Chapter 10: The Soviet Occupation (1944-1991); 10.1: The governance of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic


The flag of Soviet Estonia, adopted in 1953.



The emblem of Soviet Estonia. “Proletarians of all lands, Unite!” in both Estonian and Russian.


The anthem of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic (ESSR from now on). Eesti Nõukogude Sotsialistlik Vabariik, ENSV.


The International in Estonian. Translation is from 1906. The banner in the video says “Long Live the Glorious Communist Party of the Soviet Union!” and is from a May day parade, one of the two “voluntary” parades of the year, the other being the October parade in honour of the revolution. De jure participation was voluntary but de facto it was mandatory.

The leading role in the power structure of the ESSR belonged not to the government or the supreme council, but the Estonian Communist Party (Eestimaa Kommunistlik Partei, EKP). The EKP was entirely subjugated to Moscow and listened to orders it received from there. Local administration was conducted by local party committees.

The party was led by the first secretary, who preceded over the weekly meetings of the Central Bureau of the EKP. The latter was the real centre of power in the country, which discussed and decided on important local questions.


The building of the Central Committee of the EKP (EKP Keskkomitee), now the Foreign Ministry of Estonia. Built in 1968 and designed by Mart Port.

The will of the EKP and Moscow was realised by the government of the ESSR. The highest representative body, the Supreme Council, had no real power.


A gathering of the Supreme Council in the redesigned parliament. One can see the Coats of Arms of both Soviet Estonia and the Soviet Union in the background, as well as the head of Lenin.

One of the most important cornerstones of Soviet “democracy” were elections. The first elections for the Supreme Soviet took place in February 1947, the official figure for the “for” count was 96,17%. As they were single party elections, the only choice was to either put a tick in the box or to not do it. Nevertheless the results were falsified, by the 1980s the “for” votes never fell below 99,5%. The 100 members of the so called parliament were not professional, their main jobs were elsewhere. They had no independent right to vote, they had to only stamp the already approved plans of the party.










A selection of election posters. Note the appearance of Russian as time went on.

In the postwar days and in the 1950s the party and the government was mostly comprised of the so-called june communists, veterans of the Estonian Rifle Corps, Russian-Estonians and people from other territories of the USSR. In the late 1950s the membership in the party would start to quickly grow (will cover why exactly in a later chapter), mainly due to many Estonians joining it. By 1988 the EKP had over 112 thousand members, about 10% of the adult population of the ESSR at the time.

It was very important for the party to have control over the most important positions to conduct its rule. For the those lists of the “nomenclature” were drawn up. In the 1980s it would include about 1300 individuals, who would work as civil servants of the Central Committee, functionaries of the territorial and city committees, lead the large agricultural estates, executive committees and so on.



In 1945 about 5% of Estonian territory, including the city of Petseri and the Jaanilinn district of Narva, was annexed into the Russian SFR. Even though they still belong de jure to Estonia as per the Peace of Tartu (1920), they were never de facto regained by Estonia.

In the years following the war Nikolai Karotamm became the leader of the EKP. He had left Estonia in the 1920s due to being a communist and returned in 1940 to build a new communist state. Whilst governing Estonia he mostly relied on june communists and the veterans of the rifle corps and tried to take the local needs of Estonia into account. Moscow however supported civil servants of Russian origin. Karotamm and his circle was blamed for bourgeois nationalism and in 1950 he was let go from his job, replaced by Johannes (aka Ivan) Käbin.


Nikolai Karotamm (1901-1969) giving a speech in Tallinn in 1948.

1950 was a year of drastic change. June communists were let go en masse and replaced by both Estonians born in the Soviet Union and Russians. Käbin was more obedient towards realising orders from Moscow, but in the meantime he was not a completely radical russificator of Estonia. He pursued a policy of being both friendly with Moscow but also trying to take the local characteristics into account. Being quite successful with withstanding the changes of power in Moscow, he stayed in power until 1978.


Johannes Käbin (1905-1999).

Käbin was replaced by Karl Vaino, a completely pro-Moscow and monolingual Russian Estonian. He despised Estonian culture and language. With his coming to power a new era of Russification began. The active promotion of the usage of Russian reached its highpoint in the first half of the 1980s.



Karl Vaino (1923-2022).

An important role in ruling the ESSR belonged to security organs, the sword and shield of the state. In the post war years society was held in check by the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD) and Security (NKGB). In 1954 they were replaced by the newly established National Security Committee (KGB).

The KGB had a lot of work. Society had to be observed and controlled to stop any sort of anti-Soviet activity as early as possible. They were also responsible for foreign intelligence, counter-intelligence, securing the safety of the people in charge, jamming foreign radio stations and so on. The professional workforce was not enough for the needs of the KGB, in addition informats from all stratas of society were hired. It was possible to become one voluntarily, but many people were forced to spy with threats or other malicious means. By 1988 the Estonian section of the KGB had more than a thousand operatives (does not include informants) of which roughly 18% were ethnically Estonian.


A black Volga, the go to car of the KGB.

Another important organisation was the military. Estonia was part of the Baltic Military District. In 1991 there were roughly 1665 military objects in the country, including 160 different military bases. Large swathes of land were handed to the military and the locals were forced to leave. A big portion of the living space in cities went to house the military.

The Estonian Rifle Corps was reorganised into the “army” of the ESSR, led by the commander of the corps Lembit Pärn. All national units, including the Estonian ones, were disbanded in 1956 however, after the Georgian national division refused to take up arms against the locals. As Estonians had to pass through mandatory conscription, they had the opportunity to serve in Estonia whilst the national units still existed. From the second half of the 1950s however young Estonian men were sent to serve in the wide vastness of their so-called “grand homeland”.

All males had to serve for 2 years and overall the experience of serving in the Red Army was rather gruesome and harsh. You could be sent anywhere and your unit members could also come from anywhere. It was very hierarchical and it was very important to establish oneself as a strong man, otherwise you would be severely persecuted. Estonians for the most part were used to a more diplomatic and civilised approach and in many cases were at odds with the more macho tribal nature of their counterparts.



A map showcasing the territories under the direct control of the Soviet military (in areas and dots in dark red). The more orange swirled area was the so-called “border zone”, which one could only access with an official permission or a passport. The beaches in the border area were completely closed off and inaccessible to the public to stop anyone escaping overseas.



A border zone sign.

Hara port. Was a naval base for nuclear submarines.

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