The Restoration of Estonian Independence

The Estonian struggle for independence and nationhood has not only been political but also existential. Situated in a strategic corner of Europe, vulnerable to the geopolitical ambitions of their larger neighbors, Estonians have seen statehood as their only guarantee of survival as a people.

Dominated since the 13th century by Danes, Germans, Poles, Swedes and Russians, Estonia was established as a modern nation-state on February 24,1918. However, from the very beginning Estonians had to fight for their independence against the imperialist ambitions of both Germany and Bolshevist Russia. The war of independence ended with the signing of the 1920 Tartu Peace Treaty, in which Soviet Russia recognized Estonia's independence unconditionally and for all time. This treaty remains the cornerstone of Estonian-Russian relations today.

However, under the secret protocols of the 1939 Nazi-Soviet Pact, Estonia was invaded and occupied by the Soviet Union on June 17,1940. A reign of terror ensued: thousands of Estonians were arrested and killed, while tens of thousands were deported. The entire Estonian political and social infrastructure was destroyed and replaced with Soviet institutions.

After Hitler's Germany attacked the Soviet Union, Estonia was occupied by German armed forces from 1941 to 1944 when the Soviets again took over.

For the next fifty years, the Soviet regime conducted a campaign of demographic genocide to colonize Estonia, to russify and assimilate the people. Even so, guerrillastyle resistance was not crushed until the early fifties. The vehemently anti-Communist Estonian refugee community in the West continued to demand an end to the Soviet occupation of their homeland. The de jure continuity of the Republic of Estonia was recognized by Western powers, who refused to view occupied Estonia as being legally part of the Soviet Union.

Despite the all-pervasive Communist ideology which tried to stamp out independent thinking and national identity, Estonians continued to resist, shifting to the preservation of cultural identity and family values. Traditional song festivals, organized every five years, offered an opportunity to express national unity. Various underground political activists and groups appealed for the implementation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Helsinki Accords. In 1974 two groups addressed a memorandum to the UN, asking for free elections and the withdrawal of Soviet troops. In 1979, 45 persons from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia signed the "Baltic Appeal" bringing attention to the illegal incorporation of the Baltic States into the Soviet Union.

When, after the end of the more moderate Khruschev era, the repression of human rights activists became harsher in the seventies, many were arrested. Some ended up serving consecutive long terms of imprisonment in the Soviet gulag, while Tartu University professor Jüri Kukk met a martyr's death in 1981. In the West, the Estonian diaspora worked with human rights organizations to free the prisoners of conscience, simultaneously keeping alive the idea of Estonian independence. Despite rigid political control by the Soviet authorities, contacts on various levels developed between Estonia and the outside world. Western broadcasts such as BBC, Voice of America and Radio Free Europe gained a wide listening audience. In the seventies and eighties a window to the West was offered by Finnish TV. At the same time, the Soviet authorities intensified their russification policies, which in turn brought about unrest among students and then intellectuals. By the early eighties, people were ready for a change to take place.

Having reached a total economic and political impasse, the Soviet leadership was forced to look for new ways to keep the empire together. Despite the official aims of Mikhail Gorbachev's restructuring of the Soviet political system (perestroika), glasnost offered an opportunity for various democratic forces to begin voicing protests against environmental damage, forced industrialization, russification and the repression of national culture.

In May of 1987, students and intellectuals initiated a successful protest movement against Moscow's plans for large-scale, ecologically disastrous mining of phosphorites in north-eastern Estonia. Out of this effort grew the Estonian Greens Movement. The release of a number of political prisoners from the Gulag beginning in the mideighties resulted in a new level of activity. In the summer of 1987, the MRP-AEG, a group demanding the disclosure and publication of the secret protocols of the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop (Nazi-Soviet) Pact was formed. On the anniversary of this Pact, August 23, 1987, the MRP-AEG leaders Tiit Madisson, Lagle Parek, Heiki Ahonen, Arvo Pesti and others organized the first open mass demonstration against Soviet rule in Estonia. Despite threats from Moscow, this pivotal demonstration, which coincided with similar ones in Riga and Vilnius, brought several thousand people to Hirve Park in Tallinn. The resulting world-wide publicity also reflected the supportive role played by the Baltic refugee community in the West in informing the media and in encouraging Western government leaders to issue statements of support for the peaceful demonstrators.

The Estonian IME program for economic autonomy associated with Edgar Savisaar, Mikk Titma, Siim Kallas and Tiit Made won wide-spread acclaim in September 1987 as an attempt to solve national problems by making the Estonian contribution to progressive economic reforms in the Soviet Union.

