"" The Baltics area is fraught with cross ethnic mergings, conquerings by
different groups, and control by both small groups like the Teutonic and
Livonian knights and by larger entities like the nations of Sweden, Poland,
and Russia during the roughly eight centuries of Baltic history. There is
no ideal way to depict these very diverse groups of people and areas, so
this is an attempt to first look at the area as a whole as it developed, in
the briefest kind of way, then shoot forward in time to examine each of the
three Baltic countries separately prior to World War II and after, and then
an examination of the situation as it is today and in the recent past of
the past two decades.
"Until the twelfth century the marshes and forest-lands along the
eastern coast of the Baltic Sea were left in the more or less undisturbed
possession of a number of pagan tribes. The Esths and Livs in the northern
regions belonged to the Finnish branch of the Ural-Altaic family, while
another group farther to the south, subdivided into Letts, Borussians and
Lithuanians, ... was of Indo-European stock. The Borussians, who moved
southward to what is now East Prussia, were early subdued and assimilated
by the Germans, while the Letts tended to push northward into Livonia."(1)
The area we now call the Baltics remained sparsely populated and
predominantly non-Christian until about the middle of the 13th century,
when the Teutonic Knights and the Livonian Knights began the first
incursions into the region. "The first invaders of these regions were the
Danes, who conquered the northern half of Estonia in the twelfth and early
thirteenth centuries. German merchants and missionaries had meanwhile
penetrated into Livonia, where a bishopric was established at Riga in 1201.
From then onwards the greater part of areas now occupied by the states of
Latvia and Estonia gradually fell under the dominion first of the Knights
of the Sword, and then of the Order of Teutonic Knights, to whom, in 1346,
the Danes sold their share of Estonia. These Orders colonized the
territory, converted the inhabitants to Christianity, and made them their
serfs." (2)
"In Lithuania, on the other hand, the Teutonic Knights were never able
to make much headway except in the Memel (Klaipeda) territory, of which the
frontier was permenantly fixed after the defeat of the Order by Vytautas -
one of a sucession of Lithuanian Grand Dukes who, in the course of the
thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, built up a united and
powerful state..." (3)
The changes and grouping in the Baltic region began "during the Bronze
Age and Early Iron Age, and continued to the first centuries after Christ.
However, the weaker tribes were gradually absorbed by the stronger and
crystallized into larger national units." (4) "Also in answering the
ethnic question, one is aided by fragmentary historical sources, which
mention the individual Baltic nations and tribes which lived in certain
areas, as for example the Aistians(100 AD), Galindians and Sudovians
(second centuty, AD), Semigallians (870 AD), Prussians (ninth century AD),
Curonians (875 AD), Yatvingians (983 AD), Lithuanians (1009 AD), Galindians
(1058 AD), Sambians (1075 AD), Selians (1208 AD), Skalvians (1240 AD),
Nadrovians (1250 AD) and others." (5)
"Basically, although there is relationship between the Lithuanians and
Latvians, there is none whatever between either of these peoples and the
Estonians, whose language and culture approximate to those of Finland. As
regards religion, the Lithuanians are almost entirely Roman Catholic; the
Latvians and Estonians are mainly Protestant. Estonia and Latvia look to
the Baltic, and have maritime and fishing interests; Lithuania is almost
entirely an inland and agricultural country - her only port (Klaipeda, or
Memel) has a preponderant German population." (6)
"After the death of Vytautas in 1430, Lithuania rapidly fell into a
position of dependence on Poland, with which country she had already been
nominally connected under a personal union since 1386." (7) That had been
accomplished by the Poles co-opting a Lithuanian Prince, Jogaila, to avoid
their kingdom being swallowed by the Teutonic Knights. "Following secret
negotiations, Jogaila issued a declaration which is accepted as the Kreva
Union Act (August 14, 1385) whereby Jogaila agreed to baptism and to
marriage witrh Hedwig (the heir to the Polish throne). Furthermore, he
agreed to the baptism of his family and the nobility of Lithuania, in
addition to paying 200,000 florins to Prince Wilhelm (of Austria) for
breaking the betrothal to Hedwig; also he agreed to the return of all
Polish lands taken by the enemies, the release of all Polish prisoners, and
the pledge to keep the Lithuanian and Russian regions united with the
Kingdom of Poland. Although this last contingency did not go down well with
his subjects, Jogaila was able to have his way (he later took the Polish
names, ie Christian names of Wladyslaw and Jagiello)." (8)
"In 1569, under the Union of Lublin, (Lithuania) lost her independence
altogether, and until the partitions of Poland in 1772-93, she shared a
common history with that country. One of the most enduring results of the
Polish regime was the establishment of the Roman Catholic religion in what
had hitherto been a practically pagan state, at a time when Lutheranism was
being introduced by the Baltic Barons in Livonia and Estonia." (9)
"In the sixteenth century the power of the Teutonic Knights in the
latter provinces began to weaken under repeated assaults from the Russians,
which reached their high water mark under Ivan the Terrible between 1558
and 1584. In 1521, Estonia had already accepted the protection of Sweden;
and in 1560, after the dissolution of the Teutonic Order, Poland annexed
Courland and Livonia, although a large part of the latter was afterwards
wrested from her by the Sedish King, Gustavus Adolphus, in 1626." (10)
"Finally, the eighteenth century saw the defeat of Charles XII by Peter
the Great at Poltava (1709) and the gradual passing of control over the
Baltic Provinces from the declining Swedish Empire and Poland to Russia.
