ALMANTAS SAMALAVICIUS
6S
the nineteenth century, when a small group of educated enlighteners be–
gan an astonishing process of revitalizing the Lithuanian language and
strengthening the sense of national identity. Rural areas became widely
infected by these ideas, while the urban centers for some time resisted
these influences, since they were under stronger sway of the earlier influ–
ences of Polonisation and Russification. The Lithuanian language, the
oldest Indo-European tongue, united the reemerging nation. Yet the
brief period of Lithuanian independence between the world wars (1918-
1940) brought conflict between those feelings of nationalism and the at–
tempts at modernization.
In
order to have a better understanding of the recent transformations
in Lithuanian society, we must look to its history. Its discontinuity of
statehood, interrupted by foreign invasions since 1793, under the first
partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the long years of
isolation under Soviet rule, have left a lasting influence on Lithuanian
minds. What Lithuania needs urgently is for its traditional intelligentsia
to transform itself into individually thinking intellectuals. Only indepen–
dent, unprejudiced voices can influence a maturing society. Detachment
from any existing political establishment is essential, in order to alert the
consciousness of a society more and more haunted by chaos. Otherwise,
Lithuanians will sing their way back to dependence.
