Stalinist Political Electoral Theater (I). Between Ideology and Practice: The First post-war Lithuanian Elections in 1946

Abstract

Based on extensive archival material, the article discusses the first post-war elections in Lithuania to the Supreme Soviet of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (SS USSR), which took place in 1946. The term political electoral theater is used to describe the interaction between the most important participants in the electoral process; during the Stalin era—between the Communist Party and the titular nation. The author of the article assumes that the main goal of the elections was not the legitimization of political power, but the Sovietization of the Lithuanian people; therefore, the Communist Party tried to involve as many people as possible in the electoral process. Mikhail Suslov, Chair of the Central Committee Bureau for Lithuanian Affairs formulated this goal for the election organizers, the leadership of the Communist Party of Lithuania. The election organizers had to achieve “universal voter participation.” The election campaign had to “rally the broadest masses of the population around the Communist Party and Soviet power,” while the party organizations—to turn the elections into a “national holiday” so that every voter would “feel part of the great Soviet people.” In addition, the Communist and non-party bloc had to achieve an “impressive victory” and elect the “best representatives.” Such was to be the official Stalinist political election theater. The article examines how the Soviet authorities in Lithuania fared in achieving those goals.