VITAS LABUTIS

Vilnius University

JONAS JABLONSKIS AND THE LITHUANIAN PRESS BAN

In the second half of the nineteenth century, the Lithuanian language and Lithuanian identity suffered between hammer and anvil—between brutal Russification and the slow but long-established process of Polonization, of becoming Polish. Russification struck especially hard with the introduction of the ban on Lithuanian publications in the Latin-based script (1864–1865). The mature Lithuanian intelligentsia experienced this most keenly, but most of the Lithuanian nation resisted the oppression in one way or another.

Jonas Jablonskis, too, was struck by blows from the hammer of tsarist oppression, since he was also a public figure. Antanas Smetona noted this in his memoirs as well: “Many say that J. Jablonskis was only a linguist, that he cared neither about politics nor about public life. That is not true. He cared about everything that affected the fate of the Lithuanians, and most of all, of course, their language and writings.” (Smetona 1930: 43).

Jablonskis’s publisher, Juozas Balčikonis, described Jonas Jablonskis’s civic commitment in still greater detail. In a brief account of J. Jablonskis’s life, he wrote: “Endowed with a great and clear intellect, he could have gone far beyond the bounds of Lithuanian linguistics and distinguished himself in the broader science of linguistics, had another trait of his character not stood in his way—his irrepressible desire to serve his country, his wish that the fruits of his scholarly work be embraced by the wider public. [...] The whole of Lithuanian life mattered equally to him: he rejoiced in his compatriots’ achievements, felt their misfortunes deeply, and wherever he could, contributed his labor and resources. [...] Whenever and wherever his homeland called its children, he was the first to hear its voice and the first to leap to its service.” (Balčikonis 1932: XI).

J. Jablonskis finally resolved to devote his life to serving the Lithuanian cause and, above all, to caring for the Lithuanian language when, in 1881, after graduating from Ma-

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rijampolė Gymnasium¹, he began studying at Moscow University². Several circumstances encouraged this resolve: 1) the active work of a circle of Lithuanian students in Moscow, which had existed earlier and distinguished itself from the Poles; 2) lectures by teachers who emphasized the importance of Lithuanian linguistics for the study of other languages—F. Korš (Greek, later also Latin), F. Fortunatov (comparative linguistics³, especially his course in Lithuanian; cf. Piročkinas 1977: 32), and V. Mileris (Eastern history); 3) the illegal Aušra⁴, published in Prussia in 1883, reached Moscow, where it was already eagerly awaited. We should also remember J. Jablonskis’s peasant origins in the Užnemunė borderland, the part of the region least affected by Polonization, and the sparks of Lithuanian identity that stayed with him from his gymnasium years, when he met Petras Kriaučiūnas and Jonas Basanavičius.

The ban on Lithuanian publications⁵, introduced in 1864, was justified by the desire to distance Lithuanians from the Poles, but what mattered most to tsarist officials was assimilating the Lithuanian nation and restoring a supposedly once-unified Russian state in which people spoke and wrote in Russian⁶. The entire program for the Russification of Lithuanians consisted of

¹ J. Jablonskis graduated from Marijampolė Gymnasium with a gold medal, having acquired a sound grounding in the classical languages and kept abreast of the Lithuanian language course, though it was taught rather poorly; this enabled him to receive a scholarship to Moscow University.

² In the second half of the nineteenth century, a sizeable group of future prominent Lithuanian public and scholarly figures studied at Moscow University—J. Basanavičius, A. Botyrius, K. Grinius, J. Jablonskis, P. Mašiotas, S. Matulaitis, V. Pietaris, and others.

³ F. Fortunatov’s and V. Mileris’s favorable attitude toward J. Jablonskis was probably also strengthened by the fact that ten years earlier they had visited and described the Liudvinavas dialect, which was very close to Jablonskis’s own dialect (see MUI, 1872, Nos. 1–4). It seems that F. Fortunatov encouraged J. Jablonskis to take an interest in folklore and the living language. Jablonskis maintained contact with Fortunatov for more than twenty years, including after graduating from the university. J. Jablonskis immediately began sending Aušra correspondence from Moscow and accounts of life among the people of his native region (see Palionis 1957).

