The People's Government of Lithuania () was a

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. Puppetry is an ancient form of theatre which dates back to the 5th century BC in anci ...

cabinet installed by the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, 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, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

immediately after Lithuania's acceptance of the Soviet ultimatum of June 14, 1940. The formation of the cabinet was supervised by Vladimir Dekanozov, deputy of

Vyacheslav Molotov Vyacheslav Mikhaylovich Molotov (; – 8 November 1986) was a Soviet politician, diplomat, and revolutionary who was a leading figure in the government of the Soviet Union from the 1920s to the 1950s, as one of Joseph Stalin's closest allies. ...

and a close associate of

Lavrentiy Beria Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria ka, ლავრენტი პავლეს ძე ბერია} ''Lavrenti Pavles dze Beria'' ( – 23 December 1953) was a Soviet politician and one of the longest-serving and most influential of Joseph ...

, who selected Justas Paleckis as the prime minister and acting president. The government was formed on June 17 and, together with the People's Seimas (parliament), transitioned independent Lithuania to a socialist republic and the 14th republic of the Soviet Union thus legitimizing the Soviet occupation of Lithuania. The People's Government was replaced by the

Council of People's Commissars The Council of People's Commissars (CPC) (), commonly known as the ''Sovnarkom'' (), were the highest executive (government), executive authorities of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), the Soviet Union (USSR), and the Sovi ...

of the

Lithuanian SSR The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (Lithuanian SSR; ; ), also known as Soviet Lithuania or simply Lithuania, was '' de facto'' one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union between 1940–1941 and 1944–1990. After 1946, its terr ...

on August 25. Similar transitional People's Governments were formed in Latvia (Prime Minister Augusts Kirhenšteins supervised by

Andrey Vyshinsky Andrey Yanuaryevich Vyshinsky (; ) ( – 22 November 1954) was a Soviet politician, jurist and diplomat. He is best known as a Procurator General of the Soviet Union, state prosecutor of Joseph Stalin's Moscow Trials and in the Nuremberg trial ...

) and Estonia (Prime Minister

Johannes Vares Johannes Vares (pen name Barbarus or Vares-Barbarus – 29 November 1946) was an Estonian poet, medical doctor, and politician. Early life and education Vares was born in a farmer family in the village of Kiisa, near Viljandi, Estonia. He ...

supervised by

Andrei Zhdanov Andrei Aleksandrovich Zhdanov ( rus, Андрей Александрович Жданов, p=ɐnˈdrʲej ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪdʑ ˈʐdanəf, a=Ru-Андрей Жданов.ogg, links=yes; – 31 August 1948) was a Soviet politician. He was ...

Formation

The

Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, officially the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and also known as the Hitler–Stalin Pact and the Nazi–Soviet Pact, was a non-aggression pact between Nazi Ge ...

divided Eastern Europe into

spheres of influence In the field of international relations, a sphere of influence (SOI) is a spatial region or concept division over which a state or organization has a level of cultural, economic, military, or political exclusivity. While there may be a formal a ...

. The

Baltic states The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...

became part of the Russian sphere. Instead of outright military invasion, the Soviet Union followed semi-legal procedures to legitimize its occupation of Lithuania. The plan of action was developed by the

Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, abbreviated as Politburo, was the de facto highest executive authority in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). While elected by and formally a ...

in September–October 1939 when the Soviet Union annexed territories of Poland. The first step was the

Soviet–Lithuanian Mutual Assistance Treaty The Soviet–Lithuanian Mutual Assistance Treaty (, ) was a bilateral treaty signed between the Soviet Union and Lithuania on October 10, 1939. According to provisions outlined in the treaty, Lithuania would acquire about one fifth of the Vilnius ...

of October 1939: Lithuania agreed to station up to 20,000 Soviet troops in exchange for a portion of the

Vilnius Region Vilnius Region is the territory in present-day Lithuania and Belarus that was originally inhabited by ethnic Baltic tribes and was a part of Lithuania proper, but came under East Slavic and Polish cultural influences over time. The territory ...

. Next was the Soviet ultimatum of June 14, 1940 that demanded the formation of a new government more capable of adhering to the Mutual Assistance Pact and to allow a "sufficiently large" number of Soviet troops to enter Lithuanian territory. The Lithuanian government debated the response to the ultimatum on the night of June 13–14 and decided to accept it unconditionally because effective military resistance against a much larger

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

was virtually impossible. During the debate, Prime Minister

Antanas Merkys Antanas Merkys (; 1 February 1887 – 5 March 1955) was the last Prime Minister of independent Lithuania, serving from November 1939 to June 1940. When the Soviet Union presented an ultimatum to Lithuania demanding that it accept a Soviet g ...

resigned, making way for General Stasys Raštikis, who was previously given tacit approval by

. However, Raštikis was not approved by Molotov and Merkys continued as acting prime minister. Vladimir Dekanozov was dispatched from Moscow to oversee formation of an acceptable government. President

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 ...

