Regardless the declarations of European cultural unity, a big number of states from the former Soviet bloc (East Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Baltic States, Belorussia, Ukraine, Balkan region etc.) are often identified or identify themselves as a periphery of Western civilisation6. Today it is fashionable to name these countries by using epithet of “New Europe”7. However, the existence of such treatment a priori shows that Europe embeds a tendency of regional segregation in geopolitical, economical and social sense.

A part of scientists and researchers, represented by writer Milan Kundera, distinguishes “New Europe” by its unique cultural spirit8. Others, like historian of economics André Frank, explain the affinity of the region in its performed long-lasting function to supply Europe with raw materials9. Yet, its communist past is generally identified as the mostly important feature of the “New Europe”.

The cultural and economical lag of “New Europe” is often said to be caused by a mental gap, which was constructed by a model of collectivism and planned economy. Here we talk not only about the dependence to a single political bloc, but rather about a failed model of communistic utopia. The principles that were formed during the implementation phase of the aforementioned utopia became a cause of social and economical drag of the “new pupils” on their way to democracy and market economy.

Nevertheless, it remains unclear, what that abstract soviet inheritance, which should supposedly be relinquished, is. Certainly, lots of grounds of the soviet mentality could be identified, however, the spirit of collectivism, which can be determined by collective property relations and their predominant conception, is the mostly important of them. While analysing the Lithuanian society in 40’s–90’s specifically, the property relations can be tracked as a unifying factor of collectivism. Property relations are the most affected by collectivism and unnaturally perverted sphere of social life in Lithuania10.

Following theories of free market economy, the engine of market economy is namely the existence of private (individual) business, which realises it surplus product produced according to the mechanism of demand and supply11. In the long run, private sector, its control and legal regulation of its resources or property constructs a social and cultural phenomenon, so called property relations. Respectfully, the conceptions of

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5 Huntington S. P. Der Kampf der Kulturen: die Neugestaltung der Weltpolitik im 21. Jahrhundert. München, 1997, p. 25.

6 Staniszkis J. The ontology of Socialism. Oxford, 1992, p. 60–61.

7 Emergence of the “New Europe” conception could be related with the expansion of the European Union in the year 2004 and the USA president G. W. Bush made distinction between the “old” and “new” Europe, which results from different positions of the East and West Europe countries vis-ą-vis war in Iraq.

8 Kundera M. Atplėšti Vakarai, arba Vidurio Europos tragedija // Literatūra ir menas, 1989 kovo 4.

9 Frank A. G. Ibid, p. 40–41

10 Kačiuška Ž. Nuosavybės santykių modelis sovietiniame Lietuvos kaime. Stungių kaimo atvejis // Lietuvos istorijos studijos. 2004, t. 14, p. 100–114.

11 Egerer R. The Influence of Privatization Strategies and Corporate Governance Options on the Development of Capital Markets in Central and Eastern Europe. Bamberg, 1996, p. 41–42.