Riga was captured in 1720 and reval soon after. Livonia and Courland were
ceded to Russia by the peace of Nystadt in 1721; Courland gradually became
for intents and purposes a Russian protectorate, and in 1795 acknowledged
the suzerainty of Catherine the Great (II). In the course of the three
partitions of Poland in 1772, 1793, and 1795 the whole of Lithuania proper
passed into the hands of Russia, although Memel remained part of Prussia,
in which it had been incorporated in the sixteenth century. The period of
Russian domination, which lasted down to the outbreak of the World War,
opened ominously, although conditions improved somewhat during the first
half of the nineteeth century." (11)
"In Lithuania the partition of Poland was followed by a period of
Russification; the Orthodox religion was introduced, and Catholic
ecclesiastical property was to a large extent handed over to the Orthodox
Church; the University of Vilna and the higher schools were closed; and the
use of the Lithuanian language was forbidden in all schools. In 1861the
peasants were liberated and granted the right to hold a small amount of
land; but after the Polish insurrection of 1863, which was sternly
suppressed by Muraviev; it was decreed that only adherents of the Orthodox
religion might hold land, and the following year the writing of Lithuanian
in Latin characters was forbidden." (12)
"In the other Provinces the situation of the peasants was even worse
than in Lithuania, owing to the presence of the Baltic Barons, who were
always loyal subjects of the Tsars, and who from the outset took a leading
part in the administration of the Russian Empire. Under Russian rule the
Barons secured the restoration of all privileges of which they had been
deprived under the Swedish regime; moreover, they now created a closed
corporation, consisting of 172 families which alone had the right to own
land. Various attempts made by successive Tsars to improve the lot of the
peasants were frustrated by the Barons, and serious rebellions were put
down in 1783-4 and again in 1802. after the latter, Alexander I issued an
ordinance in 1804 limiting serfdom, but its effects were nullified by the
Barons. Laws abolishing personal serfdom altogether in Estonia (1816),
Courland (1817), and Livonia (1819) did little to improve matters, since
freedom was of little use to peasants with no claim to either tenancy or
ownership of land. In 1849, however, Alexander II enacted a new Agrarian
Law abolishing forced labor and providing forthe purchase or hire of
certain lands by the peasant communes. Under Alexander III (1881-94) a
determined policy of Russification was initiated, aimed as much at the
German as at the native population; indeed, the later native movement of
1905 may be traced largely to the indirect encouragement it now received
from the Russian Government's anti-German policy. Russian law and police
organization was substituted for the existing German system, and the
Russian language was made compulsory in schools. On the other hand, Letts
and estonians were allowed to hold government posts. Towards the end of the
century, too, there was an improvement in the material status of the
peasantry; the Russian railways brought trade to the ports of Riga and
Libau, and in the towns a small proletarian class grew up which was ripe
for the spread of revolutionary ideas. As in Lithuania, nationalist
movements were set on foot, and Young Lett and Estonian parties were
formed." (13)
"With a series of measures from the 1840's to the 1860's that enabled
peasants to acquire leased land as personal landholding the social
structure began to be differentiated from that in the rest of the Russian
Empire. The concurrent abolition of compulsory guild membership for urban
craftsmen allowed the development of an Estonian and Latvian urban class.
The coming of the railways, which increased the significance of Libau
(Liepaja), Riga, and Reval (Tallinn) as ports and industrial cities, also
changed the character of the population in the Baltic provinces. A Latvian
and estonian middle class began to crowd out the Germans, and a Latvian and
Estonian proletariat appeared. Reval, already more than 50% Estonian in
1871, became nearly 70% Estonian by 1897. Riga's Latvian population during
the same period nearly doubled - from about 23% to 42%. education in the
native languages expaned with urbanization. " (14)
"The Estonian and Latvian national conciousness received an indirect
boost from the Russification policy pursued under Alexander III. The
provincial administration, courts and education systems, all bastions of
German privilege, were the principal targets. Increased political activity
by the Estonians and Latvians resulted in electoral successes at the
municipal level. In 1904 Estonians for the first time gained political
control of a major city by constituting a majority in the municipal council
of Tallinn. Between 1897 and 1906 Latvian majorities were elected in four
large Latvian towns." (15)
"The Lithuanian national renaissance emerged in radically different
circumstances. Although in one portion of the country - the Suvalki
province, which had belonged to Napoleon's Grand Duchy of Warsaw - the
peasants were freed during the first decade of the nineteenth century,
emancipation with the right to limited landholding came to the rest of the
country only in 1861. A social struggle with the Polonized nobility ensued.
Russification, aimed primarily at the Polonized nobility, had been constant
since the 1831 revolt (of Poland against the Russians - my note). However,
this was not always beneficial to the Lithuanian national renaissance.
During the revolt of 1863 the Lithuanian peasantry showed itself to be more
revolutionary than its Polish counterpart. thereafter, Russianization also
hit the national renaissance. In 1865 the publication of Lithuanian books
in the Latin alphabet was prohibited, a measure that was not repealed until
1904. Attempts were made to settle Russians in rural areas and to
proselytize for the Russian Orthodox church. The rights of the Catholic
Church were restricted. In 1894 Roman Catholics were prohibited from
holding administrative postions." 16
"The disorders that swept the Russian Empire in 1905 affected the
entire Baltic region, but the degree of turbulence varied considerably
betwen Lithuania and its neighbors to the north. Urban unrest was
particulary severe in Tallinn and Riga. Students at the University of
Dorpat (Tartu) hoisted red flags. Petitions were circulated for freedom of
the press and of assembly as well as for a universal franchise. A
Provisional Revolutionary Government was formed in Riga. Jacqueries swept
the countryside - the targets were the German nobles and the clergy. Some
184 manor houses were burned and 82 nobles killed. At Tukums Latvians
fought Russian troops for two days. The revolt was brutally suppressed -
900 persons were executed and thousands were either imprisoned or exiled to
Siberia.
The disorders in Lithuania, largely confined to rural areas, lacked the
social-protest aspects of the revolution to the north and were directed
primarily at Russian schoolteachers and Orthodox clergy. Excesses were
comparatively few. The political aspects of the 1905 Revolution in
lithuania was highlighted by a massive National Congress of 2000 delegates,
which met in Vilnius (Wilno or Vilna) in December 1905. It resolved to work
for autonomy, a centralized adminisration for the ethnic Lithuanian area of
the empire, and the use of the Lithuanian language in administration.
Like the revolt itself, the postrevolt reaction was at its mildest in
Lithuania. Measures undertaken to establish a rural class of prosperous
farmers throughout the empire even benefited many Lithuanian peasants. At
the same time small German landholders were encouraged to immigrate into
Latvia and Estonia as support for the status quo. All three Baltic
nationalities were represented in the four Dumas. the events of 1905 had
forced many of the Estonian and Latvian leaders into exile, however. The
general cultural relaxation after 1906 and the elimination of restrictions
against the press in the native languages allowed national conciousness to
grow steadily among the three peoples." (17)
The first World War broke loose the chains of Russian domination over
these "countries" and they became independent for the first time in
centuries in the days after the revolutions of 1917 in February and
October. "All three people's sucessfully seized the rare historical
opportunity - provided by the collapse of the Russian and German empires -
to create their own states. In 1918, before the end of the war, Lithuania
and Estonia declared their independence on February 16 and 24,
respectively. Latvia followed suit on November 18. In each case the goal
was accomplished in a different way." (18)
"The countries then had to battle with at least the Germans and the
Russians, and in Lithuania's case, the Poles, for another year or so before
finally achieving peace, and sovereignty. On February 2, July 12, and
August 1, 1920, respectively, Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia concluded
peace treaties with Soviet Russia. In these treaties Lenin denounced
Russian claims of sovereignty over the Baltic territories. Thus the first
nation to actually complete the war of independence was Estonia, while
Lithuania - because of its involvement with Poland - was the last. the
Lithuanians, as a consequence, were the last to proceed with
nation-building as well." (19)
The next twenty years were to see the continued growth of parties in
the three states, some continuing from origins in the late 19th century, a
growth in parliamentary governments, some flirtation with dictatorship, a
clash or two (in the case of the Lithuanians) with the Poles, and the
briefest period of independence. The Baltic's fate was sealed by the
signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact on 23 August, 1939.
