VYTAUTAS MAGNUS UNIVERSITY FACULty OF Humanities DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY Linas Venclauskas Problems of Modern Lithuanian Cultural History DIDACTICAL GUIDELINES Kaunas, 2013 Reviewed by Dr. Modestas Kuodis, Prof. Dr. Jonas Vaičenonis Approved by the Department of History of the Faculty of Humanities at Vytau- tas Magnus University on 30 November 2012 (Protocol No. 3–2) Recommended for printing by the Council of the Faculty of Humanities of Vytautas Magnus University on 28 December 2012 (Protocol No. 8–6) Translated and edited by UAB “Lingvobalt” Publication of the didactical guidelines is supported by the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Government of the Republic of Lithuania. Project title: “Renewal and Internationalization of Bachelor Degree Programmes in History, Ethnology, Philosophy and Political Science” (project No.: VP1-2.2-ŠMM-07-K-02-048) © Linas Venclauskas, 2013 ISBN 978-9955-21-355-0 © Vytautas Magnus University, 2013 Table of contents Preface . 5 Culture and Civilisation . 7 Challenges of Modernity: Views, Identity, Culture . 14 Nature of Culture: of the Lithuanian State or Lithuanian People? . 21 Political Culture . 30 Culture: Spontaneous Creation or Guided and Adminis- tered Process? . 38 Literature: . 57 Preface Dear students, These didactical guidelines will give you an overview of prob- lems of the modern history of Lithuanian culture. During the mod- ern times Lithuania had to overcome a rather complicated period – the country suffered from the occupation of the Tsarist Russia and at the same time it experienced the creation of a modern nation, identity and culture. This process was developed during the exis- tence of the first Republic of Lithuania (1918–1940). These didacti- cal guidelines are compiled to present you the period which lasted from the second half of the 19th century till 1940. As it was mentioned before, this era was full of processes which determined and influenced each other: there was a need to create a modern structure of the society, to start publishing press, to handle political issues, to cherish culture, and this particularly complex situation is briefly presented in this material. At the beginning of it you will find a synoptic-theoretical chapter which is dedicated to the presentation of the classical conception of culture and civilisation, later on a discussion on formation of the modern Lithuanian world outlook and identity is presented together with cultural processes, much attention is paid to political culture’s matters because the policy of culture, priorities and other issues very much depended on the formation and level of this culture. A brief overview is given about the most important cultural processes in the first Republic of 5 Problems of Modern Lithuanian Cultural History Lithuania. The occupations of the Soviets, the Nazis and the Soviets again, as well as Lithuanian activities in the exodus, unfortunately are not covered in this material. As the presented information is quite comprehensive and exhaus- tive, short biographies of the most important figures of those times are given in the references. This is done in order to introduce you to some cultural figures of those times and also demonstrate (from the point of view of personal biographies) under what conditions at least some part of them created and what were their destinies. Culture and Civilisation The formation of the modern history of Lithuanian culture coin- cided with the formation of the modern nation. After the third partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Polish Kingdom and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (which besides ethnic Lithuanian lands also included the present territory of Belarus and some parts of the present territories of Western Ukraine) lost their sovereignty till 1918. But the establishment of the Republic of Lithu- ania in 1918 framed the processes that started in the second half of the 19th century by giving them acceleration, direction, and form. Historical development of the country determined that at the same time country witnessed the formation of the modern society, modern identity and modern culture, which incorporates the as- pects of every-day, high and political culture, and therefore, while discussing the cultural processes, it is inevitable to touch upon the subjects of society, mentality, political mind and changes of its con- tent. Approaching the year 1918, the Lithuanian society not only had to prove its distinction and a desire to live in an independent free state, but also to show the acquired potential to achieve this. There are several ways how to tell the story from this perspective, but we have chosen to present you a relevant to this course classical perspective of culture and civilisation and leave you to decide your- self whether the Lithuanian culture and civilisation existed. The distinction between “my very own” and “alien” in terms of cultural differences has existed since the start of the humankind; we can remember the Ulysses who travelled to foreign and strange lands, or the antique term “barbarian”, which