In his autobiography Landsbergis writes that many streams contributed to
the river that was Sajudis. Since I was in Vilnius on a year's IREX grant
(1986-7) and also was in Vilnius in the summer of 1988, I had an
opportunity to view some of the tributaries and the river itself and would
like to share some of my impressions of Prof. Landsbergis and of those
times, so exciting for Lithuania and its peoples scattered practically all
over the world.

The Gorbachev era had begun, but it took some time to reach Lithuania.
Certainly in the winter of 1986-7 glasnost and perestroika were still not
being used in Lithuania. However, there were signs of unusual freedom in
the air. In Dec. of 1986 Dalia Grinkeviciute's gripping and horror-filled
Siberian memoirs were first published in the literary journal "Pergale".
In January of 1987 I was invited to Kaunas Artists' House to read a
lecture in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of Antanas Skema, an
anti-communist émigré writer who should have been anathema to the
government. The Georgian film, director Abuladze's "Repentance" was being
viewed openly in Vilnius, first in closed groups, then at your local
theater.

I could not believe my own eyes that these kinds of things were permitted,
when at the same time the army was hiding behind bushes in the city of
Vilnius in case things (really, people) got out of hand on Independence
Day, February 16. Change was in the air and contradictory signals came
from on high.

That winter the cultural journal, "Kulturos barai", held 3 open forums,
ostensibly on questions of culture. The first one was organized by the
philosophers. It was during the question and answer session that I first
took note of Vytautas Landsbergis. I had, of course, read some of his
books on Ciurlionis but remember that that particular evening he was
restlessly circling the fringes of the auditorium and made some rather
daring comments towards the end of the session. I made a mental note of
this man. In general, as I remember it, the composers came off looking
more likely to take risks than any other group of artists or intellectuals
gathered there. Musicians have it easier than others, I thought to myself
and yet now they were speaking in words and sentences that could not be
misinterpreted or misunderstood.

When on a cold December day that fall Prof. Vyt. Landsbergis arrived in
Chicago by train my knowledge of his appearance came in handy in meeting
him at Union Station. He spent about 6 hours until closing at the Chicago
Art Institute, taking evident enormous satisfaction in seeing some famous
works for the first time. The professor's time in Chicago then was spent
on music, painting and promoting Ciurlionis.

It was different in 1988. When the first reports of huge crowds at public
meetings started coming out of Vilnius, I must say that I thought that the
Lithuanian daily published in Chicago needed a new typesetter or copy
editor. 60,000 people gather in Vingis Park in Vilnius--at least three
too many zeroes thought I. But then I myself went to Vilnius in August
and on the 23rd going about my business at the Institute of Lithuanian
Literature, I heard whispered word of a meeting in Vingis Park that
evening. No one spoke of this out loud, yet the city air was charged with
electricity.

On my way to the meeting with friends I was surrounded by incredible
masses of people, all obeying a command that Landsbergis was to utter many
times later--go with sobriety and restraint. Whole families were
congregating, the bandshell was already full and the valley in front and
to the sides was filled by a huge potentially uncontrollable crowd. But
the people were as one body and when an ambulance had to be brought for
someone who had fainted, the crowd divided with one harmonious movement to
let the vehicle pass. It was a far cry from what would have happened with
a carefree mob of, say, rock lovers in the West.

The speeches by prominent cultural figures, commemorating the nefarious
Molotov-Ribbentrop pact were absolutely stunning in their daring and
openly risky statements. The crowd was engaged in a ritual of catharsis
and cleansing as in some Greek tragedy and hung on every word. All the
years of lies seemed to fall away that evening. Yet the security forces
were still up in the press stands; the only people upsetting the sobriety
the event called for were some sleazy-looking types who ran bent through
the crowds shouting "shame, shame". I interpreted them as right-wing
extremists, I don't know if this was correct but they were extraneous,
nothing could dim the concentration of the people.

A few days later I attended a meeting of the Sajudis Initiation Group as
one of the few Westerners there. There were many members of the group who
spoke and proceeded through the agenda. It was evident that the group was
feeling its way in holding democratic and open meetings. As I recall, at
the beginning Kazimieras Motieka, Bronius Genzelis, Romualdas Ozolas,
Kazimiera Prunskiene, Zigmas Vaisvila and others seemed more prominent
than Vytautas Landsbergis. However, when Landsbergis spoke there was
already then a quality of leadership, evidence of concentrated
premeditation, a clear sense of purpose in his words.

That night people from Kaunas were protesting that they had been left out
of events and wanted in. Zigmas Vaisvila, a member of the Greens, was
planning a ring of protest at Ignalina, details of this project were
discussed. At some point somebody mentioned the word "independence" and I
very clearly remember Landsbergis hushing them up firmly by saying "It is
not the right time to speak of this yet."

I, for one was not surprised, when later he became Chairman of the Supreme
Council. As history proved, he had the right qualities to lead his nation
to independence which in turn led to the breakup of that monster the
Soviet Union. Perhaps it was his skill at chess, perhaps the family
history that his autobiography reveals, perhaps it was the knowledge of
music and the subtleties it requires, or all of these things combined with
a kind of charisma that he then had that told him when to stand firm, when
to lick his collective wounds and try again, when to balance on the abyss,
when to push forward without hesitation, when to look the monster in the
eye without blinking. But it is historical fact that his leadership
brought to fruition the goal that in early 1988 still seemed an impossible
one. It was voiced at that time by the late Albertas Zalatorius--A free
man in a free state--"Laisvas zmogus laisvam kraste."

The streams and the river will be endlessly described by historians and
memoirists in times to come. But we have the captain of the Sajudis boat
with us today and have come together to honor his particular achievement.