⁴ The extensive literature on the press ban cannot be surveyed here; only a few authors are mentioned: Ruseckas 1929; Merkys 1978, 1994; Vėbra 1992; Tyla 2004; Staliūnas (ed.) 2004, and others.

⁵ The press ban was also one of the repressive measures the Russian authorities took against the Lithuanian nation after the 1863 uprising. Its suppression was led by Count M. Muravyov, who had already become notorious for his campaign against participants in the 1830–1831 uprising; he had visited the tsar to advocate closing Vilnius University and teaching everything in Russian in the schools of the western governorates (Ivinskij, Masionienė et al. (eds.) 1998: 212). When M. Muravyov became governor-general of Vilnius and issued the first orders banning Lithuanian publications in Lithuanian letters, the region J. Jablonskis came from—Augustów (Suwałki) Governorate, which belonged to the so-called Kingdom of Poland—was not directly under his authority. Nevertheless, M. Muravyov secured the application of his press-ban decrees there as well. Incidentally, J. Jablonskis mentions none of the other initiators and enforcers of the press ban, referring only to “the late Count Muravyov.” There were quite a few others: K. Kaufman, I. Kornilov, V. Kulin, S. Mikuckis, N. Miliutin, and others (see Merkys 1978).

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restrictions on the Lithuanian language in official life, the prohibition of teaching in Lithuanian in schools, the prohibition of Lithuanian publications in the Latin and Gothic alphabets and the introduction of Russian characters in their place, the persecution of the Catholic Church and the promotion of Orthodoxy, and the prohibition on Lithuanian Catholics working as teachers or administrative employees, with Russian settlers hired in their place (cf. Tyla 2004: 8). The principal targets of the ban on Lithuanian publications printed in Latin-based characters were primers and school textbooks, prayer books, calendars, other literature intended for the public, and periodicals. Later, exceptions began to be applied on a limited basis, but only to scholarly works.

From his student days, J. Jablonskis joined the struggle against the ideological foundations of the press ban, actively took part in the banned press, hiding and distributing it and helping book smugglers; at times he wrote in liberal Russian newspapers and journals, including on broader questions of Lithuanian identity. This struggle permeated his thirty years of pedagogical and scholarly activity. On the other hand, the decrees of tsarist oppression and the repressions of officials continually battered J. Jablonskis’s own life.

Throughout his life, J. Jablonskis also kept in view the effects of Polonization on the Lithuanian language and Lithuanian identity itself. While a third-year student, in 1884 he submitted five lengthy articles to the Russian legal press, whose direction is indicated by their titles: “Lithuania and Its Alphabet,” “A Few Things about Lithuania,” “The Strength of the Lithuanian Clergy,” “A Lithuanian’s Voice (More about the Alphabet),” and “On P. Muraška’s Article ‘The Complete Separation of the Prussian Lithuanians from the Poles’⁷. Two topics are discussed predominantly here: the unsuccessful attempts to use the Cyrillic alphabet for Lithuanian writings and the further spread of Polonization, to which a considerable number of Catholic priests also contributed.

In the first article, arguing against a certain Mr. P. B., who was trying to prove that Cyrillic had long been used in Lithuanian writings and was entirely suitable for them, J. Jablonskis rejects all of Mr. P. B.’s purported arguments, recalls that Lithuanians detest books printed in Russian letters and even burn them, and aptly formulates the main reasons why those books are unsuitable for Lithuanians: 1) the Latin alphabet has been used in Lithuanian writing for more than three hundred years and has become part of the flesh and blood of the Lithuanian people; 2) the Lithuanian nation, consisting mostly of farmers, is quite conservative and reluctantly abandons old forms; 3) the new alphabet was condemned by influential local

⁷The first four articles were published in the newspaper Современные известия, and the fifth in the journal Русь. (Based on A. Piročkinas’s identification of the authorship of these articles and translations in the collection he edited; see Piročkinas 1991: 12–54).

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priests; 4) Lithuanian scholars around the world use the Latin alphabet when printing Lithuanian texts; 5) the very fact that it was ordered that they be printed in Russian has precisely the opposite effect (Piročkinas, ed., 1991: 15).

