Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic

Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic Eesti Nõukogude Sotsialistlik Vabariik (Estonian) Эстонская Советская Социалистическая Республика (Russian)
1940–1941, 1944–1990/1991
Flag (1953–1990) Emblem (1940–1990)
Anthem: " Marxist-Leninist one-party Soviet-style socialist republic (1940–1989) Unitary multi-party parliamentary republic (1989–1991)[a]
First Secretary
• 1940–1941	Karl Säre
• 1944–1950	Nikolai Karotamm
• 1950–1978	Johannes Käbin
• 1978–1988	Karl Vaino
• 1988–1990	Vaino Väljas
Head of state
• 1940–1946 (first)	Johannes Vares
• 1983–1990 (last)	Arnold Rüütel
Head of government
• 1940–1941 (first)	Johannes Lauristin
• 1988–1990 (last)	Indrek Toome
Legislature	Second Soviet occupation	1944–1991
• Beginning of the Singing Revolution	1988
• Soviet occupation declared illegal	8 May 1990
• Restoration of the fully independent Republic of Estonia	20 August 1991
• Independent Republic of Estonia recognised by the USSR	6 September 1991
Area
1989	45,227 km2 (17,462 sq mi)
Population
• 1989	1,565,662
Currency	Soviet ruble (SUR)
Calling code	+7 014
Preceded by Succeeded by Soviet invasion of Estonia (1940) Restoration of independent Estonia (1991)
Today part of	Estonia

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The Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic (Estonian SSR), Soviet Estonia, or simply Estonia, was a

The majority of the world's countries[6] did not recognise the incorporation of Estonia into the Soviet Union de jure and only recognised its Soviet administration de facto or not at all.^[7][8] A number of countries continued to recognise Estonian diplomats and consuls who still functioned in the name of their former government.^[9][10] This policy of non-recognition gave rise to the principle of legal continuity, which held that de jure, Estonia remained an independent state under occupation throughout the period 1940–1991.^[11]

On 16 November 1988, Estonia became the first of the then Soviet-controlled countries to declare state sovereignty from the central government in Moscow.^[12] On 30 March 1990, the newly elected parliament declared that the Republic of Estonia had been illegally occupied since 1940, and formally announced a transitional period for the restoration of the country's full independence.^[13] Subsequently, on 8 May 1990, the Supreme Soviet ended the use of the Soviet symbols as state symbols together with the name Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic and adopted Republic of Estonia as the official name of the state.^[14] The parliament of Estonia declared the re-establishment of full independence on 20 August 1991. The Soviet Union formally recognised the independence of Estonia on 6 September 1991.

History

Second World War

The

On 12 June 1940, the order for total military blockade of Estonia was given to the Soviet Soviet Baltic fleet.^[17][18] On 14 June, the Soviet military blockade of Estonia went into effect while the world's attention was focused on the fall of Paris to Nazi Germany. Two Soviet bombers shot down a Finnish passenger aircraft "Kaleva" flying from Tallinn to Helsinki carrying three diplomatic pouches from the U.S. legations in Tallinn, Riga and Helsinki.^[19] On 16 June, Soviet NKVD troops raided border posts in Estonia (along with Lithuania and Latvia).^[20][21] Soviet leader Joseph Stalin claimed that the 1939 mutual assistance treaties had been violated, and gave six-hour ultimatums for new governments to be formed in each country, including lists of persons for cabinet posts provided by the Kremlin.^[20] The Soviet ultimatum to Estonia was issued on June 16, 1940. The Estonian government decided, in accordance with the Kellogg–Briand Pact, to not respond to the ultimatums by military means. Given the overwhelming Soviet force both on the borders and inside the country, the order was given not to resist in order to avoid bloodshed and open war.^[22]

On 16–17 June 1940, the Red Army emerged from its military bases in Estonia and, aided by an additional 90,000 Soviet troops, took over the country, occupying the entire territory of the Republic of Estonia.^[23][24] Most of the Estonian Defence Forces and the Estonian Defence League surrendered according to the orders, and were disarmed by the Red Army. Only the Estonian Independent Signal Battalion stationed at Raua Street in Tallinn began armed resistance. As the Soviet troops brought in additional reinforcements supported by six armoured fighting vehicles, the battle at Raua Street lasted for several hours until sundown. There was one dead, several wounded on the Estonian side and about 10 killed and more wounded on the Soviet side. Finally the military resistance was ended with negotiations and the Independent Signal Battalion surrendered and was disarmed.^[25]

