Irate Lithuanians Press Gorbachev for Independence : Unrest: The Soviet leader visits would-be breakaway state in attempt to quiet ferment. He hints that a proposed law may give every republic the right to leave.

President Mikhail S. Gorbachev collided head-on Thursday with outspoken Lithuanians demanding independence on the first day of a visit to the Baltic state in which he hopes to use his personal authority to prevent the splintering of the Soviet Union.

Gorbachev, who came officially to urge the Lithuanian Communist Party to reverse its December decision to declare its independence from the parent national party, hinted that a draft law now under consideration may give every republic the right to leave.

Throughout the day, the Soviet leader found himself caught up in sometimes-angry exchanges over the future of the republic itself--and the Soviet Union as well. Some of these arguments came in the street, where he spent more than an hour mingling with average Lithuanians.

“If you were given independence, you would quickly find yourself in a muddle,” Gorbachev warned a crowd at Lenin Square after placing flowers at the foot of a statue of the founder of the Soviet nation, V. I. Lenin. “It is not as simple as changing your currency.”

“Why run out of this federation?” he asked them at one point. “What for? Where to? Why not let people feel independent in their home, but also stay as part of the whole country? This ship is not going to sink, you can be sure. There is a crew and a leader of the crew.”

Gorbachev, whose visit here will last through Saturday, also met with workers at a Vilnius factory, with Lithuanian intellectuals and with Communist city officials.

Gorbachev told workers at the factory that although the Soviet constitution now provides for secession, it does not outline a process.

“This process needs a mechanism,” Gorbachev said. “We need to discuss this. We need to discuss how to leave, a time frame, defense, communications, economic questions, an entire series of questions--a mechanism.

“A law is currently being prepared for first reading (in the Supreme Soviet, the nation’s Parliament) and it will be discussed throughout the country,” he said.

He said the Lithuanian push for independence has imperiled the future of perestroika , his reform program, and his leadership as well.

“I am the one who chose to go ahead with ( perestroika ),” he said, “and my own fate is linked to that choice.”

But the Soviet president, who is well known for his powers of persuasion, was playing to a tough house on the streets of Vilnius.

“We want to be good neighbors, but we want our own home,” Mikelis Virdinijas, an engineer, told the Soviet president. “We want more freedom, and we want more perestroika . In fact, our republic is at the forefront of perestroika , and we shouldn’t be blamed because the others are slow.”

Gorbachev, with his wife, Raisa, at his side, responded angrily.

“I don’t accept that way of thinking; it is very dangerous,” he said, gesturing as though pounding a table. “I accept that you speak from your heart, but you won’t make me change my opinion through emotionalism.”

He said the Soviet Union should develop “the full potential of our federation” and added, “Why not regulate the proportion of our authority and balance powers?”

Cultural, economic and even a great deal of political independence is possible, he said, so long as “we live together in one family.”

Despite his arguments, the Lithuanian desire for independence, which has simmered just beneath the surface for the last 18 months, was in plain view for the Soviet leader. A demonstration late in the day in center of the city drew an estimated 250,000 protesters.

Gennady I. Gerasimov, chief spokesman for the Soviet Foreign Ministry, accompanied Gorbachev to the Lithuanian capital. He told reporters: “It is dialogue, dialogue and dialogue. The only way is political means. We have no other choice.”

But compromise solutions appeared to find little support here--certainly none among the crowd that gathered outside the Central Cathedral, in a cold rain at dusk, to demand independence.

The area was awash with the yellow, green and red flags of the Lithuania that was independent until 1940, when it was absorbed into the Soviet Union under a secret agreement between Josef Stalin and Adolf Hitler. Gorbachev had been invited to the rally but did not attend.

One of the banners held aloft by the participants was one that bore the message, “Great Russia, please return to us the freedom you took, and we will become friends as before.”

Jonas Begletsovas, 60, who carried his grandson on his shoulders, told a reporter: “We must be independent, and no compromise to that is possible. I’m sure that by the time this child is a man, we will be masters of our own country.”

Inga Brezdjunita, 16, who held a placard calling for a free Lithuania, said she believes that the first years of independence would be difficult, “but we are not scared. We want freedom.”

As one nationalist leader after another took the microphone to address the crowd, the fired-up demonstrators chanted, “ Laisve !” (“Freedom!”) and, “No, no, no to slavery.”

Vitautas Landsbergis, leader of the Sajudis popular movement, told the rally: “What was stolen should be returned to us. Moscow is now acknowledging its past mistakes in Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan. It must acknowledge its past mistakes here.”

Antanas Terlotskis, chairman of the Lithuanian League of Freedom, said: “We don’t want to live any more in this prison. We should not beg for our independence. We should demand it.”

One of the most stirring speeches was delivered by the republic’s ideology chief, Justas Poledkis.

“The Lithuanian Communist Party has created a small miracle on Earth by declaring its independence,” he said. “If, in the past, Lithuania was a toy in the hands of the great powers, we will never be a toy again. We will decide our own fate.”

REPUBLIC WITH A PROUD PAST

People: 3.6 million (1989). 80.1% Lithuanians, 8.6% Russians, 7.7% Poles, 3.6% other

Economy: Above-average standard of living for Soviet Union. Farms produce dairy products, hogs, livestock feed, grains, sugar beets, flax, potatoes. Industries produce machine tools, appliances, chemicals. Klaipeda is a major fishing port.

Early history: Lithuanian ethnic group arose after 7th Century from merger of tribes. Grand dukes built Lithuania into powerful medieval state that expanded into Dnieper River basin. In 14th Century, state formed alliance with Poland that lasted four centuries. In 1795 partition of Poland, Lithuania was divided between Prussia and Russia.

Modern history: Russia suppressed Lithuanian culture in late 19th Century. But Russian Revolution of 1905 and World War I spurred cultural renaissance and demands for autonomy. Lithuania formed government in 1918. Bolsheviks invaded and briefly installed another regime but were driven out. Independent Lithuania had elected government at first. But in 1926, coup d’etat brought Antanas Smetona to power. He became dictator and pursued pro-Western policies. In 1940, during World War II, Stalin’s troops entered Lithuania, and Stalin demanded a regime acceptable to Kremlin. Formal incorporation followed in August, 1940. Germans later invaded area, but Soviets retook it in 1944 and have ruled it since.

Sources: Encyclopedia Americana 1987; Europa World Yearbook 1989