People's Parliament

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the 1940
occupation by the Soviet Union puppet legislatures. For the Channel 4 deliberative democracy TV program, see The People's Parliament
.

People's Parliament

Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR
Elections
First election
14–15 July 1940

The People's Parliaments or People's Assemblies (

occupation by the Soviet Union in July 1940.[1] In all three countries, the elections to the parliaments followed the same script, dictated by functionaries in Moscow and borrowed from the examples of the incorporation of the Belarusian and Ukrainian lands into Soviet Union in the aftermath of the invasion of Poland in 1939.[2]

Occupation

Main article: Occupation of the Baltic states

On 15 and 16 June 1940, the Soviet Union presented ultimatums to all three Baltic states, which were then invaded by the Red Army. After the invasions, the previous governments of the Baltic states were replaced by pro-Communist "People's Governments". The new governments then dismissed the existing parliaments (Riigikogu in Estonia, Seimas in Lithuania) and announced new elections to the "People's Parliaments" to be held on 14 and 15 July 1940 (originally, the election in Lithuania was to be held only on 14 July, but due to low turnout was also extended to 15 July).[3]

Elections

Results of the
show elections[4]
Country Turnout Votes for the
communist slate
Estonia 81.6% 92.2%
Latvia 94.7% 97.6%
Lithuania 95.5% 99.2%
See also: 1940 Estonian parliamentary election, 1940 Latvian parliamentary election, and 1940 Lithuanian parliamentary election

Only candidates proposed by legally functioning institutions could run in each election. By that time all non-communist parties and organizations were outlawed.

rigged results, Working People's Leagues candidates received over 90% of the vote. The Soviet envoy in London released election results even before the voting booths closed.[3][7]

Parliament sessions and aftermath

All three parliaments convened on 21 July 1940. In their first sessions all three parliaments unanimously adopted resolutions to convert their states to

Lithuanian SSR. Another decree resolved to petition the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union to accept these newly established SSRs into the Soviet Union. The parliaments also elected their representatives to go to Moscow and personally present their case in front of the Supreme Soviet.[3] Other acts adopted in these early sessions concerned nationalization of virtually all larger enterprises, real estate, and land, and other Sovietization policies.[4]
The laws were adopted unanimously, with virtually no discussion.

On 1 August, the Baltic delegates arrived to Moscow and petitioned the Supreme Soviet. After apparent deliberation, the Lithuanian request was granted on 3 August, the Latvian request on 5 August, and the Estonian request on 6 August.[4] As a result, the People's Parliaments renamed themselves Supreme Soviets of the respective SSRs. Thus the process of legitimizing the occupation was complete.[3] Even after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia officially maintains that all three Baltic states voluntarily joined the Union.[8]

See also

References

  1. ISBN 1-56802-365-0
    . In July Soviet authorities held a rigged election for a puppet legislature, the People's Parliament
  2. ISBN 978-90-420-2225-6
    .
  3. ^
    ISBN 0-8133-1839-4
    .
  4. ^
    ISBN 0-520-08228-1
    .
  5. ISBN 0-313-32355-0
    .
  6. ^ "RUSSIA: Justice in The Baltic". Time. 19 August 1940. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007.
  7. ISBN 0-912881-00-3
    .
  8. ISBN 0-275-98362-5
    .
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