baltic Way today amongst young people who weren’t even born then?
- As an “academic” I prefer to base my research on what’s tangible. I therefore don’t know if people, especially young people, take an interest. There’s my example of the young school girl writing about the Baltic Way which really made me happy. Every year of course there are events where attempts are made to relive the Baltic Way or remember it in some way but I must admit that I don’t participate in them. I simply think that that one instance was enough for my memory and the rest of my life and nothing like it will happen again.
- In your book The History of Lithuania: Sąjūdis there is a chapter especially about the Baltic Way. Can you tell us something about the process of writing that chapter?
- It was historians who wrote the book, not sociologists or political figures. We (with historian Česlovas Laurinavičius – 15 Minutes) were interested in the complex political and social processes and transformation at the time. We took a broader view – from the end of 1980 to March 1990. We explained the clash of the then political forces, what drove the tension, what the international context was and how the Western countries responded to the situation.
We were in actual fact the first to speak about and take into account that international context. We relied on a lot of material which not only had to be gathered but also critically evaluated. We gathered it from available archives, publications, memoires and interviews with participants in the Baltic Way. From it all we wove a cloth that told of how the entire process developed. It was a lot of work…
- Is there still something unsaid about the Baltic Way, something still undiscovered?
- We didn’t consult all of the archives and so it would be very interesting to find out how the various structures of the Soviet Union reacted then to all of the agitation and the Baltic Way. From various statements and reports we’ve seen that that there was some resistance and differing opinions.
For example, certain advisors of Mikhail Gorbachev told him that the Baltic Way is a perfect opportunity to “let those Balts go” and they suggested that he do so but, it seems, the conservative side got the upper hand. That’s why it would be really interesting to delve into the archives in Russia. Unfortunately, if you want to do that and go peacefully about your work, relations between Lithuania and Russia would have to be, how should I put it, at least normal.