The Pact basically conceded, in secret protocols, that the Soviet Union
would have a "sphere of influence" in the Baltics, Romania, Finland, plus
the eastern half of Poland, while the Germans got to grab Czechoslovakia,
Hungary, and western Poland. From 28 September to 10 October, the Soviets
forced the three states to accept Pacts of Defense and Mutual Assistance.
They were forced to accept large garrisons of Soviet troops; 30,000 in
Latvia, 25,000 in Estonia, and 20,000 in Lithuania. (20)
Though there had been a framework for cooperation since 1934, the
Baltic Entente, they had not worked together much. In the months following
the Soviet treaties, a portion of the Latvian and Estonian treasuries were
shipped to the West, archives of Estonia made their way to Stockholm, and
some anti-Soviet activitty occurred. In May 1940, the Soviets, on a
pretext, began pressuring the Baltic states to meet a series of demands to
satisfy claims they had been making. On 15 June, 1940, Molotov issued an
ultimatum to Lithuania, and the following day did so to Latvia and Estonia.
He accused them of colluding in December, 1939 and March, 1940 in Foreign
Minister's meetings and breaking the pacts by these meetings, publishing
the Baltic Review, and "plotting to turn the Baltic Entente into an
anti-Soviet alliance." "By 18 June, the occupation of the Baltic states was
complete." (21)
The Baltic states takeover provides a model for what was to happen to
Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany, Poland and Romania after
the war. A combination of fifth columnists and Russian commissar types
transformed the Baltic states first into "People's Governments." A series
of dubious political moves, "spontaneous" demonstrations by Communist
sympathizers, Soviet workers and military personnel basically showed
Presidents of the three countries the futility of not accepting the
Soviet's designated Cabinets and other leaders. (22)
Though Stalin's purges of the parties in the late 1930's had removed
many Baltic Communists, "the Lithuanian Party of some 1500 members was
numerically the largest of the three." Next came Latvia. "The Latvian Party
had about 1000 members at the time of its legalization." "Accordinging to
the official party history, the Estonian party numbered only 133 members."
(23)
"Elections" were held in July, 1940, and "Officially, results were to
the Kremlin's satisfaction: in Lithuania, 95.5% of the electorate allegedly
voted and gave 99.2% of its votes to the (Working People's) League; in
Latvia, the figures were 94.7 and 97.6%, in Estonia, 81.6 and 92.9%."
After the elections had been held, open discussion of Sovietization and
being incorperated into the Soviet Union began. "All three People's
Assemblies convened on 21 July, 1940." Within two days, all three states
had, "by acclamation," established a Soviet socialist government and
applied for admission to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. By 6
August, all three appications had been accepted by the Supreme Soviet. (24)
The Soviets held the Baltic countries for about one year. Only days
before the Germans invaded and occupied the region, an operation headed by
the deputy of the Security Police, I.A.Serov, began the deporting of large
numbers of Balts. "According to Serov"s "Instructions" of 1941, the arrests
and removal of all deportees had to be performed quietly and quickly in a
single night, within not more than three hours, and in the case of families
the father was to be separated from his wife and children....They were
transported in goods trucks, given no food and water, and taken mostly to
prison camps beyond the Urals. Nearly 10,000 people were deported from the
whole of Estonia, 15,000 from Latvia and 25,000 from from Lithuania on the
night of 13-14 June, 1941. ... In all, within the 12 months of Soviet rule
in 1940-41 59,700 people disappeared in Estonia, of whom around 1,000 were
executed. In Latvia, 34,250 died or diappeared. In Lithuania 30,500. Most
of these deported from the Baltic States in that year and after the war
perished, and less than 20% returned after Stalin's death." (25)
Within a year of this region being seized by the Soviets in their
quasi-legal manner, Germany invaded the region, and had taken most of the
area under their control by the end of August, 1941. This began three years
of occupation. Though this invasion briefly stimulated revolt against the
Soviets prior to the German takeover, in the end all the forces, Soviet or
Baltic, had been swept away by the powerful German war machine. "It is
quite clear from the documents in German archives that the long-range goal
of the Nazi leadership was to annex the Baltic region to the Reich, to
expel two-thirds of the population, and to fuse the remainder gradually
with German immigrants." (26)
Baltic First Directors were appointed, often being swiftly replaced
when they were found to not serve German interests to the degree the Nazis
desired. the same thing occurred with the bodies of Counselors the Germans
selected. Then, the Germans seized property, rationed food, suppressed
cultural life, took over the direction of Baltic education, suppressed
newspapers and book-publishing, and caused "compulsory drafts for labor
service." By 1944, "a total of 126,00 Baltic workers had been sent to
Germany. the national breakdown may have been 75,000 Lithuanians, 35,000
Latvians (especially from Latgale), and 15,000 Estonians." (27)
The cost in lives, especially among the Baltic Jews, was quite large in
proportion to the population. "In total about 250,000 Baltic Jews, of whom
only about 10,000 survived, were deported or killed during the German
occupation. Among the ethnic Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians, an
estimated 25,000 were killed in local camps, and 10,000 were transferred to
concentration camps in Germany." (28)
Most of the prominent members of the three countries governments were
weeded out in that year the Soviets controlled the area from 1940 to 1941.
One suspects the use of the term "deported" means, in most cases, "died" in
some Gulag camp or another. The presidents of Estonia and Latvia, 10 of the
11 Cabinet members of the Estonian government, all but 28 members of the
Estonian Parliament, 9 of the 10 former heads of government in Estonia, The
Prime Minister of Estonia, the Latvian and Estonian Commanders-in-Chief of
the Armed forces, 20 members of the Latvian government, 31 members of the
Latvian Parliament, 14 members of the Lithuanian government, and 22 party
leaders in Lithuania all were seized and deported by the Soviets. Only the
Prime Minister and a former Prime Minister of Estonia escaped, as did the
President of Lithuania. (29)
The Soviets took over the areas again in 1944, though a small portion
of Courland stayed in German hands until May, 1945. Soviet control was
established by the use of the political police, the MVD (after 1946), and
"screening commissions" who "investigated the past and the political views
of every inhabitant above the age of 12 in order to decide whom to deport
and whom to arrest. Formal charges fell in two categories: "war criminal"
and "enemy of the people."(30)
Roughly 30,000 were deported from Estonia, and early in 1945 38,000
were deported from Latvia. "In August and September 1945 an estimated
60,000 men, women and children were deported from Lithuania, followed by
40,000 in February, 1946, and the worst was still to come. About 60,000 may
have been deported from Latvia in 1945-46." (31)
Soviet control was swiftly re-established after the war. Overall
control was utilized through national "bureaus" established 11 November,
1944 by the Cental Committee of the CPSU. "The ranking native executors of
these policies were the First secretaries of each republic's Communist
Party organization. Janis Kalnberzins in Latvia, and Antanas Snieckus in
Lithuania, had occupied thios post since 1940. In Estonia, Nikolai Karotamm
replaced Karl Sare, who had been captured by the Germans and declared a
traitor by the Soviets for divulging information to the Germans. ...
