Andrius Domaševičius (30 November 1865 – 19 March 1935) was a Lithuanian politician and

gynecologist Gynaecology or gynecology (see American and British English spelling differences) is the area of medicine concerned with conditions affecting the female reproductive system. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, which focuses on pre ...

. He was one of the founders and an active member of the Social Democrat movement in Lithuania.

Early life and studies

Andrius Domaševičius was born on 30 November 1865 in

Panevėžys Panevėžys () is the fifth-largest List of cities in Lithuania, city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, eighth-most-populous city in the Baltic States. it occupies with 89,100 inhabitants. As defined by Eu ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. His family was descendants of

polonized Polonization or Polonisation ()In Polish historiography, particularly pre-WWII (e.g., L. Wasilewski. As noted in Смалянчук А. Ф. (Smalyanchuk 2001) Паміж краёвасцю і нацыянальнай ідэяй. Польскі ...

szlachta The ''szlachta'' (; ; ) were the nobility, noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Depending on the definition, they were either a warrior "caste" or a social ...

. Domaševičius attended school in

Šiauliai Šiauliai ( ; ) is a city in northern Lithuania, the List of cities in Lithuania, country's fourth largest city and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, sixth largest city in the Baltic States, with a population of 112 581 in 202 ...

from 1876 until 1884. During this time, Domaševičius participated in an illegal student circle and became acquainted with the literature of the Russian

Narodnik The Narodniks were members of a movement of the Russian Empire intelligentsia in the 1860s and 1870s, some of whom became involved in revolutionary agitation against tsarism. Their ideology, known as Narodism, Narodnism or ,; , similar to the ...

s movement. In 1890, he graduated from the

Kyiv University The Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (; also known as Kyiv University, Shevchenko University, or KNU) is a public university in Kyiv, Ukraine. The university is the third-oldest university in Ukraine after the University of Lviv and ...

, where he studied medicine. According to contemporaries, it was in Kyiv that Domaševičius became interested in

social democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

ideas, as well as revolutionary propaganda and

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

. After his studies in Kyiv, Domaševičius worked in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

with a famous Russian gynecologist professor in a medical clinic. In 1892, Domaševičius returned to Lithuania.

Political activity

After returning to Lithuania, Domaševičius was invited by

Alfonsas Moravskis Alfonsas is a Lithuanian language, Lithuanian masculine given name. People bearing the name Alfonsas include: *Alfonsas Andriuškevičius (born 1940), Lithuanian poet and art historian *Alfonsas Danys (1924–2014), Lithuanian writer *Alfonsas Dar ...

, whom he knew since his days in Panevėžys, to participate in political and social activities. Domaševičius acquired the pseudonym ''Teodoras'' and read various lectures in secret meetings, as well as organized educational, economic and political workers' unions. Domaševičius participated in the activities of the

Twelve Apostles of Vilnius The Lithuanian Mutual Aid Society of Vilnius () was a mutual aid and cultural society active in Vilnius, then part of the Russian Empire, from 1904 to 1915. It originated from the illegal social club known as the Twelve Apostles of Vilnius which for ...

. In his free time, Domaševičius read Marxist literature as well as philosophy by

Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (born Emanuel Kant; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German Philosophy, philosopher and one of the central Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works ...

, among others. Although Domaševičius was not particularly religious, he advocated for the return of the Church of St. Nicholas for the Catholics and also sang in its choir.

Establishment of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party and exile

Domaševičius and Moravskis decided to establish the

Social Democratic Party of Lithuania The Social Democratic Party of Lithuania (, LSDP) is a centre-left and social democratic political party in Lithuania. Founded as an underground Marxist organisation in 1896, it is the oldest extant party in Lithuania. During the time of the ...

. Moravskis usually agitated workers, while Domaševičius recruited intelligentsia and students. He started active propaganda activities among tanners, cobblers, and carpenters. By the initiative of the Social Democrats, so-called struggle funds were created to support the strikers, and

trade unions A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

were established. In 1895, Domaševičius together with Moravskis prepared the outline of the Social Democrat party program in Polish. This program, being the oldest to outline the issue of Lithuanian independence, was based on the German Social Democratic

Erfurt Program The Erfurt Program was adopted by the Social Democratic Party of Germany during the SPD Congress at Erfurt in 1891. Drafted by theorists Karl Kautsky and Eduard Bernstein, the program set out a Marxist view and superseded the party's Gotha P ...

, program of the

Polish Socialist Party The Polish Socialist Party (, PPS) is a democratic socialist political party in Poland. It was one of the most significant parties in Poland from its founding in 1892 until its forced merger with the communist Polish Workers' Party to form ...

