Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic

The Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, short: Estonian SSR (Template:Lang-et, short: Eesti NSV; Template:Lang-ru) was a self-proclaimed Soviet republic (Template:Lang-et) in 1918-1919, short-lived Soviet-backed independent state in 1940 and a republic of the U.S.S.R. that succeeded it between 1940-1941 and 1944-1991.

Soviet power in Estonia, which was a province of the Russian Empire, was established in the end of October 1917. Estonian Soviet republic was proclaimed in Narva on November 29 1918, but fell to counter-revolutionaries and White movement in 1919. According to modern Estonian and Western accounts the Republic of Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union in June 1940,, , While Soviet and Russian sources state, that in June 1940 Estonian workers overthrew fascist dictatorship and restored the Soviet power. The Estonian SSR was proclaimed on July 211940 and officially became a part of the Soviet Union on August 6. Its territory was conquered by Nazi Germany (see Occupation of Estonia by Nazi Germany) from 1941 to 1944. After the World War II Estonia remained to be a republic of the Soviet Union as Estonian SSR. On September 61991, the USSR Supreme Council recognized the independence of Estonia. First freely elected parliament during the Soviet era in Estonia had passed independence resolutions on May 8, 1990, and renamed Estonian SSR to the Republic of Estonia. On August 20, 1991 Estonian parliament issued the Declaration of Independence from the Soviet Union, followed by the international recognitions of the Republic of Estonia over the next couple of weeks.

The United States, United Kingdom and other western powers considered the annexation of Estonia by USSR illegal following the Stimson Doctrine — a stance that made the doctrine an established precedent of international law. They retained diplomatic relations with the exiled representatives of the independent Republic of Estonia, never formally recognized the annexation of Estonia

Russia has denied it illegally annexed Estonia in 1940.

Creation

The USSR had installed military bases in Estonia after the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany had divided countries located between them into "spheres of special interest" according to the August 23, 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and its secret protocol. On June 161940, the Soviet Union presented ultimatum, demanding the replacement of the Estonian government and free access for Soviet troops. On June 17, 1940, the Red Army emerged from these military bases in Estonia and, aided by additional 90,000 of Soviet troops, invaded the country, occupying the territories of Republic of Estonia,, and organizing and supporting communist protests all ower the country. The Estonian authorities acceded to the Soviet demands, and on June 21 President Konstantin Päts (deported to Ufa on July 30 and later arrested) formed the new government under Prime Minister Johannes Vares. The extraordinary single-party parliamentary election authorized by the new government took place on July 14. People were forced to vote under the threat of prosecution, and the communist "Union of the Estonian Working People" won the absolute majority of seats. On July 21 the parliament (Riigivolikogu) proclaimed Estonian SSR, and, despite the promises given before the election, petitioned to join the Soviet Union on July 22. The Estonian SSR was formally annexed by the Soviet Union (USSR) on August 6, 1940, and nominally became the 16th constituent republic of the USSR. (On July 16, 1956, the Karelo-Finnish SSR was demoted to the Karelian ASSR; from then on until 1991, the Estonian SSR was considered the 15th constituent republic.) Thus, according to some sources (mainly Soviet and Russian) and the official Russian position, Estonia voluntarily joined the Soviet Union, while according to others and the official Estonian position, it was occupied and forcibly incorporated.

Further information: Occupation of Baltic Republics

Development

On July 231940, parliament of the Estonian SSR nationalized all land, banks and major industrial enterprises in Estonia. Peasants were allowed to use only small parcels of land. Later small businesses were also nationalized. The occupation brought with it colonisation According to some Western scholars, relations between the Soviet Union and Estonian SSR were those of internal colonialism.

• the earlier economic structures constructed mostly in 1920-1940 were purposefully destroyed;
• new production structures were constructed only to satisfy interests of the colonial power, assigning priorities according to an all-union production chain network;
• local environmental resources were used in an extensive, robber-like manner;
• the employment and migration policies were tailored towards assimilating the native population;
• former economic ties of Estonia were cut off and Estonian economy was isolated from non-Soviet markets.

All bank accounts were essentially destroyed; a lot of industrial machinery was disassembled and relocated to other Soviet territories. Before retreating in 1941, Red Army, following the scorched earth policies, burnt most industrial constructions, destroying power plants, vehicles and cattle. Millions of dollars worth of goods were also moved from Estonia to Russia under the pretext of "evacuation" without providing any compensation.

Immediately after the war, major immigration projects were undertaken, labelled "brotherly aid under Stalinist nationality policies". For postwar reconstruction, hundreds of thousands of Russophones were relocated into Estonia, mainly the cities. For example, during the years of 1945-1950, the total urban population count grew from 267,000 to 516,000; over 90% of the increase being fresh immigrants.

A special care was taken to change the ethnic structure of population, especially in Northeastern Estonia. For example, a policy of prioritising immigrants before returning war refugees in assigning dwelling quarters was adopted.

