Communist Party, Popular Front and Independent Groups in

Communist party of Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic (CP ESSR). The peculiar characteristic of the CP ESSR was that it was overrepresented by Russian immigrants with native Estonians occupying only the lowest ranks and thus having virtually no control of the political, economic and social life of Estonia (Misiunas and Taagepera 1993; Steen 1997). The existing literature attributes this peculiarity to two main reasons: (1) the Soviet policies of industrialization and colonization and (2) characteristics of the Estonian society (such as low birth rates, low level of political participation, directly or indirectly related to protestant ethics). It was made clear that the Baltic states were the most economically advanced and industrially developed when the Soviet Russia occupied them, which subjected them to a higher influx of heavy industry workers from all parts of the USSR. Estonia, being the most modern and having the lowest birth rates among the three, was hit severely by this immigration. The overall composition of population changed dramatically (Table 4). This demographic situation was also reflected in the CP ESSR leadership, where most of the highest-ranks were given to non-Estonians (mostly Russians) with Estonians occupying only the lowest ranks.

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Table 4: Birth rates, immigration and percentage of native population in the Baltic states during the Soviet occupation

Thus, the CP ESSR had (1) a clear ethnic divide and (2) was associated strongly with alien rule. In the light of this, driven both by the resentment with the political/economic situation as well as rational calculations, a number of native Estonian communists from lower ranks of CP ESSR attempted to push for improvement in the realm of economy. As a result, Estonia emerged as an „economic laboratory‟ since as early as the 1970s and the 1980s, a unique case in the USSR (Mockunas 1993; Panagiotou 2001). Different reforms were aimed at increasing the efficiency of the economy of Estonian SSR within the framework of the Soviet Union. The major turning point during the perestroika in Estonia was the change in leadership of CP ESSR. In 1988, the then First Secretary of the CP ESSR, Siberian-born Karl Vaino know for his reluctance to learn Estonian, was replaced by the Soviet authorities (as a part of openness policy of perestroika) with a native Estonian, relatively liberal-minded Vaino Valjas⁵. He became the first native communist

5 During the 1970s and 1980s, Valjas was considered to have Estonian nationalist inclinations and was therefore

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party leader of Estonia since 1940. Since then, the reformist stance became stronger and the CP ESSR began to push for the development of Estonia‟s autonomy within the USSR and regarded the attainment of sovereignty for the Estonian SSR as one of its main tasks. The native leadership gave a certain degree of legitimacy to the CP ESSR and expelled hardliner interests.

In such way, the CP ESSR began to cooperate with the popular front.

Popular front of Estonia (Eestimaa Rahvarine, or Rahvarine). Founded by reformist communists of the CP ESSR, the Rahvarine was the first popular front in the USSR. It was a continuation of previous mobilizations aimed at reforming the economy of the ESSR. Rahvarinne‟s predecessor was so-called Four Man Proposal, the first proposal for economic sovereignty among all Soviet republics, published in 1987 in the Tartu newspaper „Edasi‟. Edgar Savisaar (Head of the State Plan Committee of the Estonian SSR), Siim Kallas (specialist of finance), Miik Tiima (sociologist) and Tiit Made (TV political commentator) advocated the idea of „self-managing Estonia‟ (Isemajandav Eesti, IME). The IME proposal put forth autonomy of the Estonian SSR over its budget, and its right to implement institutional reforms on the republican level (Miljan 1994). The proposal gained a widespread support from the society but was rejected by the CPSU authorities in Moscow. This compelled one of its authors, Savisaar, to create the popular front of Estonia in 1988 (announced on 13 April 1988). As in the other Baltic states, the Rahvarine initially demanded sovereignty within the reformed USSR but soon became a very broad movement counting other reformist communists and Estonian intelligentsia among its members.