The Estonian Heritage Society (Eesti Muinsuskaitse Selts), organized near the end of 1987 by Trivimi Velliste, Mart Laar, Illar Hallaste, et al and supported by a wide-spread network of local clubs worked to revive Estonian national history and cultural traditions as well as to combat Soviet propaganda by restoring churches and monuments destroyed by the communist regime. It served as an important conduit for the general political mobilization of national sentiments. Under pressure from the Heritage Society and similar unofficial organizations, various national anniversaries began to be celebrated publicly. At the same time, the Lutheran Church became more active and other religious movements gained momentum.

The confrontation between the national-democratic opposition and Soviet authorities culminated in February 1988. In Tartu, the demonstration commemorating the Tartu Peace Treaty of 1920 was broken up by militia using clubs and dogs. Nevertheless, just three weeks later, thousands gathered in Tallinn to mark Estonian Independence Day. Realizing that the use of force was no longer a viable option, the authorities offered a dialogue, inviting the demonstrators into the Estonia Concert Hall and other locations. But it was already too late to turn the tide.

The events of February 24 marked the beginning of a new approach by the authorities to control growing popular dissent by raising hopes that many grievances could be redressed within the framework of the existing system. Partly due to manoeuvring on the part of the authorities, partly due to tactical differences supported by different segments of society, two general approaches began to develop which continue to be few even today - one on hand a radical, uncompromising stand, on the other, a moderate, step by-step path.

The independence movement became ever more organized in the spring of 1988. April 1-2, 1988, the representatives of the creative unions, meeting in Joint Plenary Session, discussed historical and current problems m Estonia. Topics receiving the most attention were the right of Estonians to use their mother tongue, the limiting of immigration, and the disclosure of Soviet crimes. There was, in effect, an expression of no confidence in the Estonian political leadership, which was dominated by empire-minded thinking. The speeches and statements of the Plenum circulated widely in Estonia. During a live TV discussion on April 13, 1988, the idea to form an Estonian movement in support of perestroika was first mentioned. The initiators of the Popular Front of Estonia (Eestimaa Rahvarinne) concept, Edgar Savisaar, Marju Lauristin, Viktor Palm and others, at first advocated Estonian sovereignty within a redefined Soviet confederation under a new treaty of union. With the successive development of a loose network of Popular Front support groups throughout the country, the average Estonian found a way to express his political sentiments without risking overtly dangerous consequences via this legal mass movement.

The Communist authorities could no longer ignore growing popular pressure. In June 1988 the devoutly pro-empire local Communist Party chief Karl Vaino was replaced by the reform-minded Soviet Ambassador to Nicaragua Vaino Väljas, the former ideological secretary of the Estonian CP. Gorbachev needed someone who could avert a Nagorno-Karabakh type of bloodbath as well as prevent the tearing off of Estonia from the Soviet Union. The removal of Vaino initially alleviated the crisis. Before the Communist Party Congress in Moscow, the Popular Front leaders staged a mass pro-perestroika rally in Tallinn to send off delegates to the Communist Party Congress in Moscow and to demonstrate confidence in the Estonian Communist Party's new leadership. But the Party itself began to fall apart quickly. Some of the Estonian members declared that they were fighting for Estonian national interests and tried to contribute to the solving of Estonian problems. Others (mostly Russians) openly sided with imperialminded forces in Moscow. Yet others used the opportunity to leave the Party without facing repression's. The disintegration of the local Communist Party culminated in the spring of 1990.

As a counter-weight to the growing pro-independence movement, leaders of the Soviet military-industrial complex organized an Interfront movement to preserve the Soviet Empire and their own privileged position. From the beginning, Interfront assumed an aggressive attitude, to the extent of openly calling upon the Russian-speaking population to take up arms.

June 1988 marked the beginning of what-became known as the "singing revolution". An annual Tallinn city festival turned into several all-night songfests in which thousands of people of all ages waved national flags. Throughout the summer, MRP-AEG activists pushed for the release of well-known political prisoners Mart Niklus and Enn Tarto by organizing daily picketing in front of the Supreme Court building. These vigils became a rallying point for building up a more organized radical opposition. Already in January 1988,14 individuals had signed a daring initiative to form a political opposition party.

On August 20, the Estonian National Independence Party (ENIP) was founded in the Pilistvere church by former political prisoners, human rights activists, representatives of independent youth groups and intellectuals. ENIP declared as its objective the unconditional restoration of Estonian independence based on the legal continuity of the pre-war Republic of Estonia. Having no illusions about perestroika, ENIP counted upon the imminent disintegration of the Soviet Union. From this point on, the radical approach was spearheaded by a political party.

