Church Defenders, Monarchism, and the Social Contract in the Lithuanian Countryside: The Case of the “Kražiai Massacre” (1893)
Darius Staliunas
2/2022
Forum AI
Confession, Loyalty, and National Indifference
SUMMARY:
The article argues that during the so-called Kražiai Massacre in 1893, as during other similar cases of popular resistance against the closure of Catholic churches in Lithuania, the peasants acted as a self-organized community. Rather than undermining the imperial order, they were protesting in the name of the virtual social contract with the government, which they believed had been breached by the authorities.