Baltic National Movement - Essay Example

How Successful were the Soviet ities Able to Contain Baltic Nationalism? Introduction Soviet occupation of Baltic States started with the secrete agreement, called Molotov-Ribbentrop pact of 1939, which virtually handed over the Baltic States of Latvia and Estonia to USSR. This paved the way for imposition of Soviet ideology on these states and ultimately gave birth to their national movement for independence. Although, many observers have seen the pact as being illegitimate, it resulted in systematic prosecution of locals and Red terrorism. Soviet Union was not successful in tackling the Baltic National movement in any effective manner. However, the freedom of these states from Soviet rule was obvious technical necessity, after the collapse of USSR regime. Composition of Baltic States It will be worthwhile to investigate into the composition of different Baltic States while dissecting about the influence of erstwhile USSR on these states. Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia are the three countries in the Baltic region, called Baltic States. While Lithuania got independence on 11 March 1990. Estonia and Latvia had declaration of Independence on 20th and 21 August 1991. Lithuanian population of almost 3 million people comprises around 8 percent of Russians, 6 percent of Poles and remaining are the native Lithuanians. The country was independent from the year 1918 until the soviet occupation from 1945 to 1991.(Samuolyte, 2011) Baltic States and Soviet Union After formally incorporating Baltic States into USSR during 1940, Stalin unlashed a wave of terror in these states with systematic destruction of political institutions and prosecution of military as well as cultural persons of importance. In addition, all enterprises and industries were nationalized. While Latvia and Estonia were historically against Germans, their hatred was now directed against Russians, because of above Soviet actions. However, the German occupation of Baltic States also did not meet the aspiration of locals, since Germans treated them as belonging to an inferior race. While Germans were harsher on Lithuanians, their treatment towards Estonians and Latvians was relatively milder. Hence, partisan movement was more active in Lithuania in comparison to Latvian or Estonian movements. However, Baltic States had to make a choice, during World War, for joining either the Germans or the Soviets. Although Germans organized campaigns for volunteer recruitment in Estonia and Latvia, the Red Army of USSR was able to recapture the two States during 1944, followed by capture of Lithuania in 1945. Participating in the World War, Estonia and Latvia lost almost 20 percent of their population. In addition, the Red terror also continued unabated. After the recapture of Baltic States by Soviet Union, authorities tried to collectivize the agricultural farms. When the efforts to do so on voluntary basis failed, Soviets imposed Stalinist methods of terror that resulted in second mass deportation and murders. While almost three hundred thousand persons were deported or murdered, Lithuanians suffered the most during such carnage. However, relaxations followed the death of Stalin, as Khrushchev brought measures to decentralize the economy and release the pressure of ideology on occupied states, as well as return of deportees. The period of 1960s witnessed the level of living standards rising, which meant slight legitimization of Soviet rule.(Saarts, 2009) While Latvia had glorious agricultural farming that made its economy stronger, the Soviet rule destroyed such systems with collective farming ideology. Following the secrete pact of August 1939, Latvia was handed over to USSR, which resulted in the occupation of this Baltic State by the Red Army. While setting up a puppet government Soviets held mock elections in the state. However, with nationalization of properties and other terror measures adopted by Soviets, the country’s prosperity was devastated badly. June 14, 1941 saw the peak of such devastation when USSR deported almost 14000 Latvians to Siberia. While some Latvians fought for Germans, others fought for Russians in the World War, resulting in more devastation and death of almost 450,000 Latvians.( History of Latvia, nd) Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact The signing of this non-aggression pact on 23 August 1939 marked the division of Eastern Europe, between USSR and Nazi Germany. The pact reflected a secrete agreement; between two super powers regarding the sharing the third countries of Eastern Europe. While Latvia along with the Estonia and Finland came under the occupation of Soviets, by the virtue of this pact, it also paved way for USSR to expand its hold westwards. Thereafter, Soviets used all methods to compel and force the Baltic States for allowing the presence of Red Army on their territories, thus creating condition that led to World War. The Soviet occupation of Baltic States had thus begun.(feldmanis,nd) Soviet tackling of Lithuanian national movement July 1940 witnessed the start of Soviet occupation of this country, as USSR installed a parliament called, “Lithuanian Peoples Parliament”. This parliament later adopted a decision that allowed incorporation of Lithuania into Soviet Union. This resulted in massive migration of native people, as Soviets sent many locals to labor camps or deported to Siberia. As the opposition to Soviet occupation grew louder, Lithuanian resistance movement became aggressive during the period from 1945 to 1953. The resistance resulted in the death of around 50000 partisans while opposing the USSR rule. While western powers assumed that peace had been restored in Lithuania after World War, in 1945, the fact remained that three Baltic States continued their struggle against illegitimate Soviet occupation for almost 65 years, until these nations celebrated their freedom in 1991. Europe witnessed bloodiest gorilla war in this region during the period from 145 to 1953.