, fearing Soviet persecutions, fled to

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

and later Switzerland. Before leaving, he transferred presidential duties to Merkys, as per the Constitution. A day later, however, Merkys announced on national radio that he had deposed Smetona and was now president in his own right. On the morning of June 16, the Lithuanian government decided that Smetona's departure was in effect a resignation and granted full presidential powers to Merkys, while Kazys Bizauskas became acting prime minister. At the same time, Minister of Defence Kazys Musteikis, who fled to Germany with Smetona, was replaced by Vincas Vitkauskas. It appears that the Lithuanians were acting on their own accord and that Dekanozov was not involved in making this transition. On June 17, Merkys appointed Justas Paleckis as the new prime minister and confirmed a new cabinet, which became known as the People's Government. Merkys then resigned. Paleckis ascended to the presidency, and appointed writer

Vincas Krėvė-Mickevičius Vincas Mickevičius (pl. ''Wincenty Mickiewicz'', October 19, 1882 – July 17, 1954), better known by his pen name Vincas Krėvė-Mickevičius, was a Lithuanian writer, poet, novelist, playwright and philologist. He is also known as Vincas Krėv� ...

as prime minister. Scholars continue to debate whether the successive changes in the government were constitutional. While care was given to observe constitutional formalities as much as possible, the changes were made under

duress Coercion involves compelling a party to act in an involuntary manner through the use of threats, including threats to use force against that party. It involves a set of forceful actions which violate the free will of an individual in order to i ...

and under the influence of a foreign occupying power. After Lithuania regained independence in 1990, it took the line that since Smetona never resigned, Merkys and Paleckis had no claim to the presidency, and therefore all acts leading up to the Soviet takeover were void.

Membership

In the first days of occupation, Dekanozov focused the public's attention on the "cowardly" flight of Smetona and portrayed the changes in Lithuania as the destruction of his authoritarian regime. The public was told that the Soviets would protect and respect Lithuanian independence. Lithuanian activists, including

, claimed that they believed the Soviets and had hopes to restore democratic Lithuania as it existed prior to the 1926 coup. In the meantime, Dekanozov worked to recruit a sympathetic but non-communist government that could be easily manipulated into implementing various

sovietization Sovietization ( ) is the adoption of a political system based on the model of soviets (workers' councils) or the adoption of a way of life, mentality, and culture modeled after the Soviet Union. A notable wave of Sovietization (in the second me ...

policies. Indeed, none of the first ministers of the People's Government were communists. The fact that the Soviets did not immediately install a communist government calmed people's nerves. In addition, the Communist Party of Lithuania, which had been outlawed and persecuted in independent Lithuania, was small, weak, and not yet ready for the job of running a government. Moscow also considered it unreliable due to suspected influence of

Trotskyism Trotskyism (, ) is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as an ...

among its ranks.Senn (2007), p. 137 For Prime Minister, Dekanozov selected a known leftist journalist and fellow traveler Justas Paleckis. Later, in his memoirs, Paleckis claimed that the offer came as a complete surprise. Krėvė-Mickevičius, a writer, was selected for the second most important post. He gave the new government a desired public image.Senn (2007), p. 142 He became perhaps the most controversial figure of the People's Government. He was the first to voice his objections to incorporation of Lithuania into the Soviet Union. On July 1, after an in-person meeting with Molotov, Krėvė-Mickevičius submitted his resignation, but Paleckis refused it. He then took an extended vacation and was replaced by communist Mečislovas Gedvilas.

Ernestas Galvanauskas Ernestas Galvanauskas (20 November 1882 – 24 July 1967) was a Lithuanian engineer, politician and one of the founders of the Peasant Union (which later merged with the Lithuanian Popular Peasants' Union). He also served twice as Prime Min ...

remained as minister of finance. Having served as prime minister twice, Galvanauskas was an established political leader and opponent of Smetona's regime. General Vincas Vitkauskas was a veteran of the

Lithuanian Wars of Independence The Lithuanian Wars of Independence, also known as the Freedom Struggles (), refer to three wars Lithuania fought defending its independence at the end of World War I: with Bolshevik forces (December 1918 – August 1919), Bermontians (October ...

and

Klaipėda Revolt The Klaipėda Revolt took place in January 1923 in the Klaipėda Region (also known as the Memel Territory or ). The region, located north of the Neman River, was detached from East Prussia, German Empire by the Treaty of Versailles and became a ...

. The government thus appeared to be left-leaning but non-communist.

Activities

On June 17, six initial members of the new government were sworn in. Paleckis was unprepared for the role as prime minister and had little idea of what he should be doing. However, the very next day, he announced a government program, apparently handed to him by Dekanozov. The program denounced Smetona's regime and stressed friendly relationship with the Soviet Union. In internal matters, the program called for disbandment of the Fourth Seimas (the parliament), release of political prisoners (many of them communists), reforms in education and healthcare. The program made no mention of far-reaching social and economic reforms needed to convert Lithuania into a socialist republic.

Cabinet members

*Prime minister and acting president: Justas Paleckis *Acting prime minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs:

(until July 1) *Minister of Internal Affairs: Mečislovas Gedvilas (from June 19) *Minister of Defense: general Vincas Vitkauskas *Minister of Finance:

(until July 1), Juozas Vaišnoras (from July 5) *Minister of Agriculture: Matas Mickis *Minister of Education:

Antanas Venclova Antanas Venclova (7 January 1906 – 28 June 1971) was a Soviet and Lithuanian politician, poet, journalist and translator. Early life Born in Kalvarija Municipality, Trempiniai in Suwałki Governorate, Venclova studied Lithuanian, Russian ...

(from June 18) *Minister of Justice: Povilas Pakarklis (from June 18) *Minister of Communications: Stasys Pupeikis (from July 1) *Minister of Health (new ministry): Leonas Koganas *Minister of Labor (new ministry): Mykolas Junčas-Kučinskas (from June 27)

References

;Notes ;References *{{cite book, first=Alfred Erich, last=Senn, title=Lithuania 1940: Revolution from Above, series=On the Boundary of Two Worlds. Identity, Freedom, and Moral Imagination of the Baltics, year=2007, publisher=Rodopi, isbn=978-90-420-2225-6 1940 in Lithuania Legal history of Lithuania Cabinet of Lithuania

Formation

Membership

Activities

Cabinet members

See also

References