By 18 June 1940, large-scale military operations for the occupation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were complete.^[26] In the following days, the Soviet troops organised and supported Stalinist "demonstrations" in Tallinn and other larger cities.^[27] Thereafter, state administrations were liquidated and replaced by Soviet cadres, followed by mass repression.^[20] Time magazine reported on 24 June, that "Half a million men and countless tanks" of the Red Army "moved to safeguard [Russia's] frontier against conquest-drunk Germany," one week before the Fall of France.^[28] On 21 June 1940, the

All banks and accounts were essentially nationalised; a lot of industrial machinery was disassembled and relocated to other Soviet territories.[38] Before retreating in 1941, the Red Army, following the scorched earth policies, burnt most industrial constructions, destroying power plants, vehicles and cattle. Millions of dollars worth of goods^{[citation needed]} were allegedly moved from Estonia to Russia during the evacuation of 1941.

There was excess mortality among common people, too, that has been attributed to malnutrition.^[39]

International reaction

Immediately following the June 1940 Estonian occupation by the Soviet Union^{[23][40][41][42]} and incorporation as a result of a Soviet-supported Communist coup d'état,^[29] the only foreign powers to recognise the Soviet annexation were Nazi Germany and Sweden.^[43]

Shipping was nationalized. Ships were ordered to fly the hammer and sickle and head for a Soviet port. August Torma, the envoy appointed by previous Estonian government, sought protection and reassurance for the 20 Estonian ships in British ports. He failed to obtain reassurance, so the majority went to the Soviet Union.^[44]

The Irish experience was different. There was a fight between Peter Kolts, who hoisted the hammer and sickle and Captain Joseph Juriska who wanted to remove it. The Garda Síochána were called. The next day, Justice Michael Lennon sentenced Kolts to a week in jail.^[45] Following this verdict and sentence, the ships in Irish ports choose to remain. The Soviet Union unsuccessfully pursued the issue of ownership through the Irish Courts and made a 'most emphatic' protest to the Irish government.^[46] There were three Estonian ships in Irish ports, plus two from Latvia and one Lithuanian. This had a significant effect on Ireland's ability to continue trading during the war, due to the small size of its own merchant navy.

The

The Russian government and officials maintain that the Soviet annexation of Estonia was legitimate.^[50]

Soviet historiography

Pre-Perestroika Soviet sources reflecting Soviet historiography described the events in 1939 and 1940 as follows: in a former province of the

After Nazi Germany

After re-occupation, the Soviet nationalization policy of 1940 was reimposed, as well as the collectivization of farms.[58] Over 900,000 hectares were expropriated in the few years following reoccupation, while much of that land was given to new settlers from Russia or other locations in the Soviet Union.^[58] Rapid collectivization began in 1946, followed in 1947 by a crackdown against kulak farmers.^[58] The kulak repression started as oppressive taxation, but eventually led to mass deportations.^[58] Those who resisted collectivization were killed or deported.^[58] More than 95% of farms were collectivised by 1951.^[58]

The 1949 mass deportation of about 21,000 people broke the back of the partisan movement. 6,600 partisans gave themselves up in November 1949. Later on, the failure of the Hungarian uprising broke the morale of 700 men still remaining under cover. According to Soviet data, up until 1953 20,351 partisans were defeated. Of these, 1,510 perished in the battles. During that period, 1,728 members of the Red Army, NKVD and the Estonian Police were killed by the "forest brothers". August Sabbe, the last surviving "brother" in Estonia, committed suicide when the KGB tracked him down and attempted to arrest him in 1978. He drowned in a lake, when the KGB agent, disguised as a fisherman, was after him.^[59][60]

During the first post-war decade of Soviet rule, Estonia was governed by Moscow via Russian-born ethnic Estonian functionaries. Born into the families of native Estonians in Russia, the latter had obtained their education in the Soviet Union during the Stalin era. Many of them had fought in the Red Army (in the Estonian Rifle Corps), few of them had mastered the Estonian language.^[61] For the latter reason they were known under a derogatory term "Yestonians", alluding to their Russian accent.