, and works by

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

and

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. In the same year, he traveled abroad to print social democratic literature and search for connections in Poland and France. In Paris, the first issue of the LSDP newspaper ''Robotnik Litewski'' (Worker of Lithuania) and the brochure ''Robotnik ślusarski w Wilne'' (Locksmith of Vilnius), prepared by Domaševičius, were published in Polish. In 1897, Domaševičius was arrested and jailed in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

for his political activity for a month and a half, but was released due to insufficient evidence. Domaševičius was arrested again in 1899, and in 1900 he was deported to

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

. In Siberia, Domaševičius fathered two sons. He lived in

Omsk Omsk (; , ) is the administrative center and largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Omsk Oblast, Russia. It is situated in southwestern Siberia and has a population of over one million. Omsk is the third List of cities and tow ...

, as well as

Karkaraly Karkaraly (, ''Qarqaraly'') (, ''Karkaralinsk''), also known as Karkaralinsk, is the capital of the Karkaraly District in the Karaganda Region of Kazakhstan. Permanent settlement in the area began as a Cossack settlement, which evolved into a ...

and Semepalatinsk, in which he freely learned

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

, English,

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

, French,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

as well as Lithuanian languages.

Return to Lithuania

He returned to Vilnius in 1904 and participated in the

Great Seimas of Vilnius The Great Seimas of Vilnius (, also known as the ''Great Assembly of Vilnius'', the ''Grand Diet of Vilnius'', or the ''Great Diet of Vilnius'') was a major assembly held on December 4 and 5, 1905 (November 21–22, 1905 Old Style and New Style d ...

. Domaševičius also worked as a doctor in the hospital of

Saint James the Great James the Great ( Koinē Greek: Ἰάκωβος, romanized: ''Iákōbos''; Aramaic: ܝܥܩܘܒ, romanized: ''Yaʿqōḇ''; died AD 44) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. According to the New Testament, he was the second of the apostles t ...

. In 1905, Domaševičius contributed to the preparation and wide circulation of a manifesto that advocated for progressive taxation, free education in all schools, free universal medical care, medicine and legal aid. It also outlined methods of struggle against the tsarist government and the enemies of the revolution. Fearing arrest, Domaševičius fled to

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

in the same year and returned only a year later, in 1906. The Polish-language newspaper, under the initiative of Domaševičius, called ''Echo zycia robotniczego na Litwe'' (Echo of Workers' Life in Lithuania) was published in

Tilsit Sovetsk (; ) is a town in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the south bank of the Neman River which forms the border with Lithuania. History Early history Tilsit, which received civic rights from Albert, Duke of Prussia in 1552,''Sło ...

. In 1907, Domaševičius left the leadership of the Social Democrats, and in the same year co-founded the Lithuanian Scientific Society, and from 1908 to 1909 was its vice-chairman. Domaševičius established the society's medicine division, as well as the statistics and economics division in 1913. During this time he advocated for the rights of the Lithuanian language in the churches of the

Vilnius Diocese Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

. In 1908, Domaševičius initiated the creation of the Rūta Society.

Medical work and return to politics

In 1910, he established a private clinic and a hospital specializing in

gynecology Gynaecology or gynecology (see American and British English spelling differences) is the area of medicine concerned with conditions affecting the Female reproductive system, female reproductive system. It is often paired with the field of obste ...

, in which poor women were treated free of charge. From 1910 to 1911, Domaševičius organized the publication of the magazine ''Visuomenė'' (Society). Domaševičius also wrote articles for the magazines ''Medicina ir gamta'' (Medicine and Nature) and ''Darbo balsas'' (The Voice of Work). The articles related to medicine were not only practical but also intended as guides to fight various diseases such as

rheumatism Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including a ...

, women's diseases,

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

, and

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

. The author advocated for the state to introduce free medical care and that treatments should not be carried out by village healers, but by medical specialists. Domaševičius, being a

polyglot Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

, was a popular and easily accessible doctor in Vilnius. In 1917, he participated in the

Vilnius Conference In the history of Lithuania, the Vilnius Conference () or Vilnius National Conference met on 18–22 September 1917, and began the process of establishing a Lithuanian state based on ethnic identity and language that would be independent of ...

. After the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

in Russia in 1917, Domaševičius joined the Social Democratic movement again, and also was selected as the chairman of workers' council of the

Naujoji Vilnia Naujoji Vilnia is an eldership in eastern Vilnius, Lithuania situated along the banks of the Vilnia River. According to the 2011 census, the district had a population of 31,933. This figure grew to 36,507 in 2021, when the newest census was perf ...

organization.

Later years

Domaševičius' views closely aligned with those of the

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

movement. In 1919, he founded his own

Lithuanian Communist Party The Communist Party of Lithuania (; ) is a banned communist party in Lithuania. The party was established in early October 1918 and operated clandestinely until it was legalized in 1940 after the Soviet invasion and occupation. The party was ...