means the one who speaks an incomprehensible language. Therefore, the disjuncture and ten- sion between different cultures existed for a long time and there was no ability or will to accept the distinctiveness of other cultures. The change happened in the 18th century – the Age of Enlightenment – when Europe understood that the central and the most important 7 Problems of Modern Lithuanian Cultural History factor of all processes was the individual, its uniqueness and distinc- tion. Such an attitude helped to change the perception of the environ- ment, as hostility towards different cultures declined and interest in them grew, but at the same time there was a desire to preserve one’s own distinctiveness or even superiority. The significance of individu- als discovered in the Age of Enlightenment also encouraged interest in different cultures perceiving them as distinctive and interesting, therefore, worthy to explore. On the other hand, a visible progress in exact and natural sciences revealed several consistent patterns, and therefore, the notions of culture and civilisation were extended. Cul- ture is an organised way of living with its own structure, behavioural code and knowledge transmission system. At first, this definition seemed to be suitable but with the evolution of natural and exact sci- ences it turned out that the organised way of living, structure and knowledge transmission systems were typical not only to the human world. Similar processes were recognised in nature. It was noticed that the organisation, structure and knowledge transmission sys- tem also existed in the world of animals and the majority of living creatures existed according to a certain structure – they had leaders, intelligencers, workers, etc., and these positions existed under a cer- tain hierarchy which in the most cases was followed. The knowledge transmission system also existed as animals recognised their own kind and enemies, good and bad behaviour (most frequently this was related to the observance of the structure and hierarchy), what chang- es were possible or impossible under the present structure. From this point of view, human and animal worlds became very similar as they both shared features of culture. On the one hand, this discovery showed that humankind was not absolutely distinctive and unique, but on the other hand, looking from the Eurocentric perspective a positive change happened – the non-European cultures were under- stood to be unique, valuable and worth attention. Yet the search for own distinctiveness, superiority and self-defining was continued. So, if humanity and nature have their own cultures what are their differ- 8 Culture and Civilisation ences then? Bit by bit, the term of civilisation was introduced, and it was understood as a higher level of culture. This way at the end of the 18th century and at the beginning of the 19th century a model, which is considered to be classical, was formed. According to this model, culture and civilisation are related by hierarchical links – culture ex- ists everywhere, whereas not every culture is civilisation. Civilisation encompasses everything what has been invented or adapted by the humankind. Civilisation is the entirety of all humanity’s created and used technologies – everything what has not been given by nature. Features of civilisation: • An organised society is created – residents obey their rulers, the state is formed; • Creation of cities; • Developed trade; • Invention of script; • Statuesque sacral architecture is created. According to this definition, the first civilisations were river civili- sations in Asia and Africa (the Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Indian, Chinese), which were formed around 3500 BC. It is believed that there were from 8 (O. Spengler1) to 36 (A. J. Toyn- bee2) and more civilisations. They were divided into traditional and 1. Oswald Manuel Arnold Gottfried Spengler (1880–1936) was a German his- torian and philosopher whose interests also included mathematics, science, and art. He is best known for his book The Decline of the West (Der Un- tergang des Abendlandes), published in 1918 and 1922, where he proposed a new theory, according to which the lifespan of civilizations is limited and ultimately they decay. In 1920 Spengler produced Prussiandom and Social- ism (Preußentum und Sozialismus), which argued for an organic, nationalist version of socialism and authoritarianism. He wrote extensively throughout World War I and the interwar period, and supported German hegemony in Europe. Some National Socialists (such as Goebbels) held Spengler as an in- tellectual precursor but he was ostracised after 1933 for his pessimism about Germany’s and Europe’s future, his refusal to support Nazi ideas of racial superiority, and his critical work The Hour of Decision. 2. Arnold Joseph Toynbee ( 1889–1975) was a British historian whose twelve-vol- ume analysis of the rise and fall of civilizations, A Study of History, 1934–1961, was a synthesis of world history, a metahistory based on universal rhythms of 9 Problems of Modern Lithuanian Cultural History industrial civilisations.