''Tiesa'' (English: ''truth'') was the official daily newspaper in the

Lithuanian SSR The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (Lithuanian SSR; ; ), also known as Soviet Lithuania or simply Lithuania, was '' de facto'' one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union between 1940–1941 and 1944–1990. After 1946, its terr ...

. Established in 1917, the newspaper soon became the official voice of the Communist Party of Lithuania. After the Lithuanian victory in the Lithuanian–Soviet War, the party and the newspaper were outlawed in

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. Thereafter, it was first printed in exile and later illegally in

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

. ''Tiesa'' survived irregular publishing schedules, frequent relocations, staff changes, and other difficulties and, after the Soviet occupation of Lithuania in June 1940, became the official daily of the new communist regime. At its peak, its circulation exceeded 300,000 copies. After the

collapse of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

, ''Tiesa'' lost its official status and its circulation shrank. The publication was discontinued in 1994.

History

Early history

The first issue of ''Tiesa'' was published by the Lithuanian section of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (bolsheviks) in

Petrograd Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

on April 12, 1917. In October 1917, ''Tiesa'' became the official newspaper of the Lithuanian section. From April to December 1918, it was published in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. By December 12, 1918, 91 issues of ''Tiesa'' were published. In March–April 1919, five issues of the newspaper were published in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

, the proclaimed capital of the short-lived Lithuanian–Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. It was the official newspaper of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Lithuania and Belorussia. When Poland captured Vilnius during the Vilna offensive, ''Tiesa'' evacuated and was printed with interruptions in

Raseiniai Raseiniai (; Samogitian dialect, Samogitian: ''Raseinē'') is a city in Lithuania. It is located on the south eastern foothills of the Samogitians highland, some north from the A1 highway (Lithuania), Kaunas–Klaipėda highway. History Grand ...

Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...

Bellshill Bellshill (pronounced "Bells hill") is a town in North Lanarkshire in Scotland, southeast of Glasgow city centre and west of Edinburgh. Other nearby localities are Motherwell to the south, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton to the south ...

and

Smolensk Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest cities in Russia. It has been a regional capital for most of ...

as the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Lithuania. In March 1926, it settled more permanently in Kaunas, the

temporary capital of Lithuania The temporary capital of Lithuania () was the official designation of the city of Kaunas in Lithuania during the interwar period. It was in contrast to the declared capital in Vilnius, which was the capital of the Republic of Central Lithuania ( ...

. The communist party was outlawed in Lithuania, therefore ''Tiesa'' had to be printed illegally. There were 157 issues published in Kaunas.

Lithuanian SSR

After the Soviet occupation of Lithuania in June 1940, ''Tiesa'' was legalized and became a daily. It appeared first as ''Liaudies balsas'' (June 16–25) but soon recovered its historical name. It continued to be the official outlet of the Communist Party of Lithuania until the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. The newspaper was reestablished in Moscow in February 1942. There, 85 issues were published until July 1944. In August 1944, after the Soviet victory in Vilnius offensive, the newspaper relocated to Vilnius. Once again, it became a daily. From August 1945, in addition to being the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Lithuania, ''Tiesa'' was also the official voice of the communist government, specifically the

Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR The Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR (; , ''Verkhovnyy Sovet Litovskoy SSR'') was the supreme soviet (main legislative institution) of the Lithuanian SSR, one of the republics constituting the Soviet Union. The Supreme Soviet was established ...

and the Council of Ministers of the Lithuanian SSR. It had permanent correspondents in Moscow and New York. In 1967, ''Tiesa'' received the

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour () was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to the Soviet state and society in the fields of production, science, culture, literature, the arts, education, sports ...

Independent Lithuania

After the first free parliamentary elections in February 1990, Lithuania declared independence from the Soviet Union. ''

Lietuvos aidas ''Lietuvos aidas'' (literally: ''Echo of Lithuania'') is a daily newspaper in Lithuania. It was established on September 6, 1917, by Antanas Smetona, and became the semi-official voice of the newly formed Lithuanian government. When the government ...

'' became the official newspaper of the

Supreme Council – Reconstituent Seimas The Supreme Council – Restoration Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania (officially known as Supreme Council of the Republic of Lithuania), was the supreme governing body, elected in 1990. Its first meeting was held on 10 March 1990, and its last ...

. The Communist Party of Lithuania reorganized itself into the Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania (LDDP). ''Tiesa'' followed suit and became the newspaper of the LDDP. In 1992, ''Tiesa'' became a privately owned publication. On July 1, 1994, it was discontinued and replaced by daily ''Diena'' (English: ''day''). The last issue of ''Diena'' was published in 1996.

Content

''Tiesa'' was dedicated to communist ideology. It advocated socialist revolution and criticized other political parties. It reported on the activities of the Communist Party of Lithuania and its organizations, and published their programs, resolutions, statements and manifestos. ''Tiesa'' also reported on world and Lithuanian news, analysing stories through a communist point of view. The newspaper also published stories on the life of workers, peasants and soldiers. Occasionally it also published fiction, mostly poems.

Editors

The editors-in-chief were:

References

External links

Digital archive 1917–47
{{italics title Communist newspapers Defunct newspapers published in Lithuania Eastern Bloc mass media Defunct Lithuanian-language newspapers Newspapers established in 1917 Publications disestablished in 1994 Daily newspapers published in Lithuania 1994 disestablishments in Lithuania Communism in Lithuania