(Myhre, 2011) In the meanwhile, central communist party was formed in Moscow, under the title of CPSU, during the year 1985. Mikhail Gorbachev became the General Secretary of CPSU and he enjoyed many decision taking powers to rule USSR effectively. He started his campaign for “Perestroika” to reform the old Soviet system. However, this did not change the mood of Lithuanians, who formed the National Movement party called “Sajudis”, in the year 1988. Other Baltic States joined this movement as Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians formed a human chain in protest against the agreement called Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact that paved the way for Soviet occupation of Baltic States, almost 50 years back. Around two million people participated in this human chain formation from Vilnius to Tallinn via Ryga, on 23 August 1988. Lithuanian movement was stronger in comparison to other two Baltic States, as the country had stable political regime. While Lithuania fought against Soviets on ideological and national values, other Baltic countries witnessed dilution of their culture, after Soviet occupation. This is evident from the fact that other two states witnessed massive immigration from other republics of Soviet Union, thus threatening the local demography. On the other hand, Lithuania had little Slavic population, at the time of their independence from Soviet rule. (Bruggemann, 2015) Changes in Estonian demography The change in demographic characteristics of Estonia reflects the failure of Soviet rule, in a different sense. After getting independence, Estonia passed resolutions that made huge population of Russians stateless, while activating the reverse deportation of erstwhile Soviets to their former republics. Russia and other western countries are now protesting against such harsh measures by Estonia.(Klaamann, 2011) On 18 November 1988, Lithuanian Supreme Council adopted resolutions for the having the National anthem, examination of the national flag and declaration of Lithuanian as the official language. The leader of LCP, Brazauskas attempted to get cooperation from Soviet Union for supporting the Lithuanians and understanding their interests and needs. This resulted in the formation of special investigative commission on the Baltic States, in Moscow. However, it did not help much as CLP ended its cooperation with CPSU, on June 24, 1989. In a bid to tackle the growing Lithuanian movement, Gorbachev visited Lithuania for taking a fair assessment of the situation. However, he declared, at the end of this visit, that Lithuanians should direct their efforts to development, economic revival and political reforms instead of giving significance to national feelings. This invoked further regression from Lithuanians as on 7 February 1990 the nation’s supreme Council adopted resolution to revoke all parliament acts that dealt with Soviet occupation of Lithuania, since July 1940. This resulted in proclamation of Independence by Lithuanian parliament on 11 March 1990. (Samuolyte, 2011) With obvious failure of USSR to tackle the Lithuanian national movement, Moscow reacted to this declaration of independence with economic blockades from 17 April 1990. However, with the collapse of USSR and end of cold war, the independence of Baltic States was just a matter of time and a technical feasibility only. Soviet disintegration resulted in the independence of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia during 1990 and 1991, which did not reflect any success on the part of USSR to tackle the Baltic national movements.(Latvian History, nd) Conclusion As Western powers gave least priority to Baltic national movement, various regimes in Soviet Union, starting from Stalin used all types of terror to keep these states in their possession. History has records of murders and deportation phases conducted by Soviets in these states. Although ‘Prestroika’, reformist policy of Gorbochev, helped in reduction of such terror and systematic prosecution, it could not suppress the nationalist movement. The formation of human chain by around two million people of three Baltic States from Vilnius to Tallinn in August 1988 provided evidence of growing opposition to Soviet rule in these states. Ultimately, the collapse of Soviet Union paved the way for independence of Baltic States. Work cited Bruggemann. K., The Lithuanian Cultural Elite, (2015), Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History, retrieved from: http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/kritika/v016/16.1.bruggemann.html Feldmanis. I., Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, (nd), University of Latvia publication, retrieved from: http://www.itl.rtu.lv/LVA/pdf/Tezes1999_anglu.pdf History of Latvia, (nd), Baltasam.org, retrieved from: http://baltasam.org/en/component/content/article/30-latvia-lithuania--estonia/1301-history-of-latvia Klaamann. K., From the Roots of Restoring the Estonian Independence, (2011), University of Amsterdam publication, retrieved from: http://dare.uva.nl/cgi/arno/show.cgi?fid=347363 Latvian History, (nd), Latvianhistory.com, retrieved from: http://latvianhistory.com/2013/09/15/the-foreign-aspect-during-the-latvian-restoration-of-independence-1987-1991/ Myhre.A., Lithuania 1944-1953, (2011), Voice of International Lithuania, retrieved from: http://vilnews.com/2011-01-lithuanian-partisan-war Saarts. T., History of Baltic States, (2009), Tollinna Ulikool, retrieved from: http://www.tlu.ee/opmat/ri/rit6006/history20/2_2slaid.pdf Samuolyte. J., Baltic Soviet Liberation, (2011), Jolanta publication, retrieved from: http://und.edu/centers/human-rights-and-genocide-studies/_files/docs/jolantapresentation.pdf Read More