The reformist direction also took on a more stable structure. On October 1, 1988, the Popular Front was formally established with the participation of many well-known intellectuals, artists and scientists. As a quasi-official movement, the Popular Front had already displayed a high level of organizational skills at home and had gained substantial media attention abroad. Despite not having a formal membership, the movement achieved great popularity among the Estonians, many of whom formed local support groups. Among the largest events its leaders staged was the rally "Estonian Song" (Eestimaa Laul) held at the end of the "hot summer" on September 11, 1988. 300.000 people, or nearly a third of the Estonian population, gathered at the traditional songfest site in Tallinn. Here the head of the Heritage Society, Trivimi Velliste, expressed for the first time in front of such a large gathering the demand for the complete restoration of Estonian independence. At the time, this demand seemed to many to be too bold and even dangerous. The Popular Front did not support the so-called radicals. Instead it set out to take advantage of the opportunities offered by perestroika by trying to democratize the existing Soviet institutions.

On November 16, 1988, the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR adopted a declaration of national sovereignty under which Estonian laws were to have precedence over the all-Union ones. This sent a signal of rebellion throughout the structures of the Soviet empire, bringing about the beginning of its eventual collapse.

The progress achieved by the Estonian national movement in one year was highlighted by the celebration of the national independence day, February 24,1989. In contrast to the events of the previous year, this time Estonian official leaders (Arnold Rüütel, Indrek Toome) and Popular Front representatives hoisted the blue-black-and white national flag to the tower of Toompea Castle, the ancient seat of Estonian government.

The same day, at the Estonia Concert Hall, the Estonian Heritage Society, ENIP and the Estonian Christian Democratic League (founded at the end of 1988) launched the Citizens' Committees Movement with the objective of registering all pre-war citizens of the Republic of Estonia and their descendants in order to convene a Congress of Estonia. The emphasis was clearly put on the illegal nature of the Soviet system. People were reminded that Estonia had never joined the Soviet Union freely but was occupied and annexed by force. There was a sudden awakening to the truth that hundreds of thousands inhabitants of Estonia had not ceased to be citizens of Estonian Republic which still existed de jure, recognized by the majority of Western nations. Despite the hostility of the official press and intimidation by Soviet Estonian authorities, dozens of local citizens' committees were elected by popular initiative all over the country. These quickly organized into a nation-wide structure and by the beginning of 1990, over 900.000 persons had registered themselves as citizens of the Republic of Estonia. Many thousands of Estonian refugees living abroad also registered. Estonian refugee organisations and the new independent movements at home had joined forces.

By late summer of 1989, different segments of the Estonian population had been politically mobilized by different and competing actors. Popular opinion was rapidly shifting to the goal of full independence. The Popular Front's new proposal, to declare the independence of Estonia, as a new, so-called third republic whose citizens would be all those living there at the moment, found little support, however. As the political situation became more confrontational, strikes staged by Interfront threatened to cripple the entire Estonian economy.

On August 23, the 50th anniversary of the Nazi-Soviet Pact, a 600 kilometre human chain reaching from Tallinn to Vilnius focused international attention on the aspirations of the Baltic nations. Over a million people participated in what was probably the largest demonstration organised in post-war Europe. The Baltic question grew ever more international in scope, becoming a topic of negotiations between Gorbachev and the western world. Further impetus for Baltic developments was provided by the tearing down of the Berlin Wall and events throughout Eastern Europe.

As 1989 drew to a close, the disintegration of the Estonian Communist Party quietly started, culminating in the spring of 1990. Thus, at the beginning of 1990, the scene was set for vigorous confirmation of the goals of national independence and democracy but also for more dramatic rivalry between the reformists operating through the established Soviet institutions and radicals striving to set up an alternative basis for the restoration of independent statehood.

Elections to the Congress of Estonia were held February 24, with nearly 90 per cent of the eligible voters participating. Twelve hundred candidates representing thirty political parties and factions contested 464 seats in 110 multiseat districts. Thirty-five delegates were elected from the refugee communities abroad.

The Congress of Estonia convened for the first time in Tallinn March 11-12, 1990, passing 14 declarations and resolutions. A 70 member standing committee (Eesti Komitee) was elected with Tunne Kelam as its chairman. Clearly, at that moment among Estonians, the Congress of Estonia enjoyed a high degree of legitimacy as a political institution. In fact, a number of delegates even called for the proclamation of the restoration of the Republic of Estonia on the basis of legal continuity as well as the transfer of all power to the Congress of Estonia then and there. The majority, however, held such a move to be unrealistic or premature.