Despite their spotless party records ever since underground days, the
native First Secretaries were now assigned Russian Second Secretaries to
act as Moscow's watchdogs." (32)
Almost as swiftly as the Soviets regained control in 1944, so did a
resistance movement begin. Though this movement never totalled more than .5
to 1% of the populace, the movement lasted eight years, with a few
stragglers hiding out in the woods, like their counterparts among the
Japanese who hid out on islands after World War II, until the late 1970's.
In 1945, 30,000 men were roaming the forests. Altogether, about 100,000
Lithuanians, 40,000 Latvians, and 30,000 Estonians became "Forest
Brothers." or "Forest Brethern." They operated in bands from lone men doing
guerilla activities in rural areas to 800-man bands fighting in the cities,
as one band did in the Tartu district of Latvia in 1945. Amnesties were
offered in late 1944 and early 1945, and two more in 1945 and 1946, but
most who surrendered were deported. Only the last amnesty offer in 1955 was
more or less genuine. (33)
"By 1949, the Lithuanian guerilla groups could no longer paralyze the
functioning of local Soviets. In Latvia and Estonia this ability had been
largely lost by the end of 1946. By the end of 1949, the Latvian guerilla
resistance had been largely crushed, " though a battle was fought the
following year in Courland. "In Estonia, fighting continued well into
1953." (34)
Collectivization, reconstruction, industrialization were all part of
the post-war scheme of things in the Baltic nations. The infra-structure
had not been damaged as had been the case in Byeloriussia. "There were also
non-economic reasons. Ideologically, the industrial proletariat was
considered superior to the peasantry and was expected to be more supportive
of the Soviet regime. From a colonial imperialist viewpoint,,
industrialization offered a path for settling large numbers of Russians
among a reticent local population. ...In particular, it made little sense
to deport Baltic farmers to Siberia, and then import Russian labor to the
Baltic cities." (35)
The population base changed after the war. As there were numerous
casualties sustained in the guerilla war, and a large number of deportions
of the native populace, large numbers of Russians and other non-Baltic
peoples were brought in, "along with large numbers of Russianized Latvians
and Estonians whose families had settled in Russia in Tsarist times." (36)
"About 400,000 Russians and 100,000 people of other nationalities
immigrated to Latvia from 1945 to 1959, most of them probably before 1953.
This amounted to 25% of the pre-war population. ...The Latvian's share of
their country's population was probably around 83% in 1945, but dropped to
about 60% in 1953, due to immigration and deportations." (37)
"Approximately 180,000 non-Estonians arrived in Estonia in 1945-47, and
at least 33,000 more immigrants came in 1950-53, adding up to an increase
of 19% over the pre-war population, or 25% of the reduced population of
1945. The share of Estonians in their country's population decreased from
about 94% in early 1945 to 80% in 1949, plunged to 77% during the 1949
deportations, and continued to slide to anbout 72% by 1953.
In more rural Lithuania, the local labor pool seemed to supply most of
the relatively modest increase in the industrial work force. ... Due to
heavy guerilla and deportation losses, Lithuania's population probably
decreased from about 3.1 million in 1940 (within postwar borders) to 2.6
million in 1953, about 75% of whom were Lithuanians." (38)
After Stalin's death, party growth was slow, and lacked participation
by ethnic Balts. Latvia and Estonia had been able to bring a small amount
of expatriates back to run the party in their countries, but Lithuania had
relatively few of these individuals who had survived Stalin's purges.
Briefly, in 1953, Moscow felt comnfortable in allowing Second secretaries
of the party, all of whom had been Russian since 1945, to be ethnically
represented again. However, this change of heart was short-lived. Russians
came back into those positions in Lithuania in 1955, in Latvia in 1956, and
in Estonia, a Russianized "Yestonian" was able to hold on from 1953 until
1964. (39)(See Appendix)
In 1956, dissatisfaction spilled over into the Baltics area from the
revolt in Hungary and the disturbances in Poland. As November began, and as
the Hungarian revolt was being crushed, demonstrations were occurring in
Lithuania in Vilnius and Kaunas, offering Lithuanian patriotic statements
and shouts of "Long Live the Hungarian Heroes." Toward the end of November,
similar outbursts occurred in Riga on Latvia's Remembrance Day. Party
leaders in both countries blamed the behavior on bourgeois nationalists.
(40)
The de-Stalinization that occurred at the 1956 Party Congress and the
disturbances in Poland and Hungary were indications that the peoples of
several different regions of the USSR and the satellites wanted change.
Revivals of nationalism, nationalist aggressiveness, ethnic culturalism all
began to emerge through 1957 and 1958. In the summer of 1958, Khruschev
apparently began to pull back from the heretofore relaxing posture towards
the nationalities. In November, a new education law was proposed. "Among
its provisions was a clause - "Thesis 19" - which immediately aroused the
sensibilities of the non-Russians and generated intense debate throughout
most of the Union republics. Since 1938 teaching in Soviet schools had been
in the native language but Russian had been a compulsory subject. " This
"plot" by the authorities was immeiately seen as a way to enhance ussian
while diminishing the importance of the native languages, often a critical
step in complete Russification. (41)
Though Thesis 19 was not incorporated into the all-Soviet education
law, it was to be embraced. Latvia disagreed. So, beginning in July, 1959,
a purge began which by November had removed 2000 government and party
people, including the Party chief Kalberzins. The new Party First
Secretary, Arvid Pelshe, accused his former associates of deviating from
"the right path in carrying out Leninist nationality policy." (42)
"..., there was at least one nationalistic demonstration by
non_russians on a mass scale during this period. It occurred in July, 1960,
in Lithuania when Mikhail Suslov, then a member of the Party's Presidium
and who, after the war, had directed the pacification of this republic,
visted Kaunas. Protests and disturbances broke out, troops were called in,
and several youths are reported to have been killed by the soldiers." (43)
The purges continued through 1960, with people coming and going at the
top rather rapidly in Latvia, but much more quietly in the other two
republics. In Lithuania, a "Lithuanization" of the party began after the
death of Stalin, and survived the anti-nationalism campaign of the early
1960's. Russian participation in leadership rose from 21.7% in in 1958 to
28.4% in 1961, though all these numbers were considerably lower than the
one-third participation in 1952. In 1964, Lithuanians in the LiCP were at
about 60%, by 1968 this percentage had risen to 66.2%. In Latvia, the
number of natives in the party in 1967 were at 45% (including Russian
Latvians) while in Estonia in 1966 the percentage of Estonians in the ECP
stood at about 52%. (44)
Culture suffered after the period know as "the Thaw"- roughly 1955-59 -
more and less depending on which country one was in. Latvia suffered the
most from the purges, and only in the late 1960's did writing and other
forms of expression began reappearing without immediate attacks by the
state. Estonia went through most of that period relatively blossoming
compared to the Latvian experience, while all kinds of celebration and
examination of Lithuanian life went on through the 1960's period.
