After the Polish-Lithuanian
insurrection of 1863, the Russian Imperial government intensified its efforts to Russify the Lithuanian population and alienate it from its historic roots, including the
Roman Catholic faith, which had become widespread during the years of the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. During the summer of 1863,
Tsar Alexander II issued Temporary Rules for State Junior Schools of the
Northwestern Krai, ruling that only Russian-language education would be allowed there. In 1864, the
Governor General of the
Vilnius Governorate,
Mikhail Muravyov, ordered that Lithuanian language
primers were to be printed only in the Cyrillic alphabet. Muravyov's successor,
Konstantin Kaufman, banned all Lithuanian-language use of the Latin alphabet in 1865. In 1866, the Tsar issued an oral ban on the printing or importing of printed matter in Lithuanian. Although
formally, the order had no legal force, it was executed
de facto until 1904. During this time, there were approximately fifty-five printings of Lithuanian books in Cyrillic. Most of the Latin-alphabet Lithuanian-language books and periodicals published at the time were printed in
Lithuania Minor and then smuggled into Lithuania. When caught, the book smugglers were punished by fines, banishment, and exile, including deportation to Siberia. Some were shot after crossing the border. In 1867,
Motiejus Valančius, the
Bishop of Samogitia, began to covertly organize and finance this printing abroad and sponsored the distribution of Lithuanian-language books within Lithuania. In 1870, his organization was uncovered with the help of Prussian authorities, and five priests and two book smugglers were exiled to remote areas of Russia. Other book smugglers carried on his work. During the final years of the ban, an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 books were smuggled in annually. About one-third of them were seized by authorities. Lithuanian books reached every settlement in Lithuania, and many legal institutions served as undercover transfer points for the books. A number of secret organizations distributed the books throughout Lithuania, including ''
, Atgaja
, Teisybė
, Prievarta
, Aušrinė
, Atžala
, Lizdas
, Akstinas
, Spindulys
, Svirplys
, Žiburėlis
, Žvaigždė
, and Kūdikis''. In East Prussia, from 1864 up to 1896, more than 3 500 000 copies of publications in the Lithuanian language was published: about 500 000 primers, more than 300 000 scientific secular editions, 75 000 newspapers, and other types of publications. The ban's lack of success was recognized by the end of the 19th century, and in 1904, under the official pretext that the minorities within the Russian Empire needed to be pacified after the failure in the
Russo-Japanese War, the ban on Lithuanian-language publications was lifted. In 1905, soon after the ban was lifted, one of the book smugglers, , opened his own bookstore in
Panevėžys. This bookstore is still operational, and a chain of bookstores operates in Lithuania under his name. This historical episode was widely suppressed during the years when Lithuania was
occupied by the Soviet Union. == Book smuggler societies ==