Independent groups. In the late-1980s, Estonia saw a rapid growth of independent grassroots movements whose number, organization and influence was not matched in any other Soviet republic at that time. The largest of them were two: the Estonian Heritage Society (EHS) and the Estonian National Independence Party (ENIP), the first political party in the Soviet Union apart of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). Bennich-Bjorkman (2003) traces what he calls Estonian „counter-elite‟ to the Estonian „second society‟ during the Soviet period.

Bjorkman talks about Estonian society in which informal interpersonal connections were very

appointed as Soviet ambassador to Venezuela and Nicaragua in 1986. As the Estonian independence movement gained momentum in 1988, the relatively liberal Valjas was recalled from Nicaragua and was appointed by Gorbachev to this post (Misiunas and Taagepera 1993).

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strong particularly among dissidents, students at Tartu university department of history and department of journalism. The author traces the existence of such a mobilization to the Interwar period (1920-1940) when social initiatives mixed with interpersonal collaboration were particularly important in the lives of Estonians. His argument about „alternative society‟ is supported by Panagioutou (2001) findings. Panagioutou points out that the degree of perception of Russian dominance as alien was much greater than in Latvia and particularly Lithuania. The author uses reluctance to learn Russian and exclusion of Estonians from politics as examples of a clear division between „us‟ and „them‟ in Estonia throughout the Soviet period.

3.1.2 ‘Horizontal Contestation’

As can be seen from the descriptions above, hardliner communists opposing both perestroika and independence where soon marginalized and lost their voice in politics. Thus, all the three actors shared the opposition toward the existing Soviet regime. The differences emerged only in the contents of their demands. On the one side, reformists of CP ESSR with the First Secretary Valjas and Rahvarine members initially supported the idea of autonomous Estonia within the reformed USSR and then headed toward independence. Moreover, the agenda of economic reforms played an important role in their actions. One the other side, a joint alliance of independent groups (EHS and ENIP) continuously pushed towards independence. Legal continuity of the state and citizenship issue became the focal points of their agenda during perestroika. Both sides contested for political power through the use of institutions and support of society, thus I call their struggle horizontal contestation among three equally strong actors in two blocks.

The first Soviet direct legislative elections – elections to the new Soviet-imposed parliament, the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR – were held on March 18, 1990. Altogether 392 candidates competed, and a total of 105 deputies were elected to the Soviet. The Rahvarine as well as the reformist communists won the majority of the seats. The anti-independence forces, representing mostly the Russian-speaking minority in Estonia and other communists both gained around 25 seats. During its first session, the new Supreme Soviet re-elected the former CP ESSR member Arnold Ruutel as its Chairman, who thus became the head of the state.

Parallel to the first block, the independent group alliance consisting of EHS and ENIP

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created Estonian Congress (Eestia Kongres), an alternative, independent parliament. It was formed as a counterweight to the CP ESSR and Rahvarine and the other Soviet-imposed institutions which were condemned illegitimate and thus inappropriate to represent interests of the Estonian nation. In March 1989, EHS and ENIP started the campaign to establish the Congress of Estonia, a national parliament that would function outside of illegally imposed Soviet institutions, would act in accordance with the Interwar law and thus had a legitimate right to represent the interests of the state (Estonia Institute 1994). The reason was that the Supreme Soviet was regarded as a creature of the Soviet system. Moreover, it was elected by Russian settlers and soldiers as well as Estonian citizens. The campaign started with a registration of citizens who had lived in Estonia before June 1940 and their descendants, living both in Estonia and abroad, to elect the Estonian Congress. In November 1989, a nationwide General Citizen‟s Committee was formed by local committees. By early 1990, the campaign had registered more than 600 000 (Misiunas and Taagepera 1993) Estonian citizens and nearly 30 000 applicants for citizenship. On 24 February 1990, over 90 percent of the registered citizens elected a 429-member Congress from over 1 100 candidates, some of whom lived abroad. Persons affiliated with no party got the most seats (109), the Rahvarinne (107), EHS (104), ENIP (70) and CP ESSR (39) supported candidates were also elected (Clemens 1991). This body met three times a year, in March, May and October. On 11-12 March, a 78-member council, the standing body of the Estonian Congress, was elected. The most strongly represented parties in the council were ENIP and EHS, whereas the Rahvarine did not score high and top-ranking communists were not in its ranks. The Congress of Estonia claimed a legitimacy enjoyed by no other political body in Estonia. It established itself as a political body that had both moral and legal right to negotiate independence. It was uncompromising in its demand for immediate independence and expulsion of conservative- and pro-soviet-minded Russians.