In all three nations, to one degree or another, the Sixties were a time
of creative ferment, massive festivals of song and cultural unity, and
expansion of contacts abroad. the capitals were opened to foreign travel, a
very small amount of legal immigration was allowed, some travel back into
the countries by exiles was permitted, and industrialization and
immigration by Russians and other non-Balts from the Soviet Union were the
predominant behaviors of the decade in the three nations. "In agriculture,
centrally enforced attempts to grow maize gave way to a return to the
dairy-centered approach of the independence period. Urbanization increased,
birth rates decreaeed, divorce rates soared, and Protestant religious
practices plummeted." (45)
"Of the three Baltic republics, Estonia and Latvia tended to exhibit
quite similar social characteristics, while Lithuania tended to follow the
same path of development, though with some lag....the percentage of the
labor force in agriculture was decreasing. In 1968, it stood at 22% in
estonia and 24% in Latvia and Lithuania, compared to 27% throughout the
USSR. In this regard, Lithuania had already caught up with Latvia." (46)
1970-80
In general, the Baltic states collectively had somewhat of a lackluster
decade in the Seventies, primarily punctuated by quiet changes in office
from one set of bureaucrats to another - men really not well known by their
own countrymen. Top posts in all three countries were held by primarily
Russianized natives.(47)
Contradictory behaviors occurred in the Baltics in that decade;
centralization drew the Baltics more within the Soviet orbit, and
immigration slowly decreased the amount of native Balts in all three
countries. Yet, the Balts wwere able, more than many of the other republics
or the satellite nations, to pursue a lifestyle and culture more findable
in the West than under the aegis of the Soviet Union. Also, more direct
links to the West were formed in this period despite an ongoing Soviet
system of fairly strict oversight of Baltic life. (48)
The idea of a "Soviet people" continued despite the slackening of the
anti-nationalism campaign from the center in the 1960's, and the ouster of
Khrushchev in 1964. The Baltic republics apparently saw this hopefully,
only to see a renewed effort at Russification and extinguishment of
national culture and language. (49)
"Interaction between birth rates and immigration continued in 1968-80
to be of far reaching importance for Baltic social, political, and cultural
processes. Urbanization continued, but service industries replaced
production as the main growth sector. Many new aspects common to all
technologically overdeveloped countries emerged, but the basically
established Soviet and Baltic patterns were maintained." (50)
The general population base of the Baltics began to slowly transform in
the 1970's. The influx of Russian and other non-Russian immigrants strongly
under the sway of Russian thinking decreased from the rate of the 1960's,
but continued. Lithuania's rate of influx of these kinds of people
increased. "The differences could be explained in terms of the birth rates
in the Baltic countries and in Russia." (51)
Immigration had an effect on the demographics of Latvia and Estonia;
11,000 into Estonia compared to a birthrate of 2,500 for Estonians and
4,000 non-Estonians in the country. In Latvia, the peak rate in the
Seventies was 1973-74, 15,000 immigrants compared to a "natural increase"
of 2,000 Latvians, and 4,000 non-Latvians. In Lithuania, the birthrate by
1980 had surpassed the decreasing Russian birthrate (18 per thousand
against 15) and net immigration was also up in the 1970's (7,000 per year
against 4,300 per year in the 1960's.) (See Appendix B) (52)
"In 1959, Estonia's population had been 75% Estonian. By 1970 there was
an alarmingly rapid decrease to 68%. The third postwar census in 1979
showed a further decrease, but a noticably smaller one, to 65%. Already
down to 62% in 1959, Latvians represented 57% in 1970 and 54% in 1979. ...
The Lithuanians continued to preserve a strong majority position in their
country. They actually increased their their share in Lithuania's
population from 79% in 1959 to 80% in 1970 and 1979, partly through a slow
assimilation of the Polish minority."
Republic trends in national cities were reflected by the breakdown of
populations in the capital cities (see Appendix C). In Tallinn, the
Estonian share dropped from 60.2% in 1959 to 55.7% in 1970, and 51.3% in
1979. In Riga, Latvians' share of the population declined from 44.7% in
1959 to 40.9% in 1970, with no number given for 1979, but presumabably
lower than the 1970 figure. The 40.9% Latvian population in Riga in 1970
was offset by 42.7% Russians, so that more in that capital spoke the latter
language than the native one. In Vilnius, always a multi-national city
throughout its history, Lithuanians made up 33.6% of the population in
1959, 42.8% in 1970, and 47.3 % in 1980. (53)
Throughout the 1970's, the Baltics were subject to more control from
Moscow, and oddly at the same time, greater autonomy at the individual and
plant level. The Balts would academically demonstrate at what they
considered "excesses of centralization" all the way up to sharp protests to
the Supreme Soviet for inefficiencies and shortcomings. (54)
"The powerful cultural rebound of the early 1960's was followed in 1968
by a period of more mature and less spectacular development. Conditions
continued to be the most difficult inLatvia, where the battle for cultural
autonomy was still undecided." A series of publishings, bannings, calls for
democratization of socialism, suppression of "ideologically erroneous
works" was following by a gradual lessening of critism directed at critics
of the system. Poetry, prose, plays all became more open, pronounced
national in tone, marked by moments of chill (1969 in Estonia, 1971 and
1974 in Latvia, and 1972 and 1975 in Lithuania.). (55)
Significant dissent began arising in below the surface activities
throughout the late 1960's and 1970's in all three countries against the
authorities, both in the country and in Moscow. These sub rosa protests
took several forms, from refusing to speak Russian if addressed in that
language to olacing flowers at places the regimes were trying to lower the
visibility and significance of to cheering at sports contests for
non-Soviet competitors. Introduction of the colors of the pre-war flags
into souvenier items was another subtle way of protesting against the
Moscow-dominated regimes.
In 1972, in Tallinn, the protests became more overt. A Czech hockey
victory over the Soviets led to demonstrations in the streets by "several
hundred students shouting ," We won!" " A soccer match in 1977 set off a
demonstration against the then-new Soviet constitution, with fans hitting
the streets shouting, "Down with the Constitution of the occupying power."