To Mr. P. B., who maintained that all Lithuanian sounds could be represented by Russian letters, J. Jablonskis suggests that he look at least at the Lithuanian folk songs published by F. Fortunatov and V. Miler, in which, among the Russian letters, he will find Latin letters and even newly invented letters and signs without equivalents in the Russian alphabet. In a newspaper legally published in Russia, J. Jablonskis quotes a couple of times from Aušra, which came from Prussia, and finally states directly: “Russian plans in Lithuania have failed...”⁸

After graduating from Moscow University in 1885, J. Jablonskis spent four and a half years desperately seeking a teaching position in the Vilnius, Warsaw, and other educational districts. He was particularly drawn to the Marijampolė Gymnasium, where several teachers he knew worked and where a local man, Andrius Botyrius, served as inspector. Unfortunately, after clashing with the Slavophile director over Lithuanian identity, Botyrius had already been transferred to Kalisz on August 1 of that same year (see Cirkuliar 1885: 253). For a time, J. Jablonskis had to make do with odd jobs.

Through patronage, J. Jablonskis finally managed to obtain a position teaching Latin and Greek in Mintauja in 1889. Many Lithuanians lived and studied there. The Jablonskis home became a true center for Lithuanian students and intellectuals, with the whole family drawn into its activities (Piročkinas 1977: 73–75; Lukėnaitė-Griciuvienė 2009: 25).

In Mintauja, J. Jablonskis worked in various ways and forms to awaken Lithuanian identity: he helped establish the clandestine “Kudikis” society, collaborated with the “Literatiškoji draugija” conceived by V. Kudirka, helped organize gatherings of the Varpininkai, and was visited there by the book smuggler Jurgis Bielinis (see Avižonis 1921: 532). During this period, writing under various pseudonyms, he was especially productive in his collaboration with Varpas, edited by V. Kudirka. According to A. Piročkinas’s calculations, J. Jablonskis published more than 24 articles in Varpas in 1890–1894 (Piročkinas 1977: 78). They discussed matters concerning Lithuanian schools and primers, topics for booklets intended for farmers, and more. The Varpininkai

⁸ A few decades after the Lithuanian press ban began, some more prudent Russian officials began to raise similar objections about its futility and the main reasons for its failure: in 1896, the Governor-General of Warsaw A. Imeretinsky and the Governor of Kaunas S. Suchadolsky; later, also the Governor-General of Vilnius P. Sviatopolk-Mirsky; and finally, influenced by the information he had gathered, the Minister of the Interior, V. Pleve (1904), who, incidentally, reviewed the entire course of the Lithuanian press ban. Naturally, there were also persistent administrators who defended the ban on the Lithuanian press (Tyla 2004: 5, 9).

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had already realized that in fighting the press ban and Polonization, it was also necessary to care for the future of the Lithuanian language, and so he published works by J. Jablonskis that laid the foundations for the standard language, including even such a substantial work of purely linguistic scholarship as Medega sintaksiui.

Taking a broad view of Lithuanian concerns, J. Jablonskis also entered into debates about the history of Lithuania. It is enough to mention two articles on this subject published in Varpe (see Jablonskio raštai 1932: 13–22, 23–24). The first emphasizes how the scholarly level of the Congress of Russian Archaeologists held in Vilnius was diminished by the requirement that Lithuanian and Polish scholars deliver their papers only in Russian (many archaeologists from these countries did not attend the congress at all). Recalling A. Bezzenberger’s paper, which was delivered in German, J. Jablonskis expressed a thought that remains relevant to this day: “How pleasant it is, having emerged from the vile lairs of politics, to see with one’s own eyes that true scholarship always remains scholarship.” (Jablonskio raštai 1932: 17).