3.1.3 ‘Extraordinary Politics’ (1992-1994)

As elsewhere in the USSR, the official break-up of the Soviet union meant the end of independency/sovereignty/autonomy conflict. The most immediate issue was state-building.

Countries had to adopt new constitutions, pass the necessary legislation. In addition, new political parties and forces formed to compete for the new order.

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In Estonia, the compromise between the previously mentioned two blocks was reached by the establishment of the Constitutional Assembly, an ad hoc institution formed jointly to draft a new constitution. The ex-communists headed toward a stronger presidential institution, but they were unable to gather efficient support. The EHS and ENIP members associated with the Estonian Congress stated that it is a strong parliament with a merely ceremonial role of the president that it conductive to a stable democracy. Thus, the final decision was a constitution which established a parliamentary democracy and was ratified by referendum in June 1992.

According to the new constitution, the political supremacy was given to a 101-member unicameral parliament (Riigikogu) elected in direct elections for a 4-year term. The Riigikogu was given an ultimate authority over legislation, all positional decisions (appointment if the government and the president) as well as state budget and treaties with foreign countries. The president cannot serve more than two consecutive 5-year terms and must be elected by a two-thirds majority in the parliament. However, as a response to demands from society, one-time exception was agreed for the first post-soviet parliamentary elections in 1992: in a simultaneous ballot, direct presidential elections shall be held, and the final choice made by the parliament. In addition to the 1992 constitution, the law of citizenship was passed. It defined citizens of Estonia as those who lived in Estonia in June 1940⁶ and their descendants „regardless of their ethnic background‟ (The Riigikogu of the Republic of Estonia 2006)⁷. Thus, a great majority of non-Estonians (mostly Russian settlers and army officials) were excluded from participation in the national elections for few following years.

The first post-soviet parliamentary elections in Estonia held on September 20, 1992 resulted in victory of forces associated with independent groups and popular front during the perestroika period. These forces produced a right-of-centre ruling coalition, whereas parties consisting of reformist communists formed a centre-left opposition. The electoral victory was scored by three major parties: (1) the five-party National Alliance Pro Patria (Isaama, also known as Fatherland Alliance)⁸ led by a 32-year old historian Mart Laar and uniting members of

6 Date of the first mass deportations to Siberia organized by the occupational Soviet forces.

7 Others were given a two-year period of naturalization. required two years of residence (counting from March 30, 1990), and additional one-year waiting period, a modest level of competence in Estonian, and a bath of loyalty to constitution. In practice, very few non-Estonians residing within Estonia‟s post-1945 borders were descendants of persons living there in June 1940. In January 1995, the Riigikogu passed a new Citizenship law that raised the residency requirement to five years of residency requirement plus the one-year waiting period (but only for new immigrants), pulling Estonia closer to prevailing European norm on this issue (EIU Country Profile1993).

8 Pro Patria (Isaama, Fatherland Alliance) member parties: Estonian Christian Democratic Party (Eesti

Kristlik-28

independent groups active in Estonian Congress during the independence struggle; (2) the above mentioned Estonian National Independence Party (ENIP) led by a political prisoner Lagle Parek;

and (3) Moderates, a centrist alliance uniting the Social Democratic Party and centre-right agrarian Rural Centre Party. The Moderates were led by Marju Lauristin, a sociologist and co-founder of the popular front (Rahvarine). The opposition split into two groups: (a) the centre-left camp consisting of the Estonian Coalition Party (led by former First Secretary of the CP ESSR Tit Vahi and uniting former communist officials) and the social liberal Estonian Centre Party led by Savisaar, one of the most prominent reformist communists during perestroika); and (b) two protest groups – Estonian Citizen and Royalist Party.