Concerts often also set this kind of reaction off. In Tartu in Estonia, one
thousand students demonstrated in 1976 when a concert was cancelled
because of its "political nuances." In the Latvian city of Liepaja in 1977,
a Estonian rock group was not allowed to perform, whereupon the audience
wrecked the place, and ran through the streets shouting "Freedom!." Riots
occurred in Lithuania in 1956 and in 1960, but in May, 1972, a student
named Romas Kalanta poured gasoline on himself, set himself ablaze and
later died. The day of his funeral began the rioting, as several thousand
youths battled the KGB, police and paratroopers, and 500 were arrested.
Within days, three more self-immolations happened in other cities in
Lithuania. (56)
In December, 1971, dissidents sent to Moscow a petition from Lithuania.
!7,000 signed despite severe problems to these people from the KGB. These
were transshipped to Brezhnev via Kurt waldheim of the UN. Two more
followed in 1973, sent to the Lithuanian Ministry of Education and signed
by 14,000 Lithuanians; the other went to the Commissioner for Religious
Affairs in Lithuania, and contained 18,000 signatures. From 1973 to 1979,
these appeals appeared to vanish in the country, only to reappear in 1979,
regarding a church in Klaipeda, signed by 150,000, 4% of the country's
population. (57)
"The first intimations of Latvian opposition date from the early
1960's." Three individuals were tried for plotting an armed uprising; all
were sent to prison. 8 more Latvians got eight to fifteen years for
allegedly plotting to "form an organization, to be named the Baltic
Federation, to oppose Russification and economic exploitation of the Baltic
republics." 1n 1969, a Latvian youth, ilia Rips, set himself on fire, and
survived, later being allowed to emigrate to Israel. At least a dozen
Latvian journalists received sentences in 1970-71. The most notable Latvian
dissent may have been the "Letter of the Seventeen Communists," published
July-August, 1971, "addressed to party leaders in Romania, Yugoslavia,
France, Austria and Spain." Later, a Roman Catholic petition signed by
5,000 of the church's membership came to light, as did the existance of
three Latvian political dissent groups. All three emerged in 1975 via
letter.
One, the Latvian Independence Movement, had on its agenda oppression,
Russification, moral degradation, alcoholism, and family instability. The
Latvian Democratic Youth Committee surveyed the sateps that would lead to
reestablishing independent Baltic states. the third group was the Latvian
Christian Democratic Organization, promoting the leasing of Christian lives
as a prime condition of independence. A fourth organization, the
Organization for Latvia's Independence, emerged via pamphlet in 1977, and
called for the republic's secession from the Soviet Union. (58)
Estonian dissent became known by samizdat essays and memos that
appeared in the West in the later 1960's. (All three countries had many
samizdat publications from the mid-160's onward.) Starting with an essay
that appeared in July, 1968 entitled "To Hope or to Act," on through Soviet
officers convicted in 1969 for founding a "secret organization," to the
emergence of two "resistance groups" in 1972, Estonian dissent grew. The
Estonian National Front (ENF) and the Estonian Democratic Movement (EDM)
reportedly had published a program in 1971, but it never appeared in the
West. In 1974, the Soviets responded by arresting several members of both
groups. Five EDM members were tried in 1975 and given suspended sentences
for advocating the overthrow of the Soviets. In 1977, 18 naturalists sent
an anonymous letter to colleagues in Europe complaining of ecological
damage perpetrated by the Soviets. One dissenter was sent to a psychiatric
ward in the early Seventies for daring to protest Solzhenitsyn's expulsion
from the USSR. In 1980, 40 major creative artists in Estonia sent a letter
to Pravda - which refused to print it - protesting violence in Tallinn.
They called for an open discussian on Russo-Estonian relations, discussed
food shortages, and laid out a whole plartform of complaints against the
Soviets. (59)
The Soviet state had a great deal of concern about the "nationalities
question." In 1969, a Scientific Council for Natioonality Problems had been
created within the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1975, this group met to
"outline a five year plan for research on nationality problems," after
existing on paper but not in fact in the interim years. (60)
In 1977, the new Soviet constitution was adpoted. "The new Constitution
broadened Moscow's jurisdiction over the governments of the Union republics
(Art. 73). The latter were also deprived of the nominal right to maintain
their own military formations, and to pardon or grant amnesties to citizens
sentenced by a Union republic's judicial organs. Furthermore, although the
union republics retained the right to secede from the USSR (Art. 72), this
guarantee was in effect neutralized by the new definition of the USSR as a
'unitary' state whose 'sovereignty'... extends to all of its
territories.'(Art. 75). Brezhnev did make the claim that the republics were
being given certain additional rights, but in practice this was to have no
real meaning." (61)
Through the late Seventies, the Soviet authorities struggled with an
increased amount of activity from dissident minoriies in various republics;
Georgia, Tajikistan, Kazakhastan, the camps, and Lithuania. Language
conferences in various locations in 1978 and 1979 only tended to heighten
suspicions about further Russification. Two dissident works, one by a
Ukranian, Iurii Badz'o called THE RIGHT TO LIVE, the other by Lithuanian
Vytautas Skuodis called SPIRITUAL GENOCIDE IN LITHUANIA were seized, the
authors arrested and put in prison. Protests against the regime's
Russification policy continued unabated. (62)
"The end of the 1970s saw a turn for the worse in other rsspects as
well. Towards the end of 1979 the Soviet authorities launched a major drive
against dissent that was to continue into the 1980's and result in the
arrest of hundreds. Clearly disturbed by the upsurge and variety of open
dissent since the mid-1970s, the Kremlin had to contain this 'epidemic.' To
what extent this crackdown was linked to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
in Decvember 1979, or the approach of the Olympic Games in 1980 is
difficult to say. What was evident, though, is that the Soviet occupation
of Afghanistan effectively destroyed what was left of 'detente' with the
west and, as a result, the Soviet authorities became even less concerned
about their 'human rights' image. This was especially evident from the fact
that the emigration of Jews, Germans and others from the Soviet Union was
now drastically reduced. What did worry Moscow, however, was the fear of
possibile 'contagion' from Iran, Afghanistan, and Poland. This, and the
deterioration of relations with the West, led to a return of the 'siege
mentality.'
