Lithuanian press ban
[2] Tsarist authorities hoped that this measure, part of a larger Russification plan, would decrease Polish influence on Lithuanians and would return them to what were considered their ancient historical ties with Russia.
The Lithuanian historian Edvardas Gudavičius has described the ban as a test of the concept of Lithuania: had there been no resistance, the language would have become a historical footnote.
Several factors contributed to its subsequent revival: the language drew attention from scholars of the emerging science of comparative linguistics; after the abolition of serfdom in the Russian Empire in 1861, social mobility increased, and Lithuanian intellectuals arose from the ranks of the rural populace; and language became associated with identity in Lithuania, as elsewhere across Europe.
[8] According to the bibliographer Vaclovas Biržiška, between 1800 and 1864, when the press ban was enacted, 926 book titles were published in the Lithuanian language using its Latin alphabet.
[10] After the partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the late 18th century, significant portions of Lithuania and Poland were incorporated into the Russian Empire.
The uprising of 1863, seeking to re-establish the Commonwealth, convinced many Russian politicians that Polish cultural and political influence was the main obstacle hindering the Russification of Lithuania.
[13] A few days later Muravyov issued an administrative order that forbade printing Lithuanian language textbooks written in the Latin alphabet.
[11] Kaufman issued an order to six neighboring governorates declaring a full ban on all publications and demanding that censorship committees enforce it without hesitation.
The idea of replacing the Latin alphabet with Cyrillic was first elaborated by the well-known Pan-Slavist Alexander Hilferding in his 1863 book Lithuania and Samogitia.
[14] Seeing that the Lithuanian people were unwilling to accept these books, even when they were offered for free, the Russian government shifted its attention to eliminating the illegal publications.
The period from Valančius's death in 1875 to 1883 saw the establishment of the Lithuanian-language newspaper Auszra (The Dawn), and the resistance at this time is associated with bishop Antanas Baranauskas.
The resistance intensified towards the end of the 19th century, after another major newspaper, Varpas (The Bell), edited by Vincas Kudirka, was established in 1889.
A largely standardized written version of the language was achieved by the turn of the twentieth century, based on historical and Aukštaitijan (highland) usages;[18] the letters č and š were taken from Czech orthography.
In 1902 and 1903, the Russian Supreme Court reversed two press ban convictions that had been brought against Antanas Macijauskas and Povilas Višinskis.
The level of pent-up demand for schooling in the 19th century is illustrated by the increase in literacy in the Rietavas area; between 1853 and 1863, just before the ban, the number of literate persons rose from 11,296 to 24,330.
Parents began to withdraw their children from the state schools, since they were associated with the policy of Russification; students were not allowed to speak Lithuanian among themselves, and a discouraging atmosphere was created by the system of searches, inspections, and spying.
The publishing houses of Martynas Kukta, Saliamonas Banaitis, and the Society of Saint Casimir in Kaunas were responsible for many of the publications issued between the end of the ban in 1904 and the restoration of Lithuanian independence in 1918.
[9] A standard Lithuanian orthography and grammar were established during the ban, despite the fact that the co-ordination of this process, involving competing dialects, was forced to take place in several countries.