From Mintauja, J. Jablonskis wrote several letters to Russian scholars—to V. Lamanski, editor of the journal Живая старина, Prof. F. Fortunatov, A. Shakhmatov, and others (Piročkinas, ed., 1985: 205–206). J. Jablonskis mentioned that he had collected about 1,000 Lithuanian folk songs and about 100 fairy tales (the fate of the collected folklore is unknown). In another letter to Lamanski, he recalled that 12–15 years earlier, Moscow University professors F. Korsh, F. Fortunatov, and V. Miller had tried to establish a society of Lithuanian philologists, which had planned to publish its works in Latin letters. Unfortunately, the society had not been granted permission to operate, as it was supposedly capable of awakening Lithuanian national consciousness. In 1896, J. Jablonskis had proposed to the Ethnography Section that a Lithuanian and Latvian society be founded, similar to the society of Lithuanian philologists once refused permission to operate in Moscow.

J. Jablonskis sharply criticized the book by P. Briancevas, who considered himself a writer, historian, and publicist, Очерк древней Литвы и западной России (published in Vilnius in 1891)⁹, which claimed that most Lithuanians had spoken Russian fluently since as early as the thirteenth century, had adopted Russian customs, and had embraced the Orthodox faith. P. Briancevas’s historical sketch was intended to serve as a history textbook of Russia adapted for Lithuania, one that sought to prove the kinship of the Lithuanian and Russian peoples—

⁹ Excerpts from Pavel Briancevas’s historical sketch (his name was not Dimitrijus) can be found in an anthology published a dozen or so years ago (see Ivinskį), Masionienė et al. 1998: 242–243). P. Briancevas apparently aspired to win the competition announced long ago by M. Muravjovas to write a special Russian history textbook for the Northwestern Territory. Although a substantial prize of 1,000 rubles had been promised, no one showed any interest in the competition, which had been under consideration at Moscow University for a dozen or so years (see MUI 1872).

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—ship since ancient times, something of great concern to the tsar’s government. J. Jablonskis’s multifaceted activities, especially his influence on young people, drew the attention of the Russian gendarmes, and he was transferred farther from Lithuania—to Tallinn (Revel).

In Tallinn, J. Jablonskis directly experienced the repression of Russian officials responsible for persecuting the Lithuanian press. The authorities had a lead when, during searches conducted in many places, a large number of addresses were found at L. Vaineikis’s home in Palanga, including J. Jablonskis’s. All Lithuanians who had connections with L. Vaineikis began to be searched. At the end of October 1900, J. Jablonskis’s apartment was searched as well. The gendarmes seized all the manuscript material and a considerable number of books. Interrogations began, and A. Vonsiackis, assistant chief of the Liepāja gendarmerie, began building a case¹⁰.

J. Jablonskis wrote in considerable detail about the progress of the case and the accusations against him to Russian academics F. Korsh, F. Fortunatov, and A. Shakhmatov, and to V. Lamanski, editor of the journal Живая старина. He hoped they would help. In his letters, he discussed how meager the so-called material evidence was. It consisted of drafts of two letters to V. Kudirka, a draft of the article “An Insurance Society Against Persecution,” and a notebook containing various philological observations. The most alarming item seemed to be a draft containing the ugly phrase: “The mongrels catch wind of some trifle, and you’re done for”¹¹. It also emerged that the person signing as Obuolaitis in Varpe was J. Jablonskis. During interrogations and in written explanations concerning all the accusations, J. Jablonskis doggedly defended himself, but was forced to submit a request to be relieved of his teaching position.

F. Korsh energetically undertook J. Jablonskis’s defense. He knew A. Švarcas, the curator of the Riga educational district to which J. Jablonskis belonged, well; however, Švarcas, who had once taught him Latin, now regarded J. Jablonskis as the creator and distributor of illegal publications. Unfortunately, the case reached the prosecutor’s office in St. Petersburg, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Ministry of Justice. Here, not even the academics could help J. Jablonskis. With the tsar’s approval, he and a group of other Lithuanians were punished administratively with two years of open police surveillance and exile. J. Jablonskis chose Pskov as his place of exile. Although and

¹⁰ A few years earlier, the same A. Vonsiackis had broken up the “Sietynas” society in Marijampolė. The entire course of the case brought against J. Jablonskis is discussed in detail in a special article by A. Piročkinas (Piročkinas 1971: 113–124).