Although the United States and the United Kingdom, the major allies of the USSR against Nazi Germany during the later stages of World War II, both implicitly acknowledged (de facto) the occupation of Estonia by USSR at the Yalta Conference in 1945, both governments, and most of the other western democracies did not recognise it de jure according to the Sumner Welles' declaration of July 23, 1940^[62][63] Some of these countries recognised Estonian diplomats who still functioned in many countries in the name of their former governments. These consuls persisted in this anomalous situation until the ultimate restoration of Estonia's independence in 1991.^[9]

Special care was taken to change the ethnic structure of population,

"In order to carry out demolition works, 15 Party activists and 275 persons from the Destruction Battalion must be mobilised. 15 workers are needed for the execution of each demolition and 10 people are needed for protection.... In order to carry out demolition works, 225 kg of TNT, 150 metres of rope/fuse and 100 primers are needed, since there is no demolition material on the spot. 11 lorries, which are available but which lack petrol, are needed for carrying the ruins away."[67]

Post-Stalin regime

After Stalin's death, the Party membership vastly expanded its social base to include more ethnic Estonians. By the mid-1960s, the percentage of ethnic Estonian membership stabilised near 50%. One positive aspect of the post-Stalin era in Estonia was the regranting of permission in the late 1950s for citizens to make contact with foreign countries. Ties were reactivated with Finland, and in 1965, a ferry service was opened between Tallinn and Helsinki.^[68] President of Finland Urho Kekkonen had visited Tallinn in the previous year and the ferry line is widely credited to Kekkonen.^[68]

Some Estonians began watching Finnish television as the Helsinki television tower broadcast from just 80 kilometres (50 mi) and the signal was strong enough in Tallinn and elsewhere on the north Estonian coast.^[68][69][70] This electronic "window on the West" afforded Estonians more information on current affairs and more access to Western culture and thought than any other group in the Soviet Union. This somewhat more open media environment was important in preparing Estonians for their vanguard role in extending perestroika during the Gorbachev era.

In the late 1970s, Estonian society grew increasingly concerned about the threat of cultural Russification to the Estonian language and national identity. In 1980, Tallinn hosted the sailing events of the 1980 Summer Olympics. By 1981, Russian was taught already in the second grade of Estonian-language primary schools and in some urban areas was also being introduced into Estonian pre-school teaching.

Soviet authorities began to lure in Finnish tourists and the much needed

By the beginning of the Gorbachev era, concern over the cultural survival of the Estonian people had reached a critical point. The ECP remained stable in the early perestroika years but waned in the late 1980s. Other political movements, groupings and parties moved to fill the power vacuum. The first and most important was the

Estonia's "Supreme Soviet" transformed from a powerless rubber stamp institution into an authentic regional lawmaking body. This relatively conservative legislature passed an early declaration of sovereignty (November 16, 1988); a law on economic independence (May 1989) confirmed by the USSR Supreme Soviet that November; a language law making Estonian the official language (January 1989); and local and republic election laws stipulating residency requirements for voting and candidacy (August, November 1989).

Although the majority of Estonia's numerous Soviet-era immigrants did not support full independence, the mostly ethnic Russian immigrant community was divided in terms of opinions on the "sovereign republic". In March 1990, some 18% of Russian-speakers supported the idea of a fully independent Estonia, up from 7% the previous autumn. By early 1990 only a small minority of ethnic Estonians were opposed to full independence.

Restoration of independence

On November 16, 1988, the first freely elected parliament during the Soviet era in Estonia had passed the Estonian Sovereignty Declaration.^[71] On May 8, 1990, the Parliament reinstated the 1938 constitution, and the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic was renamed the Republic of Estonia.^[72] On August 20, 1991, the Estonian Parliament adopted a resolution confirming its independence from the Soviet Union.^[73] First to recognise Estonia as an independent country was Iceland, on August 22, 1991. On September 6, 1991, the State Council of the USSR recognised the independence of Estonia,^[74] immediately followed by recognitions from other countries.

On February 23, 1989, the flag of the Estonian SSR was lowered on Pikk Hermann, and replaced with the blue-black-white flag of Estonia on February 24, 1989. In 1992, Heinrich Mark, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Estonia in Exile,^[75] presented his credentials to the newly elected President of Estonia Lennart Meri. The last Russian troops withdrew from Estonia in August 1994.^[76] The Russian Federation officially ended its military presence in Estonia after it relinquished control of the nuclear reactor facilities in Paldiski in September 1995. Estonia joined the European Union and NATO in 2004.

Geography

Territorial changes

In the aftermath of the Estonian War of Independence, Estonia established control also over

In 1945 the Petseri County was annexed and ceded to the Russian SFSR where it became one of the districts of Pskov Oblast. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Estonia raised the question of a return to the borders under the Treaty of Tartu. Estonia dropped this claim in November 1995.^[77] Estonia and Russia signed and ratified the Estonian-Russian Border Treaty, and it went into effect May 18, 2005: the preamble noted that the international border had partly changed, in accordance with Article 122 of the Estonian Constitution.^[78]

After the restoration of Estonian independence in 1991, there have been some disputes about the Estonian-Russian border in the Narva area, as the new constitution of Estonia (adopted in 1992) recognises the 1920 Treaty of Tartu border to be currently legal. The Russian Federation, however, considers Estonia to be a successor of the Estonian SSR and recognises the 1945 border between two former national republics. Officially, Estonia has no territorial claims in the area,^[79][80] which is also reflected in the new Estonian-Russian border treaty, according to which Ivangorod remains part of Russia. Although the treaty was signed in 2005 by the foreign ministers of Estonia and Russia, Russia took its signature back, after Estonian parliament added a reference to the Tartu Peace Treaty in the preamble of the law ratifying the border treaty. A new treaty was signed by the foreign ministers in 2014.

