In June 1918, following the Peace of Brest-Litovsk, he returned to his homeland and was elected chairman of a local committee of Rokiškis but soon the area was taken over by the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic led by Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas.

When the Lithuanian troops of Colonel Vincas Grigaliūnas-Glovackis [lt] captured Rokiškis on 31 May 1919, Smolskis was arrested, tried by a military court, and sentenced to six years of hard labor.

Smolskis was one of thirteen children and the eldest of five surviving siblings in a family of farmers in Kamajai, then part of the Russian Empire.

Since government permits were easier to obtain in the Courland Governorate, Smolskis organized a legal performance of comedies Amerika pirtyje (America in the Bathhouse) by Keturakis and Neatmezgamas mazgas (The Impossible Knot) by Petras Pundzevičius-Petliukas [lt] in Grīva in December 1904.

In July 1905, Smolskis refused entry to a performance to a uryadnik (police officer) who did not purchase a ticket and chased him away with a group of men.

[3] Smolskis organized various public protests and delivered anti-government speeches in Jūžintai, Obeliai, Dusetos, Zarasai, Užpaliai.

17 October] 1905 in Kamajai, Smolskis detained a pristav (police officer), confiscated his weapons, and forced him to walk around with a black flag which had an anti-Tsarist slogan.

[2][5] Smoskis participated in the Great Seimas of Vilnius which adopted a resolution demanding a wide political autonomy within the Russian Empire and urged people to engage in nonviolent resistance to achieve this goal.

[3] The house was looted (the damage was appraised at 25 Russian rubles) and Smolskis' brother Balys was beaten with a nagaika and arrested.

[2] After graduation from the university in late 1913, Smolskis returned to Russia with fake papers and obtained a bookkeeping job in a mine in the Ural.

[2] Due to poor health (neurasthenia and severe anemia),[1] he was transferred to a prison in Zamoskvorechye District, Moscow, where he married Geelens in a ceremony officiated by Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas.

[2] After a brief rest in the Caucasus, Smolskis returned to Moscow and joined revolutionary activities of the legalized LSDP and collaborated with Stasys Matulaitis on publishing Socialdemokratas (Social Democrat).

The socialists, including Smolskis, advocated for autonomy within Russia and withdrew from the proceedings when a resolution calling for full independence won by a narrow margin.

[7] After the October Revolution, Smolskis worked at the Lithuanian section of the People's Commissariat for Nationalities on cataloging valuables (equipment, archives, art) evacuated from Lithuania during the war.

[2] After the outbreak of the Lithuanian–Soviet War, Rokiškis was taken over by the communists and the newly proclaimed Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic led by Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas.

[2] On 31 May 1919, Rokiškis was captured by the Lithuanian troops of Colonel Vincas Grigaliūnas-Glovackis [lt] who was known for executions of civilians suspected of sympathizing with the communists.

In the morning of 6 July 1919, Smolskis was escorted from Pakriaunys [lt] to Obeliai by soldiers Petras Valasinavičius and Juozas Pėža.

[2] Returning to her parents in Verviers, his widow Geelens gave birth in February 1920 to a posthumous girl, named Jurgita (Georgette) after her father.

[8] Smolskis wrote poetry and short stories, but his most popular literary work is the one-act comedy Nutrūko ([It] Broke) published in 1906.