SPF of Lithuania, On anti-Communism in Lithuania. Aug 30, 2011
SPF of Lithuania, On anti-Communism in Lithuania
http://www.fronte.lt , mailto: Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken.
The prohibition of Marxism and class-struggle ideology in bourgeois Lithuania
Tuesday, 30 August 2011 08:24 Socialist People's Front of Lithuania
In June of 2010 the members of the bourgeois parliament in Lithuania adopted a law that has been included in the Penal Code of the Republic of Lithuania and which goes as follows:
Article 1702. Public endorsement of international crimes, the crimes of the USSR or Nazi Germany against the Republic of Lithuania or against its inhabitants, the denial and blatant degradation of these crimes
1. A person, who has publicly endorsed the crimes of genocide, or other crimes against humanity or war crimes that have been recognized by the law statements of the Republic of Lithuania or the European Union or by the standing verdicts of the Republic of Lithuania or international courts, who has denied or blatantly degraded them, if that has been done in a threatening, abusive or insulting way, or as a result of that the public order was disturbed, also the person, who has publicly endorsed the aggression of the USSR or Nazi Germany against the Republic of Lithuania, the crimes of genocide or other crimes against humanity or war crimes that were carried out by the USSR or Nazi Germany within the territory of the Republic of Lithuania or against the inhabitants of the Republic of Lithuania, or other serious or very serious crimes committed against the Republic of Lithuania or against the inhabitants of the Republic of Lithuania during the years 1990-1991 by thise who carried out aggression against the Republic of Lithuania or those who were involved in it, who has denied or blatantly degraded them, if that has been done in a threatening, abusive or insulting way, or as a result of that the public order was disturbed,
Is punishable by a fine, or by restriction of freedom, or by arrest, or by imprisonment for up to two years.
2. The responsibility for the activities provided in this article also falls on the legal person.
It is precisely under this article that the chairman of our party Algirdas Paleckis is being persecuted after he challenged the 'official' version set up by the criminal bourgeois propaganda concerning the events of the 13th of January, 1991. Adding to that, the same charges have been set up against the Socialist People's Front party as a legal person as well. The farce trial of our Comrade Algirdas Paleckis will continue on the 13th of September - the date set for the next session.
For once, the purpose of these farce investigations has been to clamp down the activities of Comrade Algirdas Paleckis and the Socialist People's Front in resisting the anti-workers economic and social policies that the Parliamentary representatives of the big monopoly capitalists have been implementing for the last 20 years. Also, these cases have been an additional tool for the media controlled by the same big Capital in their propaganda campaign against the only political party outside the bourgeois frames in the country, to portray the Socialist People's Front as an 'enemy of Lithuania and its citizens'.
However, bearing in mind all of the above mentioned aspects that are more or less easy to recognize, the law in question – article 1702 that has been un-democratically introduced into the Lithuanian Penal Code - has even much deeper implications. It is not clear whether it had been well thought through and done intentionally, or it has been accidental. Nevertheless, the article of the Penal Code of Lithuania that actually forbids any person to deny the 'Soviet occupation of Lithuania', as it has been termed by the Lithuanian bourgeoisie, is also an attack on Marxism, Socialism and Communism as such. And at the same time, it can not be over-emphasized, that appealing to various “human rights” institutions, protesting at bourgeois parliaments, courts, or even embassies with the hope that the bourgeoisie representatives will listen to us – is not the right tactics. Such actions, of course, could be useful for the purpose of mobilizing a wider support and raising the awareness of the masses. But we should disband the attitude of hope that any concessions could be made for us by the bourgeoisie. Criminalising anti-bourgeois ideology and its followers while the bourgeoisie are in power – this is all part of the class-struggle. And our duty is to deal with that and organize a counter-attack by the working-class.
Yet, the necessity remains to explain the issue regarding this class-nature article of the Penal code in Lithuania. For once, speaking in the terms of the Lithuanian bourgeoisie, the 'denial of the Soviet occupation of Lithuania' absolutely differs from denying, for instance, the Holocaust. As is well-known, and as history has shown us, the bourgeoisie constantly utilizes nationalism in order to protect their power and privileges. And a hideous nationalistic myth has been escalated by the media (and not only by it) controlled by the oligarchy for the last 20 years as Lithuania became “independent” from USSR. It is precisely this primitive understanding and portryal of the world that allows this Lithuanian nationalistic myth to remain alive. And only when one overcomes the ideological frames of the bourgeoisie ideology that the true essence of Lithuanian history opens up.
The Soviet period for Lithuanians was not an issue of one nation against another, that is the Russian nation occupying and oppressing Lithuanians – as the 'official' version claims it to have been. It was a period of a different economical, and consequently political system. It was a period of an attempt to construct Socialism, to build an alternative for the horrendous economical system based on private property, which is capitalism. From the Marxist perspective, which we adhere to, it was a case of the power shifting from the capitalists to the working-class. And equally, at the time when the Soviet Union was being dissolved the question for Lithuanians was not whether 'occupation' or 'independence'. The choice back then for the workers of Lithuania was between Soviet Socialism and Lithuanian capitalism. The true meaning of the 'independence of Lithuania' is the restoration of the capitalist dictatorship in Lithuania. Contrary to the false belief held by many today, that the ideals of the people advocating a brake away from the Soviet Union back then were well-intentioned, but as 'Lithuania became independent' something went wrong, certain criminals managed to exploit that situation for their benefit and that is the reason for the deplorable economical (and as a result, political) situation of Lithuania today – contrary to this argument filled with naivety, the fact is that in the case of the dissolution of the Soviet Union the only path that Lithuania could have taken was to become a corrupt state controlled by a group of oligarchs and with enormous amount of systemic violence that capitalism unleashes against the workers everyday. And that is exactly what Lithuania is today.
Finally, as far as history is concerned, one should not be surprised over the fact that the official version of the past events will always be the interpretation or the version proposed by those in power. The monopoly of truth is always in the hands of the victorious. And after the counter-revolution in the Soviet Union today the bourgeoisie are victorious globally, and their version of historical events is the “official” version. And in order to protect their privileges anti-Communist campaigns have been originating in various places, particularly in Eastern Europe. Terms such as “Socialist and Communist crimes”, “Communist dictatorship”, “Socialist or Communist occupation” or “the threat of Communism” have been included into the public discourse with the purpose to instigate the masses of working people away from Socialist and Communist ideology. To accept the 'official', or the so-called 'objective' version of the past means to succumb to the bourgeoisie propaganda. Our task is to defend our cause at all cost, since as far as the class-struggle is concerned, there exists no impartiality.
Solidarity with all of the oppressed comrades around the globe, no consent to any attempt to criminalise Socialist-Communist ideology! The working-class must be emboldened to strike back at the bourgeoisie anti-workers measures, they must realise that no trade-off is possible between the classes.
Vytautas Liutkus
Member of the International Department
Socialist People's Front