Politics

Government

The legislative body of the Estonian SSR was the Supreme Soviet that represented the highest body of state power accordance with the Constitution.

The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet was the permanent body of the Supreme Council. It consisted of a

Military

The Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic did not have armed forces of its own. Because of the strategic geographical location, Estonia was considered as a strategic zone for the Soviet Armed Forces. The territory was therefore heavily militarised and added to the Soviet Baltic Military District which included a strong presence of the Soviet Air Defence, Navy and also the Strategic Rocket Forces. The Baltic Military District included the following units:

• Ground units:
  • 144th Guards Motor Rifle Division, (Tallinn)
  • 182nd Guard Motorised Rifle Regiment (Klooga)
  • 188th Guard Motorised Rifle Regiment (Klooga)
  • 254th Guard Motorised Rifle Regiment (Tallinn)
  • 148th Independent Recon-Battalion (Klooga)
  • 295th Independent Engineer-Battalion (Klooga)
  • 228th Tank Regiment (Keila)
  • 450th Artillery Regiment (Klooga)
• Air units:
  • 170th Naval Shturmovik Aviation Regiment (Ämari)
  • 321st Naval Shturmovik Aviation Regiment (Ämari)
  • 366th Interceptor Aviation Regiment (Pärnu)
  • 384th Interceptor Aircraft Regiment
  • (Tallinn)
  • 425th Interceptor Aviation Regiment (
    Haapsalu
    )
  • 655th Interceptor Aviation Regiment (Pärnu)
  • 656th Interceptor Aviation Regiment (Tapa)
  • 66th Soviet Attack Air Regiment (Kunda)
  • 192nd Military Transport Aviation Regiment (Tartu)
  • 196th Military Transport Aviation Regiment (Tartu)
  • 132nd Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment (Tartu)
  • 2nd Air-Defence Army
• Naval units:
  • Baltic Fleet (Tallinn-Paldiski)

Military training was provided by the Tallinn Higher Military-Political Construction School.

Economy

In the Soviet system, all local proceeds were initially appropriated into the federal budget at

A number of large-volume capital investments were undertaken by the Soviet central power to exploit resources on Estonian territory of oil shale, lumber and, later, uranium ore, as part of the postwar reconstruction program.^[64][96] The first Five Year Plan, called the fourth Five Year Plan, prescribed a total of 3.5 billion roubles of investments for enterprises in Estonia.

One of the important goals in this reformation of Estonia's economy was providing economic support to Leningrad. To this end, 40% of the total capital investments of the fourth Five Year Plan to be spent in Estonia were intended for investments in oil shale mining infrastructure. Gas-rich oil shale was delivered to Leningrad via a specially built pipeline starting from 1948; gas from this very same source did not reach Tallinn until 1953. In 1961, 62.5% of the gas produced was still delivered to Leningrad.

By the end of 1954, 227,000 apartments in Leningrad were supplied with gas using the output of Kohtla-Järve; only about three percent of that, or 6,041 apartments, had been supplied in Tallinn.^[97]

Demographics

Soviet deportations and repressions

Mass deportations of ethnic Estonians during the Soviet era together with migration into Estonia from other parts of the Soviet Union resulted in the proportion of ethnic Estonians in the country decreasing from 88% in 1934 to 62% in 1989.

This decline in percentage was especially severe among the urban and young populations. Within 11 years between 1959 and 1970 the proportion of Estonians in Tallinn declined by as much as 4%, from 60% to 56% of the total population.[100] Population growth throughout the existence of the Estonian SSR was mainly due to immigration from other regions of the Soviet Union.^[101] Although the percentage of Estonians in the total population of the Estonian SSR declined due to Soviet migration policies, the total number of ethnic Estonians increased over the Soviet period as a whole.^[102] This was due to a positive natural growth rate of some 1 or 2 thousand per year. As an example, in 1970, the number of live births of Estonians was 14,429 and the number of deaths was 12,356, giving natural increase of 2,073 ethnic Estonians.^[102]

