Chapter 8.3: Political History during the Silent Era

On the 11th of March the Vapsid declared that if they did not win the election, they were willing to take power by force (as they expected an electoral loss to mean the elections were rigged against them). There were rumours amongst the populus about an impending coup and calls for the government to take action. On the evening of the 12th of March, the State Elder at the time, Konstantin Päts declared martial law, the closure of all Vapsid organisations and appointed Johan Laidoner as the head of the army. Army cadets took up positions in the city centre of Tallinn and Kaitsepolitsei (Estonian FBI) arrested about 400 leading figures of the movement. All political meetings are banned. A day later Päts defended his decisions in parliament with the argument that the vapsid were planning a violent coup. The parliament approved the activity of the government post factum, seeing the measures as a way to defend democracy.

On the 20th of March the scheduled parliamentary elections were postponed until the end of martial law, which was supposed to last for 6 months. On the 21st of March Päts stated: “The Vapsid have conducted heavy agitation amongst the people, which has made the populus unable to make great decisions about the matters of state.” This would effectively be the beginning of a dictatorship.

The parliament went into recess for the summer, and when it reconvenied in Autumn and started to criticise the restrictions that were still imposed, it was put on a “silent regime” (not allowed to gather). Martial law continued to be prolonged. Parties were disbanded, several newspapers critical of the government were closed, censorship over all publications were established, local administration, youth organisations and trade unions were subjugated under government purview.

Parties were replaced by a single political organisation, the Isamaaliit (Fatherland League), as well as a myriad of profession based bodies, like the arstide koda for doctors, õpetajate koda for teachers and so on. As the parliament was inactive, all laws were written in the government and passed by decree.

There was opposition to the dictatorship, mainly among intellectuals. It was led by another grand veteran of Estonia politics like Päts, Jaan Tõnisson. The opposition would demand an end to martial law and a return to democracy. However the demands were ignored by the regime.

In 1937 the National Assembly was elected through free elections using a first past the post system. Even though political organisations remained banned, setting up candidatures was allowed. However, the opposition decided to boycott the elections, so 50 out of the 80 seats were filled without an election as there was only one candidate. The Assembly would go on to develop a new constitution, which would go into effect in 1938.

According to the 1938 constitution the Estonian parliament became bicameral. The lower chamber or the Riigivolikogu (80 seats) would be elected through free, fair and secret elections every 5 years. The upper chamber was called the Riiginõukogu and would be filled with representatives of different professions, local administrations and other organisations. Elections for the new parliament were held in February 1938 and the pro-Päts faction got 55 seats and a clear majority. A new government led by Kaarel Eenpalu stepped into power.



Kaarel Eenpalu (1888-1942)

The position of president was also created and given great authority. The president would be elected for 6 years. One candidate would be set up by the lower chamber, one by the upper chamber and one by an assembly of the representatives of local administrations, who would then conduct a united vote to choose the president. If the figure got less than 60% of the votes in those three assemblies, a public election would be held. Since Päts was the only figure whose candidature was set up in 1938, he became the first president of the republic in April.



The presidential portrait of Päts.



Päts giving a speech during the 20th anniversary of the Republic of Estonia.

In May 1938 all political prisoners, primarily communists and vapsid, received amnesty.

Overall the new constitution turned Estonia de jure from a parliamentary republic to a presidential republic. Estonia went from being a liberal democracy to a mild authoritarian dictatorship to an authoritarian/convervative democracy. The parliament and the government would have to follow directives from the president. Despite this, Estonia nevertheless became a democracy, the only such case out of the 13 European states that had become dictatorships during the interwar period.

The period between 1934-1940 is called the “Silent Era” (Vaikiv ajastu) in Estonia, as the authoritarian democratic period and the four years of dictatorship that preceded it are generally regarded as a single time period, as it was characterised by a regime ruled by Päts.

Said regime did not have a clear political ideology. It was based on a right-wing “united nation” idea, which promoted a sense of unity and nationalism amongst Estonians in spite of the differences of education, profession or wealth that they had. These views were promoted by the State Propaganda Service (Riiklik Propaganda Talitus). Many mass campaigns were launched. One of them called Estonians to Estonianize their German sounding names. Amongst the “converts” was the prime minister Kaarel Eenpalu (Karl Einbund), architect Olev Siinmaa (Oskar Siiman) and wrestler Kristjan Palusalu (Kristjan Trossman). Altogether about 200 thousand Estonians changed their name.



Ants Oidermaa (1891-1941), the head of the Propaganda Service.

Overall opposition to the regime was weak, and that mainly due to the views of the wider public. The majority went along with the changes that Päts made, some because they believed they were necessary, some because they hoped to make a career. A large portion of the population fell into political apathy, being content with the quickly rising standards of living and feeling indifferent about the restrictions on democracy, which did not bother the average person. Another reason why there was no strong opposition was due to the fact that the dictatorship was one of the milder ones in Europe during those times.

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