¹¹ From a letter to F. Fortunatov dated December 7, 1900 (see Piročkinas, ed., 1985: 105). This and other written evidence are described in a letter to V. Lamanski dated February 2, 1901, where it is also pointed out that the item was written in red ink. Apparently, that red ink greatly alarmed the gendarmes.

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Oppressed and in exile, the linguist did not give up¹². From Pskov he sent the Russian Academy of Sciences the “Concluding Word” (about 50 pp.) for the first volume of A. Juška’s dictionary. Here, among other things, he mentions that after the collector had left, gendarmes sometimes searched without ceremony the people who had provided material for the dictionary (Piročkinas, ed., 1991: 143). Moreover, in 1903 J. Jablonskis dared to send Varpas a bundle of his memoirs—but only about his childhood, schooling, the appearance of Aušra, and Kudirka’s conversion, but nothing about his work in Mintauja or his own case. He signed these memoirs with the unusual pseudonym “Kirvelis Nusmuko” (Jablonskio raštai 1932: 69–73).

J. Jablonskis’s exile was shortened and he was allowed to settle in Šiauliai, as the end of the press ban was approaching. While still in Pskov, in a letter to Povilas Višinskis, J. Jablonskis discerned signs of this in the Russian press¹³.

The Lithuanian nation’s perseverance in defending the Lithuanian press by various means (in which J. Jablonskis also played a considerable part), the voices of Russian scholars and some officials saying that the ban had proved unjustified¹⁴, the revolutionary movement that had begun throughout the Russian Empire, and discontent with the outcome of the war with Japan—all this finally affected the Russian authorities, and on May 7, 1904, the tsar’s decree abolishing the ban was issued. J. Jablonskis learned about the abolition of the press ban in Šiauliai from the newspapers. The tsar’s decree was also immediately announced in Lithuanian at St. Nicholas Church in Vilnius. Moved, people collected signatures to thank Governor-General Sviatopolk-Mirsky, or even the tsar. J. Jablonskis did not approve of such expressions of gratitude.

¹² P. Mašiotas aptly observed: “[t]he more painful the punishment Jablonskis had to endure, the more vigorously he would then take up the work that had been interrupted” (Mašiotas 1930: 46).

¹³ At that time, the experienced journalist Sergejus Syromiatnikovas, who wrote for various Russian as well as foreign publications, published an article in Новое время, stating that the authorities had at last turned their attention to resolving the Lithuanian typeface question and that the sooner the ban on printing “Lithuanian and Samogitian books in Lithuanian-Latin type” was lifted, “the more beneficial it would be to the Russian cause” (Piročkinas, ed., 1985: 393).

¹⁴ The issue of Lithuanian publications in Lithuanian-Latin script was debated in various institutions of the Russian Empire for more than seven years, from 1896 to the beginning of 1904 (cf. Tyla 2004: 10). Some defended the press ban; others agreed to modify it in part—allowing only primers, prayer books, and calendars to be printed in Latin letters—while still others demanded that the ban be abolished altogether. Interestingly, most opponents of abolishing the ban came from the Ministry of Public Education, while its supporters came from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (K. Strolmanas, V. Plėvė, and others). The tsar had established a special committee, which decided to annul all previous decisions and regulations of the Russian government that had “restricted Lithuanian and Samogitian writing in its works; in addition to Russian characters, Latin and other characters shall be permitted.” The tsar approved the committee’s decision.

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In a letter, he invited Povilas Višinskis to come to Šiauliai at once, and promised to travel to Vilnius the following day to see what the people of Vilnius were doing.

J. Jablonskis considered the greatest celebration to be the day the daily newspaper Vilniaus žinios began publication in Vilnius. Legal Lithuanian newspapers and calendars, written in good language that everyone could understand, were to foster Lithuanian self-awareness; moreover, a difficult struggle for Lithuanian schools and suitable textbooks for them still lay ahead. Lithuania was still part of the Russian Empire, press censorship had not disappeared, and Polonization continued to develop¹⁵.