In 1940–1941 and 1944–1951 during the

On July 19, 1940, the

800 Estonian officers, about half of the total, were executed, arrested or starved to death in prison camps.^{[citation needed]}

A total of 59,732 people is estimated to have been deported from Estonia during the period between July 1940 and June 1941.^[106] This included 8 former heads of state and 38 ministers from Estonia, 3 former heads of state and 15 ministers from Latvia, and the then president, 5 prime ministers and 24 other ministers from Lithuania.^[107]

The Soviet 1940 occupation of Estonia decimated the local economy, as Moscow began nationalizing private industries and collectivizing smallholding farms.^[58] Most of the larger businesses and half of Estonia's housing were nationalised.^[58] Savings were destroyed with an imposed artificially low exchange rate for the Estonian kroon to the Soviet rouble.^[58]

Repressions against ethnic Russians

According to Sergei Isakov, almost all societies, newspapers, organizations of ethnic Russians in Estonia were closed and their activists persecuted.^[108]

• Sergei Zarkevich, an activist involved with Russian organizations in Estonia. The owner of the "Russian Book" store: arrest order issued by NKVD on June 23, 1940, executed on March 25, 1941.
• Russian Imperial Army
  . Arrest order issued by NKVD on July 1, 1940. Further fate unknown.
• Sergei Klensky, one of the former leaders of the Russian Peasants Labor Party. Arrested on July 22. On November 19, 1940, sentenced to 8 years in a prison camp. Further fate unknown.
• Mikhail Aleksandrov
• Arseni Zhitkov.^[109]

Other ethnic Russians in Estonia arrested and executed by different Soviet War Tribunals in 1940–1941: Ivan Salnikov, Mihhail Arhipo, Vassili Belugin, Vladimir Strekoytov, Vasili Zhilin, Vladimir Utekhin, Sergei Samennikov, Ivan Meitsev, Ivan Yeremeyev, Konstantin Bushuyev, Yegor Andreyev, Nikolai Sausailov, Aleksandr Serpukhov, Konstantin Nosov, Aleksandr Nekrasov, Nikolai Vasilev-Muroman, Aleksei Sinelshikov, Pyotr Molonenkov, Grigory Varlamov, Stepan Pylnikov, Ivan Lishayev, Pavel Belousev, Nikolai Gusev, Leonid Sakharov, Aleksander Chuganov, Fyodor Dobrovidov, Lev Dobek, Andrei Leontev, Ivan Sokolov, Ivan Svetlov, Vladimir Semyonov, Valentin Semenov-Vasilev, Vasili Kamelkov, Georgi Lokhov, Aleksei Forlov, Ivan Ivanov, Vasili Karamsin, Aleksandr Krasilnikov, Aleksandr Zhukov, etc.^[110]

Urbanization

Immediately after the war, major immigration projects were undertaken, labelled "brotherly aid under Stalinist nationality policies". For postwar reconstruction, hundreds of thousands of

Sports

Tallinn was selected as host of the

While views diverge on history of Estonia, the core of the controversy lies in the varying interpretation of historical events and agreements during and after World War II.

During the time of glasnost and the reassessment of Soviet history in the USSR, the USSR condemned the 1939 secret protocol between Nazi Germany and itself that had led to the invasion and occupation of the three Baltic countries.^[113] The collapse of the Soviet Union led to the restoration of the Republic of Estonia's sovereignty.

According to the European Court of Human Rights,^[114] Government of Estonia,^[115] European Union,^[116] United States^[117] Estonia remained occupied by the Soviet Union until restoration of its independence in 1991 and the 48 years of Soviet occupation and annexation is not rendered legal by most international governments.

An article in The Wall Street Journal claims that Russian reconsideration of the Soviet annexation of the Baltic states raised concerns among "some historians" that "Kremlin is—quite literally—trying to rewrite history in a way that risks breeding ultranationalism and whitewashing the darkest chapters of Russia's past."^[118]

The Russian government maintains that the Soviet annexation of the Baltic states was legitimate^[119] and that the Soviet Union annexed those countries due to the Nazi threat at that time.^[120][121] It is commonly stated^{[citation needed]} that the Soviet troops had entered the Baltics in 1940 following the agreements and with the consent of the then governments of the Baltic republics. They state that the USSR was not in a state of war and was not waging any combat activities on the territory of the three Baltic states against them, and the word 'occupation' cannot be used.^[122][123]

See also

• Commune of the Working People of Estonia
• Demographics of Estonia
• History of Estonia
• List of Chairmen of the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic
• List of Chairmen of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic
• Museum of Occupations
  , a project by the Kistler-Ritso Estonian Foundation
• Republics of the Soviet Union

Notes