Litwa (newspaper)

Lithuania) was a Polish-language newspaper edited and published by Mečislovas Davainis-Silvestraitis in Vilnius, then part of the Russian Empire, from July 1908 to May 1914.

[2] The newspaper supported the concept of the ethnographic Lithuania and fiercely criticized ideas about recreating the old Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by the Polish National Democracy.

[5] Davainis-Silvestraitis and Donatas Malinauskas published their proposal for a new newspaper that would "soften" the Lithuanian–Polish relations in Kurjer Litewski in January 1907, but actual work on establishing the publication began only in 1908.

Together with Basanavičius, Davainis-Silvestraitis completed the newspaper's project in May 1908, obtained government permit, and published the first issue on 24 July 1908.

It is an allegoric drawing by Władysław Leszczyński which depicts a raising sun (symbol of hope for the future), two peasants reading Litwa and Viltis, and a reaper looking in awe at the ruins that spell out Litwa and the coat of arms of Lithuania (a reference to the historic Grand Duchy of Lithuania).

[16] The nameplate also featured other symbols of peasant life – a column shrine, nesting storks, rich vegetation.

Firstly, they needed to support political aspirations of Lithuanians and reject ideas of the Polish National Democracy (Endecja) about recreating the old Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

But then there was no agreement whether the nobility needed to abandon the Polish language and fully switch to Lithuanian (Davainis-Silvestraitis was more moderate on the issue and did not consider it necessary).

[3] In addition, Litwa advocated for a "democratic" intelligentsia, i.e. where nobles and peasants were treated as equal, and elimination of old social class prejudices.

The project was proposed in Lietuvos žinios, supported by the members of the Lithuanian Democratic Party, and entrusted to Davainis-Silvestraitis to edit and publish.

[25] Its primary goal was to encourage "Polonized" peasants to "return" to their Lithuanian roots and it mainly published articles about the use of Polish language in Catholic churches and attempts to introduce Lithuanian-language masses and services.

[30] Litwa hoped to attract the Krajowcy, a group of intellectuals who attempted to maintain their dual self-identification as Polish–Lithuanian, specifically historian Konstancja Skirmuntt, attorney Michał Pius Römer, noblemen Ignacy Korwin-Milewski and Tadeusz Wróblewski.

[34] Additionally, Davainis-Silvestraitis maintained contacts with Belarusian activists Anton Luckievich, Vaclau Lastouski, and Yanka Kupala.

More substantial contribution included a lengthy history of the Belarusian National Revival by Luckievich and an article about the Battle of Grunwald by Lastouski published in 1909.

When it became clear that the newspaper would be discontinued due to financial troubles, Mykolas Sleževičius and Kazys Grinius published articles in Lietuvos žinios criticizing Litwa for its harsh anti-Polish stance which, they claimed, alienated the intended audience (i.e. the nobles) and proposed that a new Polish-language newspaper which would focus on economic and trade issues.

Researcher Olga Mastianica identified Gabrielius Landsbergis-Žemkalnis, Adomas Jakštas, Kazimieras Prapuolenis [lt], Kazimieras Pakalniškis [lt], Liudas Gira, Jonas Basanavičius, Helena Cepryńska [be], Otton Zawisza, Stefania Wojniłowiczowa, and Stefanija Jablonskienė (Stefania Jabłońska) as the most active authors.

[44] A few articles were published by Mykolas Biržiška, Petras Klimas, Martynas Yčas, Stanislovas Didžiulis, Juozas Ambraziejus, and others.