The difficult situation weighed especially heavily on schooling. In Vilnius, teaching in Lithuanian was permitted in three schools, but the authorities provided no funding for it. People themselves contributed money to support Lithuanian-language education, from which a modest salary was also paid to J. Jablonskis, who had taken up this work. The situation was even worse in the provinces. In Šiauliai and Panevėžys, as J. Jablonskis wrote to J. Basanavičius in 1912, there were only Polish-language teachers, and no one taught Lithuanian there.

Jonas Jablonskis fully understood the importance of the restoration of the Lithuanian press, but he also understood the difficulties that still lay ahead in strengthening Lithuanian identity and advancing the interests of the Lithuanian language. We cherish him as a nurturer of the standard Lithuanian language and the creator of our normative grammar, but we should also value him as a public figure and a fighter for Lithuanian identity and the rights of the Lithuanian language.

LITERATŪRA

Avižonis P. 1921: Jablonskis Mintaujoj, Revely, Pskove. – Lietuvių mokykla, Nr. 12.

Avižonis P. 1930: Žodis kitas apie Joną Jablonskį. – Kalba 1 (2), 48–55.

Balčikonis J. 1932: Trumpas [Jablonskio] gyvenimo aprašymas. – Jablonskio raštai 1, XI–XXX.

Briancev P. D. 1891: П. Д. Брянцев. Очерк древней Литвы и западной России. – Русская литература в Литве: XIV–XX в. в., Vilnius: Lietuvos rašytojų sąjungos leidykla, 1998, 241–243.

Cylov N. I. (sud.) 1866: Н. И. Цылов. Сборник распоряжений графа Михаила Николаевича Муравьева. – Русская литература в Литве: XIV–XX в. в., Vilnius: Lietuvos rašytojų sąjungos leidykla, 1998, 213–217.

¹⁵ Prieš pat spaudos atgavimą polonizacijos mastais Lietuvoje laiške kun. J. Tumui-Vaižgantui baisėjosi ir Šatrijos Ragana (žr. Žekaitė 1986: 142).

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Cirkuliar 1885: Циркуляр по Варшавскому учебному округу, Nr. 9.

Ivinski P., Sideravičius R., Masionienė B., Meržvinskaitė B. 1998: Русская литература в Литве: XIV–XX в. в. Хрестоматия, Vilnius: Lietuvos rašytojų sąjungos leidykla.

Jablonskio raštai 1932: Jablonskio raštai 1. Visuomenės straipsniai. Sud. J. Balčikonis, Kaunas.

Litvinskaitė D. 2005: Kirilikos Evangelijų rašyba: Laurynas Ivinskis ir Jonas Kreščinskis. – Archivum Lithuanicum 7, 123–138.

Lukėnaitė-Griciuvienė E. 2009: Konstancijos ir Jono Jablonskių šeima, Vilnius: Lietuvos nacionalinis muziejus.

Mašiotas P. 1930: Šis tas iš Rygiškių Jono sunkaus gyvenimo. – Kalba 1 (2), 44–48.

Merkelis A. 1930: Jonas Jablonskis. – Kalba 1 (2), 7–36.

Merkys V. 1978: Nelegalioji lietuvių spauda kapitalizmo laikotarpiu (ligi 1904 m.), Vilnius: Mokslas.

Merkys V. 1994: Draudžiamosios lietuviškos spaudos kelias 1864–1904 m., Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidykla.

MUI 1872: Московские университетские известия, Nr. 1–4.

Palionis J. (sud.) 1957: J. Jablonskis. Rinktiniai raštai 1, Vilnius: Valstybinė politinės ir mokslinės literatūros leidykla.

Peckus V., Viliūnas V. 2005: Marijampolės mokytojai, Šiauliai: Saulės delta.

Piročkinas A. 1971: J. Jablonskio bylos medžiaga. – Kalbotyra 23 (1), 113–125.

Piročkinas A. 1977: Prie bendrinės kalbos ištakų, Vilnius: Mokslas.

Piročkinas A. 1980: Jonas Jablonskis, Kaunas: Šviesa.

Piročkinas A. (sud.) 1985: Jono Jablonskio laiškai, Vilnius: Mokslas.

Piročkinas A. (sud.) 1991: J. Jablonskis. Straipsniai ir laiškai, Vilnius: Mokslas.

