Chapter 11.3: The Restoration of Independence
The political situation has developed so far that the Popular Front abandoned their support for the Union Treaty and started pushing for complete independence. The main point of contention was how that should be received. ERSP and the Heritage side support restoration, the Popular Front a new declaration. As the congress was in the hands of the “radicals”, they initiated the restoration process and declared a “transitory” period.
Tunne Kelam, the head of the Congress and the Estonian Committee, which would be elected amongst the members of the congress.
“Our steadfast position is that the Republic of Estonia exists judicially both according to international law as well as the laws of the republic. Whilst our fathers fought in the War of Independence with guns, our main weapon is justice. With this fighting instrument we will jointly step into the final battle for the final restoration of the independence of the republic.”
A part of the letter sent to the congress by Heinrich Mark, the leader of the Estonian-Government-in-Exile.
The Estonian Communist Party had about 105 thousand members at the beginning of 1990, in the subsequent months it would bleed out and only about 25 thousand would be left by the end of March. In the XX Congress of the party on the 23rd of March the party split in two, the independent EKP with about 20 thousand members, lead by Vaino Väljas and representing social-democratic principles, and the pro-Soviet Union “night party” with about 5000 members.
On the 18th of March a new Supreme Council was elected under free and democratic elections. This would represent all Soviet citizens in Estonia, who had lived here for more than 10 years, out of the 105 seats 4 would be elected by occupational forces. ERSP did not participate in the elections. 73 of the elected candidates were supporters of independence, 27 were against.
On the 30th of March the Supreme Council also declared a transitory period to the restoration of independence. Edgar Saviasaar became the prime minister of the “transitory government”. On the 11th of April the drafting of Estonian citizens into the Soviet Army was declared illegal. On the 8th of May the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic was officially renamed the Republic of Estonia, the tricolour becoming the new official flag. The old coat of arms and the anthem were also officially restored.
This heavily agitated the Intermovement, who gathered in front of Toompea castle on the 15th of May and attempted to storm the parliament. In an ultimatum they demanded the resignation of the government and the reversal of the transitory period changes. They managed to break inside the courtyard of the castle.
Savisaar made a radio call on the radio, which became famous with the words “Toompea is under attack! I repeat, Toompea is under attack!” In only about 15 minutes thousands of Estonians gathered in front of the castle, chanting “Freedom, Freedom!”. The Intermovement was blocked inside the courtyard, but they were let out by the Estonians chanting “Out! Out!”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX2tQeQ2k54
Scenes of the event.
By the summer of 1990 the Soviet government had come around to the idea of a Union Treaty, however by this point the Baltics had moved past that. On the 27th of July Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania jointly declared that they will not participate in the Union Treaty talks in Moscow. On the 7th of August the Supreme Council annulled the part of the Sovereignty Declaration of 1988 that concerned the Union Treaty.
The militia in Estonia was reformed into the police. Estonia re-established its Foreign Ministry.
The judicial system was completely separated from the rest of the Soviet Union. The return of nationalised property to the rightful owners began. The official border between the Soviet Union and Estonia was declared to be the 1920 one, but the 1945 border became the economic border. Border checks were established. In October foreign minister Lennart Meri and prime minister Edgar Savisaar met in the White House with president George. W. Bush. The Estonian Committee had also restored the Defence League, the government had created the Home Defence, both were paramilitary organisations.
1991 would begin with tragedies in the Baltic states. In Lithuania and Latvia the pro-Soviet Union forces called for help from Moscow and thus elite troops were sent into Vilnius and Riga. They would seize civilian objects and come into conflict with the local people. The 13th of January would end in the death of 14 and 702 wounded civilians in Vilnius, the 20th of January with the death of 6 people and 14 wounded in Riga.
In response the entrances to Toompea were blockaded in anticipation of the attacks. However those never came, as the Soviet commander who was given the orders refused to do so. International attention would force Gorbachev to stop the engagement and Soviet forces pulled back.
Moscow continued pushing the Union Treaty, however the Baltics refused to conduct a referendum on whether or not to go through it. Instead they preemptively held independence referendums. The Estonian one was held on the 3rd of March 1991. The turnout was 82,86% and 77,83% of the voters voted in favour of independence, including roughly one third of the non-Estonians.
The talks between the other Union member states would continue. Eventually the planned deal was to establish the Union of Sovereign States, with a joint-economic space, army, currency and border. The treaty was approved by the Supreme Council of the Soviet Union in July 1991 and on the 16th of August Gorbachev asked the Baltic states to sign the treaty. That message was ignored.
Reactionary powers within the Soviet Union, especially the higher ups of the Communist Party, the army and internal security institutions, justifiably saw the Union Treaty as a threat to the Soviet empire. They began organising a coup to overthrow Gorbachev and on the 19th of August, just a day before the planned signing of the treaty, he was put under house arrest. The State Committee on the State of Emergency (SCSE) took over power and informed the population that Gorbachev had fallen sick and was unable to conduct power.
The Baltic states reacted decisively to the news. The Supreme Council of the Republic of Estonia and the government both declared the decrees of SCSE unlawful. On the morning of the first day of the coup the head of the Baltic Military District Fjodor Kuzmin declared that he was taking over power in the three Baltic countries. He demanded all laws not in line with the Soviet constitution to be revoked, for the executive power to ask his permission in all future endeavours and a ban on all public meetings. Soviet troops in Estonia were put into battle readiness. The leaders of several local garrisons demanded the transfer of local power. Additionally an airborne assault division was sent to Estonia and some warships arrived at the Bay of Tallinn. The coup was supported by the “night party”, the intermovement and the all-union factories.
Soviet APC´s in Tallinn during the August coup. For many people the news of the coup was a wake up call that Estonia was still occupied by the Soviet Union. People joked that Siberian Express trains would arrive in Tallinn at any minute and many prominent members of society packed their things to get ready for a possible trip to a labour camp.
The Estonian leadership refused to bend under the demands of the conspirators. The Supreme Council gave extraordinary powers to the Emergency Defence Council, which condemned the coup, called up the population for civil disobedience and asked the parliaments and governments of the world to not acknowledge the rule of the conspirators. On the evening of the 19th of August prime minister Edgar Savisaar arrived back from Stockholm, foreign minister Lennart Meri stayed in Helsinki to potentially continue work in a government-in-exile.
People came out in great numbers to stand up to the coup. Thousands would go to protect Toompea, the TV tower and various other civic buildings. The TV tower was important, as it was able to transmit to Finland and as such was the only link to the Western world from the Soviet Union (Riga and Vilnius TV towers were under the control of the army). Scenes from Moscow were broadcast from there.
The coup created a power vacuum in Estonia. The political sides banded up and at 11:03 PM of the 20th of August 1991 Estonia restored its independence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFw7G6W5H_E
On the night of the 21st of August Soviet troops stormed the TV Tower, but failed to get control over the transmission floor as Estonian defenders had barricaded themselves inside it. The stand-off would continue until during the next day news of the failure of the coup arrived. People had come out in Moscow and many soldiers joined the public to oppose the coup.
The assault division left Estonia subsequently. On the 22nd of August Iceland recognized the independence of Estonia, being the first country to do so. On the 23rd of August the government would ban the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Estonian Communist Party and the statue of Lenin in Tallinn was taken down.
The removal of the statue.
On the 24th of August Russia and on the 6th of September the Soviet Union would recognize the independence of the Baltic states. The US reestablished diplomatic relations on the 2nd of September and Estonia would become a member of the United Nations on the 17th of September. The occupation had finally ended, and in Estonia, the revolution had been without any bloodshed.
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