Collectivization

On May 211947, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (bolsheviks) authorized collectivization of Estonian agriculture. Initially it was implemented with great difficulties in the Baltic republics but it was facilitated by mass deportations of dissident farmers, termed 'kulaks'. As a result, by the end of April 1949, half of the remaining individual farmers in Estonia had joined kolkhozes. 99.3 percent of farms had been collectivised by 1957

Soviet capital investments in Estonia

Cities, such as Tallinn, destroyed during the World War II, were rebuilt. In 1955 TV Centre was built in Tallinn, that began TV broadcasts on June 29 of that year. During preparations to the 1980 Summer Olympics (Tallinn was selected the host for sailing events) sports and general infrastructure buildings were built, including Tallinn TV Tower, Pirita Yachting Centre and Linnahall. Tallinn Song Grounds, the host for song festivals, were built in 1960

Industry

In order to more efficiently extract Estonia's natural resources, most importantly, oil shale and lumber, later also uranium ore, a number of large-volume capital investments were undertaken by the Soviet central power on Estonian territories, mostly under the guise of "postwar reconstruction". The first Five Year Plan of the occupation, 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. Gasified oil shale was delivered to Leningrad via a specially built pipeline starting from 1948; gas from this very same source didn't reach Tallinn until 1953. Even in 1961, 62.5% of the gas produced was delivered to Leningrad.

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

Demographic changes

Population of the Estonian SSR grew from 1,054 million in 1940 to 1,565,662 million in 1989.. Natural growth rate of population (i.e. number of births per thousand minus number of deaths per thousand) of Estonia during the Soviet rule was always positive,.

While the Baltic republics had the highest living standard in the Soviet Union and high industrialization rates, ethnic Estonians in Estonian SSR (similarly to Latvians in Latvian SSR, but unlike Lithuanians in Lithuanian SSR) suffered sharp decline of their percentage in the total population due to the large-scale immigration, mostly of Russians. While in 1934 the Estonians comprised 92 percent of the total population of Estonia, by 1959 and 1970 their number had decreased to 75 and 68 percent, respectively (and to 61.5% by 1989). The decline in percentage was especially severe as to urban and young population, which made it difficult for Estonians to maintain their ethnic identity. Within 11 years between 1959 and 1970 the proportion of Estonians in Tallinn declined as much as from 60 to 56 percent. Population growth throughout the existence of the Estonian SSR was mainly due to immigration from other regions of the Soviet Union. Although the percentage of Estonians in the total population of the Estonian SSR declined due to Soviet immigration policies, total number of ethnic Estonians was increasing in the Soviet period. This was due to the positive natural growth rate. The increase was some 1 or 2 thousand per year. For example, in 1970 number of live births of Estonians was 14,429 and number of deaths was 12,356, giving natural increase of 2,073 ethnic Estonians.

In 1940-1941 and 1944-1951 during the Soviet deportations from Estonia tens of thousands of Estonian citizens were forcibly resettled to Siberia. During the first year of occupation, 1940-1941, alone, an estimated 43,900 lives were irrecoverably lost, not counting refugees. The following three-year Nazi occupation brought with it a loss of 32,740 lives, again not counting refugees. Another 16,000 people deaths were caused through Soviet repressions in the years following 1944.

See also: Soviet deportations from Estonia

Healthcare in Estonian SSR

In the year 1950, the major problems meriting medical research were declared to be tuberculosis, traumatism, occupational diseases and dysentery. In comparison to the war years, birth rate had increased, mortality (including infant mortality) decreased, and the birth rate again exceeded the death rate.

Despite the immense needs for research, the Faculty of Medicine at Tartu State University (now University of Tartu) suffered from major repressions, culminating after the March plenary session of 1950 . Altogether, 56 staff of the university were repressed; in the Faculty of Medicine, 12 professors of 17 were removed from their positions. They were replaced with less skilled but politically more trusted medical doctors.

Only after the Khrushchev Thaw period of 1956 started the healthcare networks to stabilise. Due to natural development, science and technology advanced and popular welfare increased. All demographic indicators improved: birth rate increased, mortality decreased. Healthcare became freely available to everybody.

On a downside, closed nature of the Soviet system severely restricted advances of science. Isolation from Western medical journals brought with it technical lag. International contacts were insignificant and more dependent on personal position in Party than actual skill.

Due to Soviet alcohol policies, alcoholism became a growing health issue. In order to save face, the Party organs attempted to cover it up; up to year 1985 (see glasnost), it was illegal to publish statistical data on alcohol sales. This indicator became the greatest in 1982-1984, when it reached 11.2 litres of absolute alcohol per person per annum. (In comparison, this indicator in Finland during the same period was only 6-7 litres per person per annum).

Life expectancy of a person born in Estonia in 1991 was 5.5 years shorter than that of a person born in Finland in the same time. In comparison, Estonian life expectancy had exceeded that of Finnish life expectancy before 1940.

Budgetary system

It is important to understand that under the Soviet system, all local proceeds were initially appropriated into the federal budget at Moscow, and some of them were then "invested" back to the local economies. Thus, the "investment" numbers do not represent influx of money; rather, they resemble the spending side of the national budget.

