Varpas

Tautiška giesmė, one of poems by founder and editor Vincas Kudirka written to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Varpas, became the Lithuanian national anthem.

A group of Lithuanian students in Moscow organized publication of short-lived Šviesa, a monthly pro-Catholic newspaper that failed to satisfy liberal activists.

[4] Lithuanian students in Warsaw, led by Vincas Kudirka, Jonas Gaidamavičius, and Juozas Adomaitis-Šernas, organized society Lietuva (Lithuania).

Varpas was geared towards intelligentsia with stated goal to rise Lithuanian national consciousness and, ultimately, to achieve autonomy within the Russian Empire.

[7] Influenced by Polish positivism, Varpas argued that Lithuanians could achieve this through work, economic development, education, and other non-violent means.

[8] However, unlike Aušra, it rejected Romantic idealization of heroic past (which lead to two failed uprisings in 1830 and 1863) and concentrated on more practical and useful contemporary history.

[9] For example, instead of blaming foreigners (Poles or Russians) for the demise of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, writers looked for internal reasons for the historical failures.

Up until his death in 1899, Kudirka wrote and edited influential column Tėvynės varpai (Bells of the Homeland) where he published articles on a variety of subjects: advocating unity among various social classes and political fractions for the greater benefit of the entire nation, satirical short stories mocking Russian authorities, theoretical articles about journalism and literature, etc.