Despite the toughening of policy yowards dissent ... the non-Russians
refused to be muzzled. If anything, their resistance became more radical
and militant. In August 1979, 45 Baltic activists issued a declaration in
connection with the 40th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in
which they called for a restoration of the independence of the Baltic
states. The following moth 20 Baltic activists sent a message of support to
Lech Walesa who was then emerging as a leader of Poland's 'peaceful
revolution.' Baltic dissidents were also among the foirst to condemn the
invasion of Afghanistan. in January 1980, 21 of them addressed an appeal to
the UN Secretary General comparing the occupation of Afghanistan to the
fate that had befallen Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
There were further Baltic actions in the early 1980s. In 1981, for
example, 35 Lithuanians and one Latvian sent Walesa a greeting on the first
anniversary of the formation of the Polish free trade union movement
Solidarity, and 38 Baltic activists signed an appeal for the creation of a
'Baltic nuclear-free zone.' National dissent was conspicuous in all three
of the Baltic republics but especially in Lithuania, where it assumed mass
proportions and in some ways resembled the situation in Poland. The
Lithuanian Roman Catholic Church provied a rallying point in the struggle
for human and national rights, and since November 1978 an unofficial
Cathloic Committee for the Defense of Believer's Rights had played a
promoinent role. Samizdat publications proliferated, with over ten samizdat
journals appearing regularly. There was even a striking parallel to the
Polish workers' celebrated struggle to build a church in Nowa Huta: in 1979
148,149 Lithiuanians signed a protest against the closing of their church
in Klaipeda." (63)
In the early 1980's, no less than four leaders held power in the Soviet
Union, and persection, arrests, continued Russification and a general
denial of "minority rights" were the basic stance of the Brezhnev period
(to November, 1982, when he died), the brief Andropov period (11/82 to
2/84, for the last eight months of his regime he was ill, with barely a
finger on the pulse of the nation), and the even briefer period of
Chernenko's regime (2/84-3/85) right up to the days just before the rise of
Mikhail Gorbachev as General Secretary of the CPSU. (64)
"In December 1984, when Chernenko was visibly ailing, Kommunist
published a major article signed by him that evidently represented a
consensus in the leadership's thinking about what the Party's long-term
strategy and new programme were. It added more gloom to Andropov's sober
appraisal of what the future held for the USSR. the lietmotif of the
article was that the achievements of communism had put off indefinitely and
that the interim would consisy of what Chernenko euphemistically termed 'a
historically long period od developed socialism.' Stressing the 'colossal
amount of work' that still lay ahead and 'the difficulties and
contradictions' that would have to be overcome, the Soviet leader stated
that from now on the road to communism would be constructed 'without a
shadow of utopianism.' The two cruicial tasks for the forseeable future
were, on the one hand, to raise the efficiency of production and accelerate
the country's economic development, and on the other, to instil a better
work ethic by further inculcation of the population with 'socialist'
values.
That same month, Chernenko's heir apparent, Mikhail Gorbachev,
elaborated on these priorities in a keynote address to an all-Union
conference on ideology. Dwelling primarily on the need to improve and
modernize the country's economy, he seemed to emulate Andropov in his
stress on the need for order and better organization, discipline and
political vigilance. Although Gorbachev mentioned the need to abandon
'obselete approaches and methods,' he had nothing new to say about
nationalities policy. He simply described the sphere of national relations
as 'the most complex area of social relations' and placed at the top of his
list of outstanding problems the 'rational distribution of productive
forces and their further integration into the overall national complex.'
Thus, at the time of Chernenko's death in March 1985 and Gorbachev's
takeover, there did not seem to be any real grounds to expect changes in
the nationalities policy."(65)
Thougfh Gorbachev called for glasnost, or openess, in the new Soviet
society, in some ways it came slowly. In May of 1985 however, Russian and
Latvian youths clashed in Riga and there were anti-Soviet protests. But,
"...the new cultural thaw was largely restricted to Moscow and Leningrad."
(66)
In September, 1985, the debate about the Baltics "sharpened." "... The
Latvians were given a fillip by the US-Soviet conference held in the
Latvian seaside resort town of Jurmala." This meeting saw the US spokesman
say that the United States "has never and will never recognize the forcible
incorporation" of the Baltics into the Soviet Union. (67)
During Gorbachev's first year in office, several leading dissidents
from non-Russian areas got stiff prison sentences for dissent. Among them
were a Lithuanian, Vladas Lapeinis, who got seven years in jail, and an
Estonian, Jann Korb, who got eight years imprisonment. In February of 1986,
when Gorbachev had been in power 11 months, he told a French Communist
newspaper that there were no political prisoners in the USSR. (68)
The first couple of years after Gorbachev took over brooked no real
change; indeed, moves to celebrate the former independence days of
Lithuania and Estonia in 1989 aroused the ire of their Soviet overlords,
though no move to suppress the celebrations was taken. The first
demonstration of the Gorbachev era in the Baltics was in Talinn, in August,
1987, when Estonians protested the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939, and its
basic illegality towards the Baltics. (The Soviets continue to claim that
the three Baltic Parliaments "asked" to be incorporated in the USSR, but
the Parliaments in question were "captive" to the Soviets).
The Estonian Popular Front held its first Congress in October, 1988.
The Latvian National Independence Movement had 10,000 members by mid-1989.
Sajudis in Lithunia was formed at the same time as the Popular Fronts of
the other two republics, ... conceived in the summer of 1988 and held its
first congress in October. Of the three fronts, Sajudis has the most solid
support from its population.(69)
In 1989 and 1990, elections in the three republics produced majorities
of independence-minded individuals in the Supreme Soviets (Parliaments) of
the three Baltic states. Those Parliaments in Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania
convened, and in varying ways, made moves toward eventual independence.
Lithuania went the farthest. On 11 March, 1990, Lithuania declared its
independence from the Soviet union, and soon thereafter, both its Baltic
neighbors declared their intent to be separated from the Soviet union also,
though by different methods.
CONCLUSIONS -
The Baltic region has been under domination for most of recorded
history by either pre-Russian elements of what is now the Soviet Union,
Russia in one permutation or another, various groups of knights of
primarily Germanic origin, or the Poles in one form or another. Only the
period 1918-40 in modern times has seen the Baltics "independent" in the
way they again seek to be in 1990-91.
The Baltic peoples have tried, however, in resistance to the Germans in
the 1941-44 period, and to the Soviets up to the mid-1960's, to achieve
statehood anew ever since the now-infamous deal between Stalin and Hitler
immortalized as the Molotov and Ribbentrop Treaty of 1939 carved up their
then-independent nations and made them "ask" to join" the Soviet Union
under duress.
Since the Sixties, the protests have gone on, and been repressd, by all
the subsequent Soviet leadership that followed Stalin in the Kremlin. When
Gorbachev camee in 1985, preaching openess (glasnost) and restructuring
(perestroika), the Baltic peoples began Popular Fronts, as were being
formed elsewhere in the Soviet Union. They sought seats to represent
secessionist views in their respective republic's Supreme Soviet's. They
won those seats. They voted to secede - and Moscow said, "No." Gorbachev
rammed through the USSR's Supreme Soviet a complicated post facto law to
deal with the mechanics of secession. Lithuania had just "declared
independence" a few weeks before. Gorbachev sent the army in, began an
economic blockade of Lithuania, and to lesser degrees, the other two Baltic
countries.
