Met het neerschieten van betogers provoceerden de nationalisten in Litouwen in 1991 een hysterischeVilnius, 30 augustus. De regering van Litouwen zet de vervolging verder van het Socialistisch Volksfront en zijn voorzitter Algirdas Paleckis. De “misdaad”: zijn publieke uitspraken over de gebeurtenissen van 13 januari 1991. Paleckis toonde aan dat in 1991 in de hoofdstad Vilnius gewapende provocateurs van op de daken met jachtgeweren schoten op de verzamelde menigte. De nationalisten, geleid door Vytautas Landsbergis, verspreidden de versieDe nationalisten gebruikten de anti-sovjet-hysterie om op korte tijd de staatsbedrijven te privatiseren. “De russen” kregen de schuld van de economische catastrofe die daarop volgde. In het Europees Parlement probeerdeHet Socialistisch Volksfront van Litouwen voert nu campagne: “Stop met liegen ! Herstel sociale Solidariteitsboodschappen met Algirdas Paleckis kan je sturen naar slfinfo1@gmail.com.
Zijn rapport over de situatie in Lithouwen staat op http://www.icsbrussels.org/ICS/2011/Contributions_to_the_Seminar/...
(Met dank aan Jef Bossuyt voor deze info)
Let me first of all thank the organisers for invitating us to this important event.
Since the collapse of USSR, a lot of Lithuania's citizens experienced a continuous downfall of standards of living. The crises sharpened in 2008. Being dependent from big foreign companies and banks which immedeatly started withdrawing big parts of their capitals and profits, Lithuania borrowed large amounts of money to avoid complete bankrupcy. Now the official state debt reaches around 12 billion euros, which is half of state budget. Social cuts are severe - we are the only coutry in Europe which has cut pensions, it was done in 2009. Now many retired persons hardly get 200 euros pro month. Prices are climbing up to reach and ofther to surpass the west european level. Following massive bancrupcies of small businesses,official unemployment reaches 17 percent, which means that around 300 000 people are jobless. This is much for the country of 3 million inhabitants. Massive emigration is taking place, especially young people leave in search of jobs for Western Europe. Prospects are dimm as Lithuanian industries and agriculture were destroyed following the collapse of USSR. Lithuania economically and politically is a semi-colony of EU and USA, especially dependent from scandinavian banks who act like real masters in our country.
The ruling capitalist class is putting much effort in its propaganda to distract people from real causes of crisis. TV and other media are used for this purpose. Corruption and cronyims are widespread. Two parties intechange in power - nationalist conservatives and socialdemocrats, each having some smaller parties as their satelites. Public disapointment is big and voting abstention reaches 55-60 percent. The rulling class is deliberately dividing population into its Lithuanian, Polish and Russian parts. Many still stick to their nationalistic superstitions.
Neo-nazis are rising their heads, with slogans "Lithuania for Lithuanians", and the authorities allow their marches every year. The Lithuanian court decided that swastika can be publicly demonstrated without punishment. Various neo-nazi organisations are active in internet and commit numerous provocations. Lithuania was once a fascist country between 1926 and 1940, so this tradition is deeply-rooted.
As to the working class, it is still not united, many emigrate. Trade unions are weak, and, as the biggest trade unions get money from government, they tend to keep their mouth shut.
Socialist forces in Lithuania suffered a setback in 1990-ies. Big anti-socialist and anti-communist campaigns started and are still continuing. However, in 1995 the Socialist Party of Lithuania was established, and in 2008 - party "Frontas". In 2009 they merged to form the Socialist Peoples' Front and fostered activities. In January 2009 angry working people attacked the Parliament's building, police answered by shooting with rubber bullits and injuring many. This shooting is unprecedented in Europe as rubber bullits, to our knowledge, are not used in Europe for many years. Our party was massively present at this event and was accused of organising so called "riots". But we have won the case in the trial. Now next trial is in place, we are accused of "negating the USSR agression in 1991". This happened after one of interview when the chair of party spoke about the period of 1991 as Lithuania was breaking from USSR. We thank all of you who expressed their solidarity and support for our case.
Speaking about building the party, we in Lithuania have a lot of homework to do. We use internet and simple proclamations to spread our ideas and gain new members and supporters. We regularly organise meetings, pickets, demonstrations - and they attract people in our ranks. In last municipal elections in the capital Vilnius in this February we got around 3 percent of votes, in last parliamentary elections in 2008 we also got 3 percent.
We still need to have better links to the ordinary members of trade unions, to workers on a grassroot level.
We are also convinced that now as the crisis sharpens, we must unite our efforts internationally in bringing down the whole capitalist system which once again demonstrates that it cannot cope with problems of humanity. EU and USA are in crisis, and, as Lybian example shows, imperialists are still ready to use fascist methods to remain in control of situation.
We think that there is a need for better coordination of our activities. For that to happen, first we should finalise our joint analysis of class struggle of the XXth century. This will shed the light for our common strategy. We know that this important process of analysing is already in motion, and your conference in Brussels is testimony to that. A permanent center of co-ordination of our activities would be instrumental for our aims.
Thank you for your attention.