Ruseckas P. 1929: Spaudos draudimo gadynė, Kaunas: Spaudos fondas.

Sabaliauskas A. 1979: Lietuvių kalbos tyrinėjimo istorija iki 1940 m., Vilnius: Mokslas.

Smetona A. 1930: Atsiminimų bruožai. – Kalba 1 (2), 37–44.

Staliūnas D. (sud.) 2004: Rai­džių draudimo metai, Vilnius: Lietuvos istorijos institutas.

Subačius G. 2006: Kazimiero Lelio ir Ipolito Liutostanskio lietuviškos kirilikos modeliai, 1887–1891. – Archivum Lithuanicum 8, 279–316.

Tyla A. 2004: Lietuvių spaudos draudimo panaikinimo byla, Vilnius: Lietuvos istorijos institutas.

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Vėbra R. 1992: Lietuvių tautinis atgimimas XIX amžiuje, Kaunas: Šviesa.

Zinkevičius Z. 1990: Lietuvių kalbos istorija 4, Vilnius: Mokslas.

Žėkaitė J. 1986: Šatrijos Raganos laiškai, Vilnius: Vaga.

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JONAS JABLONSKIS AND THE BAN OF THE LITHUANIAN PRESS

Summary

Jonas Jablonskis is remembered as a cherisher of Standard Lithuanian and creator of our prescriptive grammar yet he also deserves credit as a public figure and fighter for the Lithuanian ideals and rights of the Lithuanian language. His resolution to foster and protect the Lithuanian language meant that he had to oppose the disastrous intents of the Russian administration, particularly as regards the ban of the Lithuanian press, and also the pervasive influence of polonization among the landowners, the clergy and ordinary people. As a student, at the University of Moscow J. Jablonskis joined a circle of patriotically minded Lithuanian students who aspired to awaken the Lithuanian national ideals and after his studies he never gave up this path but rather propagated the Lithuanian identity in his pedagogical and research writing. In the articles published in the liberal Russian press, he tried to prove that the Russian alphabet was inadequate for the transcription of the Lithuanian sounds by this demonstrating both his philological education and good orientation in the socio-political reality of Lithuania. He was also publishing texts in the illegally published Lithuanian press, e. g. the magazine Varpas, contributing to its distribution, keeping contacts with so-called book-smugglers, or illegal distributors of the written Lithuanian word, taking part in secret meetings etc.

More than once J. Jablonskis fell victim to the discriminating tsarist regulations and repressions: after graduation for several years he could not get a teacher’s job in Lithuania, he was constantly persecuted by the police after his family had become the centre of the Lithuanian community in Mintauja, and finally he was transfered to Tallinn (Estonia) to keep him away from Lithuania and sever his ties with the country. In 1900, his home in Tallinn was searched by the police, some “evidence” was found and charges were brought. As a consequence, he had to leave his teaching job while the case was taken up by the prosecutors in St. Petersburg. Despite the attempts of his Russian colleagues and academicians, namely, F. Korsh, F. Fortunatov, A. Shachmatov, V. Lamanski, to stop the proceedings

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and acquit Jablonskis, the linguist was sentenced to deportation for two years. Luckily, in 1903 he was granted a permission to move from Pskov in Russia to Šiauliai (Lithuania).

In the aftermath of the persistant and long opposition of Lithuanians, which had been supported by the educated Russian people, and revolutionary movements in the tsarist empire, the ruling Russian administration decided to lift the ban on the Lithuanian press on 7 May 1904. Undoubtedly, the work and fight of J. Jablonskis had also contributed to this. The press became legal yet the Russian censorship remained since Lithuania was still a part of the Russian empire. J. Jablonskis was particularly concerned about the status of Lithuanian in schools and, more generally, in public life. In his endeavours to strengthen the status of the language, he faced two major threats: the reviving polonization and the continued Russian unwillingness to accept the independence of Lithuania.

VITAS LABUTIS

Vilniaus universitetas

Universiteto g. 3, LT-01513 Vilnius

V. LABUTIS. Jonas Jablonskis ir lietuvių spaudos draudimas

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