"Darbininkų kuopos" demokratijos išbandymas Lietuvoje 1922–1926 m. ; Challenge of "Darbininkų kuopa" Democracy in Lithuania in 1922-1926
In this thesis Challenge of "Darbininkų kuopa" Democracy in Lithuania in 1922-1926 is intended to research the possibility for Communists to use the democracy, the sources of this attempt and its impact on the political life of Lithuania in the thirties of the 20th century. The thesis analyses the election campaign of the so called "kuopininkai" ("troop-mates"), the exterior and interior difficulties for this formation standing for the elections to the First Seimas (Parliament). The thesis also provides the analysis of their speeches in Seimas. The incriminatory materials and reaction of the press in relation to the arrests of "kuopininkai" are investigated. A detailed pre-criminal investigation analysis of "kuopininkai" is provided. The research is finalized by the demonstration in Kaunas and reaction of the press into it. The main objective of the thesis was to unfold the genesis of "darbininkų kuopos" (worker troops) and their impact to the political life from 1922 to 1926. For this purpose, four objectives were made. The first one was to analyze the activities of the "kuopininkai" in the parliament, on the basis of Seimas transcripts. The second – to analyze the accusations to the "kuopininkai". The third – to define the position of "kuopininkai" towards the accusations. The fourth – to define the reasons on the basis of which "kuopininkai" were released. The activities of "darbininkų kuopos" were only analyzed during the Soviet times, so in this thesis it was decided to investigate this problem anew. For the research, archive sources of the Lithuanian State Central Archive Army Court Fund (f.507) were used, where recordings of the court, claims of "kuopininkai" and decisions of the Superior Tribunal were found. The thesis analyses and publishes the sources, "kuopininkai" proclamations and press articles. The thesis consists of four chapters where the investigated materials are consistently provided in detail. The first part covers the situation of the LKP (Lithuanian Communist Party) and structural changes in this political organization. Further, the research of the list of "kuopininkai" is made, as well as their pre-election campaigns, biographies. Later, their activities in Seimas and their arrests together with the court procedures are investigated.