Just as the Congress of Estonia convened for the first time, the Lithuanian Supreme Soviet declared the restoration of independence of Lithuania. This act had the added effect of increasing the institutional prestige of the Estonian Supreme Soviet which was scheduled to have its elections a week later. While more nearly democratic than previous such elections, members of ENIP and some other pro-independence groups did not participate in what they considered still Soviet, not Estonian, elections.

Candidates endorsed by the Peoples' Front won the largest bloc of seats in the Supreme Soviet. The leader of the Popular Front, Edgar Savisaar, became Chairman of the Council of Ministers. A sizeable percentage of the seats were won by empire-minded supporters of Interfront because the elections were carried out under Soviet laws and procedures with the participation of all residents of Estonia including the Soviet occupation troops.

When it first convened on March 30, 1990, the Estonian Supreme Soviet decided to begin to restore the independence of Estonia, but not to follow the Lithuanian model of proclaiming independence. A resolution, "On the State Status of Estonia," passed the same day proclaimed a period of transition from unlawful Soviet rule "to terminate with the formation of constitutional organs of state power." During the first several days of the session, the Supreme Soviet passed several resolutions in the spirit of co-operation with the Congress of Estonia. It recognized the Congress of Estonia as "the restorer of the state power of the Republic of Estonia" and declared willingness to cooperate in restoring the Republic of Estonia on the basis of continuity.

However, due to differing constituencies, ambitions and goals, the relationship between the Supreme Soviet and the Congress of Estonia became strained almost immediately and remained so throughout the transition period. Nevertheless, the political and moral pressure generated by the Congress had a marked effect on the decisions passed by the Supreme Soviet as well as on public opinion. As shown by the special referendum of March 1991, the majority of Estonians came to favor full independence. But the political struggle between those favoring restoration of Estonian independence on the basis of legal and historic continuity and those advocating the declaration of a new independent Estonia lasted until August 1991.

Interfront became increasingly active, organizing a demonstration on Toompea May 15 which turned violent with an attempt to take over the seat of government and tear down the national flag. Responding to the Prime Minister's radio appeal for help, hundreds of Estonians rushed to the scene and forced the demonstrators to disband peacefully, averting a communist coup.

1990 was marked by increasing hostility and confrontation between the Baltic States and Moscow. The economic blockade imposed by the central authorities caused great hardship for Estonia.

The political crisis in the Baltic's culminated in January 1991. Bloody crackdowns by Soviet authorities in Lithuania and Latvia shocked the world and stimulated the Estonian leaders who invited Russian leader Boris Yeltsin to Estonia. In an atmosphere made increasingly tense by the economic blockade and Interfront provocation's, the signing of the "Treaty on the Basis of Interstate Relations Between the Federal Socialist Republic and the republic of Estonia" was viewed as a form of protection.

Dramatic developments in the Soviet Union itself resumed in the three Baltic countries finally regaining their independence. The attempted coup of August 19, 1991, toppled Gorbachev from power and threatened the Baltics with military intervention and removal of their elected officials. At this fateful moment, various political forces m Estonia united to defend independence. The Chairmen of the Estonian Supreme Soviet and the Congress of Estonia issued a joint appeal to the Estonian people and leaders of both parliamentary-type bodies met and worked out a consensus on national reconciliation.

Thus, on August 20,1991, Estonia did not issue a declaration of independence but a decision on the re-establishment of independence on the basis of historical continuity of statehood. The compromise agreement of August 1991 also called for a Constitutional Assembly (Põhiseaduse Assamblee) to be formed on the basis of parity between the Supreme Soviet and the Congress of Estonia. Western nations began reinstating diplomatic ties with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Iceland led the way (August 22), Russia and Hungary followed (August 24). On September 6, 1991, the Soviet Union recognized the independence of all three Baltic States. There followed a virtual avalanche of nations recognizing or reinstating diplomatic ties with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. In September, these three former members of the League of Nations became members of the United Nations.

With these historic events, Estonian independence could be considered restored. Now began the painstaking work of ensuring and securing this fragile independence and eliminating the Soviet legacy in Estonia by restoring statehood and the rule of law, and building up legal state structures. The most significant mileposts were: leaving the rouble zone through monetary reform (June 20, 1992), the approval of a democratic new constitution by national referendum (June 28, 1992), and the carrying out of the first fully free and democratic national parliamentary and presidential elections (September 20, 1992) since the Soviet take-over.