Baltics: Nationalities and Other Problems, The
Date: September 4, 1992
By "Valentine M. Smith"
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 Pter 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
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.)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. 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
Though 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 electorate voting.
The mandate is clear. After centuries, the Balts are on the verge of true independence -
sovereign states in the modern world community.
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.
