Jonas Šliūpas ir Jonas Žilius: santykių raidos metmenys ; Jonas Šliūpas and Jonas Žilius: relationship development ; Jonas Šliūpas and Jonas Žilius: Relationship Development

Open Access

Abstract

This article is based on manuscripts and printed sources still extant and gives a relationship development overview of the two famous USA public fi­gures – Jonas Žilius (1870–1932) and Jonas Šliūpas (1861–1944) at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. The article reveals a signifi­cant transformation in their relationship decade: from correct communication to confrontation, and fi­nally – cooperation on ideological background. During a Lithuanian department preparation to the Paris international exposition a fierce ideological battle arose. Therefore the article stresses a key role of Petras Mikolainis (1868–1934), an editor of Vienybė lietuvninkų weekly, who discredited Catholic priests' authority and distinguished Šliūpas's public merits. Thus, Liberals with their leader Jonas Šliūpas managed to take dominant positions in the society. From spring 1905 the press revealed ideas of Jonas Žilius. But we should pay attention to Jonas Basanavičius (1851–1927), who was the true organizer of the first Lithuanian American Political Conference. It was he who inspired Jonas Žilius's written communication with Jonas Šliūpas and speedy convocation of the Convention in Philadelphia on 22 February 1906. However Catholic organizations and their priest leaders boycotted the Convention. Therefore, it had nothing in its importance with the Great Assembly in Vilnius (1905). Žilius and Šliūpas's ideological approach emerged after Žilius's practical retreat from Catholic. [to full text]