The moves made in 1990 were not considered legal by President Gorbachev
of the Soviet Union, hence the justification in placing large numbers of
troops in the three republics. After several months, in January, 1991, in
separate violent incidents in both Lithuania and Latvia, civilians were
killed by crack Soviet troops in confrontations with Baltic civilians.
Those activities are continuing as these words are being written. No
resolution has been found.
In the past year, the jostling from both the three Baltic states, and
three other republics of the Soviet Union - Georgia, Armenia and Moldava -
to be free of the Soviet Union has been ongoing, occasionally violnt, and
not the only areas of discontent for the Soviets. The other nine republics,
however, agreed in principle to sign a "new union" treaty with Moscow (the
9 + 1 agreement), and then Moscow stated its intent to charge the dissident
six hard currency for resources at "fair market" prices. Negotiations of an
irregular nature have gone on behind the scenes most of 1991, without much
result.
In early June, 1991, troop movements again were begun by the Soviets in
Riga and Vilnius, and then a few hours later withdrawn. How the actuality
of secession is handled is perhaps moot, many observers feel that the
obdurate Balts will settle for nothing less than total independence now,
not five years from now, and not in some shoddy, hard-currency deal that
overlooks considering the thousands who died in Nazi camps and Soviet
gulags whose value is incalcuable.If money passes hands, the "new" Soviet
state will be stained by the immorality of demanding money for fixtures,
but offering none to compensate for the thousands of Balts the Soviet state
unjustly destroyed, often without a word to families about their fate, in
the Stalin years and after, until quite recently. Baltic political
prisoners are in Soviet jails and prisons as these words are typed.
This question of independence will not go away. Despite a long history
of being dominated by every nearby state larger than they, even by
marauding bands of knights being a sub-state for a few hundred years - the
Balts wish more than ever in this era of self-determination rhetoric to be
able to determine for themselves what way they wish to live. In referendums
deemed illegal by the Kremlin in February and March of 1991, no less than
73% of each republic voted to be independent, with 80% of their elctorate
voting. The mandate is clear. After centuries, the Balts are on the verge
of true independence - sovereign states in the modern world community.
CD
APPENDIX A (Insert from #20, p.267-271)
APPENDIX B
(Insert from #20, p.296)
Appendix C
(Insert from #20, p. 292-3.)
NOTES
1) The Baltic States, prepared by the Info. Dept of the Royal
Institute of International Affairs, originally by Oxford
University Press, 1938, reprinted Greenwood Press, 1970. P. 13.
2) Ibid.
3) Ibid.
4) Lithuania, 700 Years, edited by Dr. Albertas Gerutis, Maryland
Books, NY, 1969 ("The Origins of the Lithuanian Nation" Jonas
Puzinas, p.36)
5) Ibid.
6) The Baltic States, Info. Dept. 3.
7) Ibid., p. 13-14.
8) Lithuania, 700 Years, p. 59.
9) The Baltic States, Info Dept., p.14.
10) Ibid.
11) Ibid.
12) Ibid, p. 14-15.
13) Ibid, p. 15.
14) The Baltic States in Peace and War, 1917-1945, edited by V.
Vardys and R. Misiunas, "Introduction: The Baltic Peoples in
Historical Perspective," p. 5
15) Ibid.
16) Ibid., p. 6.
17) Ibid., p. 7.
18) Ibid., p. 8.
19) Ibid., p. 10.
20) The Baltic States: Years of Dependence, 1940-80 by Romauld J. Misiunas
and Rein Taagepera (UC Press) 1983, p. 15
21) Ibid., 17-19.
22) Ibid., 20-22.
23) Ibid., 23.
24) Ibid., 27-28.
25) Soviet Disunion: A History of the Nationalities Problem in the
USSR by Bohdan Nahaylo and Victor Swoboda (The Free Press) 1990,
88.
26) The Baltic States, Years of Dependence ..., 44-47.
27) Ibid., 48-54.
28) Ibid., 62.
29) The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939, the Baltic Case by
Izidors Vizulis (Praeger Publishers), 1990, p.152-154.
30) The Baltic States, Years of Dependence ..., 70.
31) Ibid.
32) Ibid., 74-75.
33) Ibid., 81-90.
34) Ibid., 90.
35) Ibid., 104.
36) Ibid., 107-8.
37) Ibid., 108.
38) Ibid., 108-9.
39) Ibid., 127.
40) Soviet Disunion, 126.
41) Ibid., 130-131.
42) Ibid., 135-136.
43) Ibid., 139.
44) The Baltic States, Years of Dependence ..., 139-143.
45) Ibid., 150-176.
46) Ibid., 184.
47) Ibid., 196-199.
48) Ibid., 195.
49) Ibid., 201-202.
50) Ibid., 204.
51) Ibid., 205.
52) Ibid., 205-206.
53) Ibid., 207-207.
54) Ibid., 217-218.
55) Ibid., 234-238.
56) Ibid., 240-241.
57) Ibid., 243-244.
58) Ibid., 249-252.
59) Ibid., 253-258.
60) Soviet Disunion, 199.
61) Ibid., 201.
62) Ibid., 204-205.
63) Ibid., 209-210.
64) Ibid., 219-229.
65) Ibid., 229-230.
66) Ibid., 237.
67) Ibid., 251.
68) Ibid., 235-236.
69) The Hidden Nations, the People Challenge the Soviet Union.
Nadia Diuk and Adrian Karatnycky, 1990, 105-132.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Diuk, Nadia, and Karatnycky, Adrian. The Hidden Nations: The
People Challenge the Soviet Union. New York, William Morrow and
Co., 1990.
2. Doder, Dusko and Louise Branson. Gorbachev, Heretic in the
Kremlin. New York, Viking Penguin Group, 1990.
3. Gerutis, Dr. Albertas, edit. Translated by Algirdas Budreckis.
Lithuania, 700 Years. New York, Manyland Books, 1969.
4. Misinuas, Romauld and Rein Taagepera. The Baltic States: Years
of Dependence, 1940-80. Berkeley, University of California
Press, 1983.
5. Nahaylo, Bohdan and Victor Swoboda. Soviet Disunion: A History
of the Nationalities Problem in the USSR. ?, The Free Press,
1990.
6. Royal Institute of International Affairs, Information
Department. The Baltic States. London, Oxford University Press,
1938; reprinted Greenwood Press, 1970.
7. Vardys, V. Stanley And Romauld Misiunas, editors. The Baltics
States in Peace and War, 1917-45. University Park, Pennsylvania
State University Press, 1978.
8. Vizulas, Izidors. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939; the
Baltic Case. New York, Praeger Publishers, 1990.
