all his energy to fighting for free Lithuania. He already saw the freedom of Lithuania through the glasses of social justice. To him social justice, human dignity and individual freedom were more important than national independence. According to writer O. Pleirytė-Puidienė, a witness of the 1905 revolution, "Kapsukas was literally a martyr of the idea of social democracy and [free] Lithuania. Always breathless, hungry, without real shelter he travelled across Lithuania spreading national awareness and enlightenment. Of course, social democratic voices mattered to him most, but he also passionately loved his Lithuania. (Lith. Kapsukas buvo stačiai socialdemokratų partijos ir lietuvių idėjos kankinys. Visuomet uždusęs, alkanas, be tikros pastogės slankiojo jis po Lietuvą nešiodamas tautinį supratimą ir šviesą. Be abejo socialdemokratų balsai jam rupejo labiausiai, bet ir savo Lietuvą jis mylėjo karštai)." During his prison years (1907–1914), Mickevičius read works of Marx, Kautsky, Plekhanov and other Marxists and his views drifted profoundly toward Marxism. Later in exile and emigration, he met Yakov Sverdlov, Vladimir Lenin, Nikolai Bukharin and Leon Trotsky who also influenced his views. By 1918 he considered himself a Marxist. However, until his last days Mickevičius venerated his mentor Vincas Kudirka and retained deep respect for Povilas Višinskis. According to Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas, Bolsheviks knew that for him Lithuania mattered more than narrow party directives: ”The same [attitude] could be noticed through his entire communist activities in Vilnius: he cared about Lithuania not in a communist way. Everybody felt that, even his fellow Bolsheviks. (Lith. Ta pat galėjai pasergėti per visą jo komunistišką veikimą Vilniuje: jam Lietuva ne komunistiškai rūpėjo. Tai visi jautė, net jo sėbrai bolševikai).” Personal life His father, Simonas (Simas) Mickevičius (1830–1915), was a wealthy farmer. From his first marriage to Barbora Kriaučiūnaitė ( 1840–1870), Simonas had a daughter, Konstancija Mickevičiūtė. With Ona Kuršėnaitė ( 1850–1934), his second wife, Simonas had two sons: Juozapas (1872–1950) and Vincas. Vincas Mickevičius married Vanda Didžiulytė (1881–1941) in 1901 in Mintauja (now Jelgava, Latvia). They divorced in 1913 after the death of their daughter Vanda in 1913. He married Elena Domicėlė Tautkaitė (1893–1937) in 1922 in Moscow, Russia. They had three children: Jūra Mickevičiūtė (1921–2008), Vincas Mickevičius (1925–2014), and Lena Mickevičiūtė (1927–2001). Legacy Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas was the author of more than 50 works on politics, history, philosophy, and literature and around 2000 articles. He also wrote memoirs, essays, and short stories. Between 1937 and 1953, Mickevičius was on Stalin's "gray list,"