''Tiesa'' (English: ''truth'') was the official daily newspaper in the

Lithuanian SSR The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (Lithuanian SSR; lt, Lietuvos Tarybų Socialistinė Respublika; russian: Литовская Советская Социалистическая Республика, Litovskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialistiche ...

. Established in 1917, the newspaper soon became the official voice of the

Communist Party of Lithuania The Communist Party of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos komunistų partija; russian: Коммунистическая партия Литвы) is a banned communist party in Lithuania. The party was established in early October 1918 and operated clan ...

. After the Lithuanian victory in the

Lithuanian–Soviet War The Lithuanian–Soviet War or Lithuanian–Bolshevik War ( lt, karas su bolševikais) was fought between Act of Independence of Lithuania, newly independent Lithuania and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian Socialist Feder ...

, the party and the newspaper were outlawed in

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

. Therefore, it was first printed in exile and later illegally in

Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...

. ''Tiesa'' survived irregular publishing schedules, frequent relocations, staff changes, and other difficulties and, after the

Soviet occupation of Lithuania The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were invaded and occupied in June 1940 by the Soviet Union, under the leadership of Stalin and auspices of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact that had been signed between Nazi Germany and the Soviet ...

in June 1940, became the official daily of the new communist regime. At its peak, its circulation exceeded 300,000 copies. After the

collapse of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

, ''Tiesa'' lost its official status and its circulation shrunk. The publication was discontinued in 1994.

History

Early history

The first issue of ''Tiesa'' was published by the Lithuanian section of the

Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (bolsheviks) "Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first)Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspaper ...

Petrograd Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

on April 12, 1917. In October 1917, ''Tiesa'' became the official newspaper of the Lithuanian section. From April to December 1918, it was published in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. By December 12, 1918, 91 issues of ''Tiesa'' were published. In March–April 1919, five issues of the newspaper were published in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

, the proclaimed capital of the short-lived

Lithuanian–Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic The Socialist Soviet Republic of Lithuania and Belorussia (SSR LiB), * lt, Lietuvos ir Baltarusijos socialistinė tarybų respublika; * pl, Litewsko-Białoruska Socjalistyczna Republika Rad * russian: Социалистическая Сове ...

. It was the official newspaper of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Lithuania and Belorussia. When Poland captured Vilnius during the

Vilna offensive The Vilna offensive was a campaign of the Polish–Soviet War of 1919–1921. The Polish army launched an offensive on April 16, 1919, to take Vilnius ( pl, Wilno) from the Red Army. After three days of street fighting from April 19–21, the ...

, ''Tiesa'' evacuated and was printed with interruptions in Raseiniai,

, Königsberg,

Bellshill Bellshill (pronounced "Bells hill") is a town in North Lanarkshire in Scotland, southeast of Glasgow city centre and west of Edinburgh. Other nearby localities are Motherwell to the south, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton to the south ...

, Smolensk as the official newspaper of the

. In March 1926, it settled more permanently in Kaunas, the

temporary capital of Lithuania The temporary capital of Lithuania ( lt, Laikinoji sostinė) was the official designation of the city of Kaunas in Lithuania during the interwar period. It was in contrast to the declared capital in Vilnius, which was part of Poland from 1920 ...

. The communist party was outlawed in Lithuania, therefore ''Tiesa'' had to be printed illegally. There were 157 issues published in Kaunas.

Lithuanian SSR

After the

in June 1940, ''Tiesa'' was legalized and became a daily. It appeared first as ''Liaudies balsas'' (June 16–25) but soon recovered its historical name. It continued to be the official outlet of the Communist Party of Lithuania until the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. The newspaper was reestablished in Moscow in February 1942. There, 85 issues were published until July 1944. In August 1944, after the Soviet victory in Vilnius Offensive, the newspaper relocated to

. Once again, it became a daily. From August 1945, in addition to being the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Lithuania, ''Tiesa'' was also the official voice of the communist government, specifically the Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR and the Council of Ministers of the Lithuanian SSR. It had permanent correspondents in Moscow and New York. In 1967, ''Tiesa'' received the Order of the Red Banner of Labour.

Independent Lithuania

After the first free parliamentary elections in February 1990, Lithuania declared independence from the Soviet Union. '' Lietuvos aidas'' became the official newspaper of the Supreme Council – Reconstituent Seimas. The Communist Party of Lithuania reorganized itself into the Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania (LDDP). ''Tiesa'' followed suit and became the newspaper of the LDDP. However, in 1992, ''Tiesa'' became a privately owned publication. On July 1, 1994, it was discontinued and replaced by daily ''Diena'' (English: ''day''). The last issue of ''Diena'' was published in 1996.

Content

''Tiesa'' was dedicated to communist ideology. It advocated socialist revolution and criticized other political parties. It reported on the activities of the Communist Party of Lithuania and its organizations, published their programs and resolutions, statements and manifestos. ''Tiesa'' also reported on the biggest world and Lithuanian news, provided their analysis according to the communist point of view. The newspaper also published stories on the life of workers, peasants, soldiers. Occasionally it also published fiction, mostly poems.

Editors

The editors-in-chief were:

References

External links

Digital archive 1917–47
{{italics title Communist newspapers Defunct newspapers published in Lithuania Eastern Bloc mass media Lithuanian-language newspapers Newspapers established in 1917 Publications disestablished in 1994 Daily newspapers published in Lithuania 1994 disestablishments in Lithuania Communism in Lithuania