Polish autonomy in the Vilnius Region (Polish: Autonomia Wileńszczyzny; Lithuanian: Vilniaus krašto autonomija) was an idea about a politically autonomous territorial unit for Poles in Lithuania, which began to be discussed in autumn 1988, when Lithuania was regaining its independence from the Soviet Union.[1] As a result of perestroika, under the influence of their own national revival, and also fearing an attempt at Lithuanianization in independent Lithuania, Poles in Lithuania attempted to protect their own cultural identity by establishing autonomy. According to the Polish sociologist Adam Bobryk, this project never gained full support from the Lithuanian authorities, nor was implemented unilaterally by the Poles.[2] The project was subject to several years of discussion and design work in 1988–1991, various groups of the Polish minority differed about its ultimate shape, basically agreeing only that autonomy should cover areas where Poles are the majority, and the Polish language should be given equal status.[2]
On 6 and 15 September 1989, the Šalčininkai and Vilnius municipalities, respectively, declared themselves to be self-governing national territorial districts within the Lithuanian SSR, where Russian, Polish and Lithuanian languages had equal status.[1] Following the re-establishment of Lithuanian independence on 11 March 1990, the Šalčininkai municipality adopted a declaration on 15 May 1990 which stated that the restoration of Lithuanian independence was invalid and that the Lithuanian SSR continues to be a part of the USSR.[1] The closest to its creation was in October 1990, with adopting by the congress of Polish delegates in Eišiškės the declaration of the creation of the Polish National-Territorial Region and sending it to the Lithuanian Parliament for approval.[3] Such request was refused, by the Lithuanian authorities partially accepted Polish demands with the amendment of the Minorities Act on 29 January 1991, in the fields of language and education, also promised a new administrative division that would take national divisions into account.[4] The latter postulate was never realized. Works on autonomy were continued at the congress in Mostiškės on 22 May 1991, where the deputies agreed on the basic principles of the autonomy system.[5] The attempt to create a Polish autonomy collapsed together with the failed 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, because its main supporters, the hard-line Soviet Communists, were defeated.[1] After Lithuania actually regained its independence on 4 September 1991, it suppressed the movement and dissolved the district councils of Vilnius and Šalčininkai.[6]