In simultaneous presidential elections, four candidates were competing: an ex-communist Arnold Ruutel, an Estonian American political scientist Rein Taagepera⁹, a famous Estonian writer and filmmaker Lennart Meri¹⁰ and the only female candidate Lagle Parek, a former political prisoner who was also a leader of the ENIP. Taagepera himself admitted that he had little chances to win, and one of the main reasons why he ran was „to take away votes from Ruutel and help Meri to win the elections‟ (Taagepera 1993). Thus, the elections resulted in a runoff in the Riigikogu by two top vote getters: Ruutel (41.8 percent of popular vote) and Meri (29.5 percent of the popular vote). The final choice, was made by the nationalist-dominated Riigikogu and was contrary to the popular choice: Meri instead of Ruutel was nominated the president. As the winner of Riigikogu elections, the Pro Patria leader Mart Laar was appointed

Demokraatlik Erakond, EKDE), Estonian Christian Democratic Union (Eesti Kristlik-Demokraatlik Liit, EKDL), Estonian Conservative People's Party (Eesti Konservatiivne Rahvaerakond, EKRE), Republicans' Coalition Party (Vabariiklaste Koonderakond, W), Estonian Liberal Democratic Party (Eesti Liberaaldemokraatlik Partei, ELDP) (The Riigikogu of the Republic of Estonia 2008).

9 Rein Taagepera (b. 1933) was an Estonian-American political scientist. He studied in Morocco (high school), Canada (physics), and United States (international relations), worked as political scientist at the University of California, Irvine. Taagepera was a member of the Constitutional Assembly in 1991 (Taagepera 1993).

10 Lennart Meri (1929-2006) was the son of the Estonian diplomat and translator. He studied in nine different schools and in four foreign languages (German, French, Russian and English) as the family spent many years in France in Germany. In 1941, after the Red Army occupied Estonia, his family was deported to Siberia and forced to work in labor camps. After the war, Meri family came back to Estonia. In 1953, Lennart Meri graduated cum laude from the Faculty of History and Languages in Tartu university. However, Soviet administration did not allow him to work as a historian and he found work as a writer, dramatist and a cinematographer. Along with that, he traveled in the USSR (Meri was never allowed to cross the USSR border) and made several expeditions to Eurasia. His encounters with the colonization of Siberian ethnic groups and inadequacy of Soviet central economic planning inspired much of his movies that gained international recognition („The Winds of the Milky Way‟, silver medal in New York Film Festival) but were banned in the USSR. During his travels, he made extensive contacts and built networks with a number of cultural figures and intellectuals (Office of the President of the Republic of Estonia 2009, Liukkonen and Pesonen 2008).

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Prime Minister by President Meri. Under the guidance of Laar, the newly independent government broke the network of former communist officials and appointed new, young civil servants as departments‟ heads. Thus, the executive power has fallen into the hands of brand new policymakers.

To sum up, the political basis for economic reform was the Riigikogu (legislative power) and the government (executive power) dominated by a brand new political elites previously associated with independent nationalist groups during perestroika period. These elites represented only a part of societal interests and had a distant relation with a significant part of population: after the adoption of the citizenship law, non-Estonian (mostly Russian) government, army, communist party officials, soldiers and industrial managers were deprived of electoral rights. This type of political leadership can be called „extraordinary politics‟ as defined in political science. Furthermore, the legacy of previous economic experiments under Soviet rule provided Estonia with approximate guidelines to start reform. Parliamentary democracy, nationalist rule and distant relations from society, added some economic know-how was the first set of factors that came to shape its economic transition pathway.