Economy

The Soviet rule significantly slowed Estonia's economic growth, resulting in a wide wealth gap in comparison with its neighboring countries that went free of Soviet yoke (e.g., Finland, Sweden). It has been estimated that the GDP per capita of Estonia in year 2003 was only one sixth of what it would likely have been if the occupation had not occurred. The economic damages directly attributable to the second Soviet occupation (from 1945 to 1991) have been estimated to lie in the range of hundreds of billions of dollars. Similarly, the damages to Estonian ecology were estimated at around 4 billion USD.

Put another way, by the end of 1980s, Estonian economy had acquired a lag of about three decades.

In comparison with other parts of the USSR its economy fared better and today Estonia remains the wealthiest of the formerly Soviet-controlled states.

Stagnation and technological lag

From late 1960s, economic stagnation hit Estonia. This was expressed in falls in production and exports, as well as significant slowing in technological progress, especially in machine and metal industries.

Occupation propaganda

Despite damage listed above, occupying powers made repeated attempts to display extensive, damaging explotation of local natural resources as a good thing. For example, it was common to point towards constructing large power plants on Estonian soil, including two world's largest oil shale-fired Narva Power Plants built in the 1960s and the 1970s. Great Soviet Encyclopedia compared Estonia's annual industrial power output in 1940, the first year of occupation-caused destruction, 190 GWh, against that of 1975, 16712 GWh.

Similarly, the official statistics pointed out that in 1988:

• Estonian SSR produced 11188 kWh of electricity per person (Finland 10846 kWh, Sweden 20104 kWh, BRD 7101 kWh);
• Estonian SSR produced 145 kg of meat per person (Finland 73 kg, Sweden 67 kg, BRD 96 kg);
• Estonian SSR produced 818 kg of milk per person (Finland 556 kg, Sweden 406 kg, BRD 405 kg);
• Estonian SSR produced 20.7 kg of butter per person (Finland 11.0 kg, Sweden 8.1 kg, BRD 6.9 kg).

This production was largely production for production's sake, which became painfully obvious in the responsible industries' economic collapse after fall of the Soviet Union. Since a majority of these enterprises' employees had been specifically imported in the occupation times, the resulting layoffs led to a sharp rise in unemployment among the Russian-speaking minorities. Furthermore, most of the products were of quality level marketable only inside Soviet Union; they couldn't be profitably exported to the rest of the world.

Moscow olympic games of 1980

Main article: Sailing at the 1980 Summer Olympics

Tallinn was selected the host for sailing events. In preparations, a number of sports and general infrastructure buildings were built, including Tallinn TV Tower, Pirita Yachting Centre and Linnahall.

See also

• Estonia
• Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
• History of Estonia
• Demographics of Estonia

External links

• Museum of occupations of Estonia — Project by the Kistler-Ritso Estonian Foundation
• Estonian International Commission for Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity

Further reading

• Jaska, Elmar (1952). The Results of Collectivization of Estonian Agriculture. Land Economics 28 (3), 212-217.
• Kareda, Endel (1949). Estonia in the Soviet Grip: Life and Conditions under Soviet Occupation 1947-1949. London: Boreas.
• Kukk, Mare (1993). Political opposition in Soviet Estonia 1940-1987. Journal of Baltic Studies 24 (4), 369-384.
• Kulu, Hill (2003). Residence and migration in post-war Soviet Estonia: the case of Russian-born Estonians. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie 94 (5), 576-588.
• Kurman, George (1977). Literary censorship in general and in Soviet Estonia. Journal of Baltic Studies 8 (1), 3-15.
• Mander, Ülo (1994). Changes of landscape structure in Estonia during the Soviet period. GeoJournal 33 (1), 45-54.
• Mettam, Collin W. and Stephen Wyn Williams (2001). A colonial perspective on population migration in Soviet Estonia. Journal of Baltic Studies 27 (1), 133-150.
• Mettam, Colin W. and Stephen Wyn Williams (1998). Internal colonialism and cultural division of labour in the Soviet Republic of Estonia. Nations and Nationalism 4 (3), 363-388.
• Parming, Tõnu (1972). Population changes in Estonia, 1935-1970. Population Studies 26 (1), 53-78.
• Parming, Tõnu (1980). Population Processes and the Nationality Issue in the Soviet Baltic. Soviet Studies 32 (3), 398-414.
• Parming, Tõnu and Elmar Järvesoo (eds.). A Case Study of a Soviet Republic: The Estonian SSR. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1978.
• Rebas, Hain (2005). Dependence and opposition. Problems in Soviet Estonian historiography in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Journal of Baltic Studies 36 (4), 423-448.
• Taagepera, Rein (1980). Soviet Collectivization of Estonian Agriculture: The Deportation Phase. Soviet Studies 32 (3), 379-397.
• Taagepera, Rein. Estonia: Return to Independence. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1993. ISBN 0813317037.
• Tammaru, Tiit (2002). Universal and Specific Features of Urbanization in Estonia under Socialism: The Empirical Evidence of the Sources of Urban and Rural Population Growth. The Professional Geographer 54 (4), 544–556.
• Virkkunen, Joni (1999). The politics of identity: Ethnicity, minority and nationalism in Soviet Estonia. GeoJournal 48 (2), 83-89.