Vytautas Radžvilas
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Vytautas Radžvilas (born 25 January 1958) is a Lithuanian philosopher, activist and politician. He was a member of the initiative group of
Sąjūdis The Sąjūdis (, ), initially known as the Reform Movement of Lithuania (), is a political organisation which led the struggle for Lithuanian independence in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was established on 3 June 1988 as the first oppositi ...
in 1988 and established the Liberal Union of Lithuania as an alternative to the Sąjūdis in 1990. In 2020, he founded the
far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...
National Alliance and was elected its chairman.


Biography


Background

Radžvilas was born in the village of Vismantai, in Pakruojis District Municipality, in 1958. He graduated from
Vilnius University Vilnius University ( Lithuanian: ''Vilniaus universitetas'') is a public research university, which is the first and largest university in Lithuania, as well as one of the oldest and most prominent higher education institutions in Central and Ea ...
with a degree in
psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...
in 1980. From 1980, he was a trainee at the Department of History of Philosophy and Logic at Vilnius University, a postgraduate from 1981 to 1984, and a lecturer at the Department of Philosophy from 1984 to 1989. In 1987, he became a Candidate of Philosophy at the university and defended a dissertation on "The Philosophy of the History of French
Personalism Personalism is an intellectual stance that emphasizes the importance of human persons. Personalism exists in many different versions, and this makes it somewhat difficult to define as a philosophical and theological movement. Friedrich Schleie ...
". His supervisor was Bronislovas Genzelis, later a signatory of the
Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania The Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania or Act of 11 March () was an Declaration of independence, independence declaration by Lithuania adopted on 11 March 1990, signed by all members of the Supreme Council – Reconstituent Se ...
in 1990.


Pro-independence activism and early political career

Radžvilas participated in the founding conference of
Sąjūdis The Sąjūdis (, ), initially known as the Reform Movement of Lithuania (), is a political organisation which led the struggle for Lithuanian independence in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was established on 3 June 1988 as the first oppositi ...
organized by members of Lithuanian civil society, arts and sciences at the
Lithuanian Academy of Sciences The Lithuanian Academy of Sciences or LMA (, ) is a state-funded independent organization in Lithuania dedicated for science and research. Its mission is to mobilize prominent scientists and initiate activities that would strengthen the welfare ...
on 3 June 1988. Alongside 34 other members, he was elected to the Sąjūdis Initiative Group (Lithuanian: ''Sąjūdžio iniciatyvinė grupė''), which was tasked to organize and establish the movement. Radžvilas later described the history of Sąjūdis negatively and claimed that "after the second congress, people who had been in the background, loyal to the system in all respects, began to move in en masse" and that the later organization, according to him, betrayed the initial patriotic and democratic ideals of the Initiative Group. Vytautas Landsbergis, one of the founders of Sąjūdis and the ''de facto'' head of state of Lithuania from 1990 to 1992, claimed in 2023 that Radžvilas was a
KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...
informant, which Radžvilas denied. Radžvilas did not participate in the 1990 Lithuanian Supreme Soviet election and did not become a signatory of the
Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania The Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania or Act of 11 March () was an Declaration of independence, independence declaration by Lithuania adopted on 11 March 1990, signed by all members of the Supreme Council – Reconstituent Se ...
on 11 March 1990. In June, from a liberal discussion club active in Vilnius University, a founding group for the Liberal Union of Lithuania was established and Radžvilas was elected as its chairman. In 2018, he claimed that the establishment of the party was necessitated by a purge of Sąjūdis ranks organized by Landsbergis, during which politicians opposed to his views were pushed out of the organization. Radžvilas resigned from leadership after the party's defeat in the 1992 Lithuanian parliamentary election, during which it received 1.5% of the votes and won no seats. The party reoriented itself towards free market economics and business interests, and Radžvilas left the party. Later, he claimed that the party was couped by business representatives, especially the fraudulent business group , and abandoned its original intentions.


Later career

After the restoration of the independence of Lithuania and the end of his political career, Radžvilas continued with his academic career. He was the head of the Department of Philosophy and History of Culture of the Vilnius Academy of Arts from 1989 to 1999, and a lecturer at the Institute of International Relations and Political Science of Vilnius University from 2000 to 2018. In 2000, he was selected as a member of the Higher Education Council (Lithuanian: ''Aukštojo mokslo taryba''), an expert body on the development of higher education in Lithuania. He was also the chairman of the
think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...
Democratic Policy Institute from 2003 to 2006. Radžvilas is the author of translations of numerous philosophical and scientific articles into Lithuanian, and has published books on history, political philosophy and Lithuanian nationalism. He was the founder of the Vilnius Forum, later the National Forum, a right-wing organization which criticized
globalization Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...
,
liberalism Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, the right to private property, and equality before the law. ...
and
LGBT rights Rights affecting lesbian, Gay men, gay, Bisexuality, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the Capital punishmen ...
, in 2016. In 2017, the director of the Institute of International Relations and Political Science, Ramūnas Vilpišauskas received a student petition requesting that Radžvilas's course "History of the Idea of Europe" be downgraded from a mandatory to an optional course. The petition claimed that Radžvilas' course had little to do with Europe studies and was used as a platform for the professor's
eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies and seek refor ...
views, including comparing the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
to the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
and describing it as a failed project. The public conflict between Radžvilas, students supporting Radžvilas, and students opposed to Radžvilas and institute administration was dubbed ''Radžvilias'' (Lithuanian: ''"Radžviliada"''), a reference to the 16th century epic poem Radivilias. Radžvilas'
employment contract An employment contract or contract of employment is a kind of contract used in labour law to attribute rights and responsibilities between parties to a bargain. The contract is between an "employee" and an "employer". It has arisen out of the old m ...
with the institute expired in August 2018 and was not renewed.


Return to politics

In 2019, Radžvilas established the public election committee "Vytautas Radžvilas: Recover the State!" () to participate in the 2019 European Parliament election in Lithuania. Though he claimed that the
European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...
is powerless, he likened it to the Congress of the People's Deputies in the last years of the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
, and that it will determine the future of the organization. The committee received 3.35 percent of the votes and did not win any seats. After the election, Radžvilas founded the National Alliance, with the committee's members forming the core of the party. Many of the party's leading members and candidates were former members of
Sąjūdis The Sąjūdis (, ), initially known as the Reform Movement of Lithuania (), is a political organisation which led the struggle for Lithuanian independence in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was established on 3 June 1988 as the first oppositi ...
or members of the right-wing youth organization ''Pro Patria'', including his own students and defenders during ''Radžvilias''. In
2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...
, the party elected three deputies to the municipal council of
Vilnius City Municipality 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 ...
. Radžvilas initiated protests to defend Kazys Škirpa, leader of the
Lithuanian Activist Front The Lithuanian Activist Front or LAF () was a Lithuanian underground resistance organization established in 1940 after the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states (1940), Soviets occupied Lithuania. Its goal was to free Lithuanian Soviet Socialist ...
in 1941.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Radzvilas, Vytautas Living people 1958 births 21st-century Lithuanian politicians Vilnius University alumni Lithuanian anti-communists Lithuanian nationalists Lithuanian philosophers