, made up of parts of the Social Democratic and Naujoji Vilnia movements, becoming its chairman. However the party never gained recognition by the Bolsheviks. In 1919, Domaševičius was named as the commissar for health in the Bolshevik-established government headed by

Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas Vincas Mickevičius, known under his pen name ''Kapsukas'' ( – 17 February 1935), was a Lithuanian Communism, communist political activist, Opinion journalism, publicist, and revolutionary. As an active member of the Lithuanian National Reviv ...

. A new department of obstetrics and women's diseases was established at the Saint James hospital in Vilnius under the efforts of Domaševičius. After Vilnius was occupied by the Polish Army, he was arrested twice and spent a year in Russia. After returning from exile in 1920, he settled in Panevėžys in 1921. For a while, he headed the obstetrics-gynecology department at the county hospital and later, due to being forcefully removed from his position due to his ties with worker unions, engaged in private practice looking for ways to treat people free of charge and reduce maternal mortality. In Panevėžys, Domaševičius organized workers' trade unions and actively participated in workers' activities, and as such was often under surveillance. In 1923, he established a private clinic in his own home. From 1921 to 1924 he was the city council's consultant on public health. He established the artist group Šviesa in 1924 and the Panevėžys branch of the General Workers' Union in 1925. After the

1926 Lithuanian coup d'état The 1926 Lithuanian coup d'état ( Lithuanian: ) was a military coup d'état in Lithuania that replaced the democratically elected government with a authoritarian regime led by Antanas Smetona. The coup took place on 17 December 1926 and wa ...

which brought the authoritarian regime of

Antanas Smetona Antanas Smetona (; 10 August 1874 – 9 January 1944) was a Lithuanian intellectual, journalist and politician. He served as the first president of Lithuania from 1919 to 1920 and later as the authoritarian head of state from 1926 until the Occu ...

to power, Domaševičius was arrested for his support of the illegal

. He was attacked and heavily injured in the same year. In 1928, the military court acquitted him, but in 1933 Domaševičius was exiled to Smilgiai for half a year. In 1934, he returned to Panevėžys, where he founded the societies for the fight against

as well as for the fight against women's diseases in general. Andrius Domaševičius died in Panevėžys on 19 March 1935.

References

Bibliography

* Biržiška, Vaclovas, ''Andrius Domaševičius – Lietuvos socialdemokratų partijos kūrėjas'', Kaunas, ''Šviesa'', 1992, p. 219–220. * Čaplinskas, Antanas Rimvydas, ''Vilniaus atminimo knyga: mieste įamžintos asmenybės'', Vilnius, 2011, p. 101 * Čiplytė, Joana Viga, ''Daktaras Andrius Domaševičius (1865–1935): Lietuvos socialdemokratų partijai – 110 metų'', Vilnius, 2006 * Domaševičius, Andrius, ''Atminties ženklai gydytojams'', Vilnius, 2012, p. 37–38 * Domaševičius, Andrius, ''

Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija The ''Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija'' or VLE () is a 25-volume universal Lithuanian-language encyclopedia published by the Science and Encyclopaedia Publishing Institute from 2001 to 2014. VLE is the first published universal encyclopedia i ...

'', Vilnius, 2004, 5th Volume, p. 63. * Grinius, Kazys, ''Dr. Andrius Domaševičius (1865–1935) ekrologas', 1935, p. 2. * Kairiūkštytė, Nastazija, ''Domaševičius Andrius: 1865 11 30–1935 03 19: gydytojas, visuomenės veikėjas, spaudos darbuotojas'', Vilnius, 2009, p. 85–87. * Krikštaponis, Vilmantas, ''Likęs ištikimas darbo žmogui: ydytojo, švietėjo, socialdemokratijos pradininko Lietuvoje, visuomenės veikėjo Andriaus Domaševičiaus 145-osioms gimimo metinėms', 2010, p. 34–37. * Lebedytė, Ramūnė, ''Paslapčių gaubiama daktaro Domaševičiaus namo istorija'', 1995, p. 9. * ''Lietuvos TSR istorijos ir kultūros paminklų sąvadas'', Vilnius, 1988, p. 125–126 * Maknys, Vytautas, ''Vilniaus lietuvių susivienijimas „Rūta“'', Vilnius, 1972, p. 121 * Micelmacheris, Viktoras, ''Apie žymiausius 1918–1919 m.tarybinės sveikatos apsaugos veikėjus ydytojas Andrius Domaševičius – pirmasis tarybinės sveikatos apsaugos organiatorius Lietuvoje', Vilnius, 1959, p. 57–65. * Valeika, Henrikas, ''Po revoliucinį Vilnių'', Vilnius, 1981, p. 17. * Venclova, Tomas, ''Andrius Domaševičius'', Vilnius, R. Paknio leidykla, 2017. p. 205–206.

External links

Website of the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania
{{DEFAULTSORT:Domasevicius, Andrius 1865 births 1935 deaths 20th-century Lithuanian politicians Lithuanian physicians Politicians from the Russian Empire