30 years from the convening of the Congress of Estonia

From the Left: Endel Ratas, former political prisoner; Enn Tarto, former political prisoner and Member of the Estonian Parliament (MP); Mart Niklus, former political prisoner and MP; the late Mäido Kari, former president of the Estonian World Council; Mari-Ann Kelam, former MP.

TUNNE KELAM, former Member of the Congress of Estonia

March 11, 2020 will mark the 30th anniversary of the convening of the Congress of Estonia, the democratic transition-time parliament representing Estonian citizens. This was the climax to the Citizens’ Committees movement – the largest citizens’ initiative in Estonian history. From the spring of 1989 to February 1990, unpaid volunteers registered 790,000 citizens (including children) of the Republic of Estonia at home and abroad in a nation-wide grassroots action.

In less than a year, hundreds of thousands of Estonian inhabitants whom the Kremlin considered to be Soviet subjects, individually and openly signed a statement in which they declared themselves to be citizens of the Republic of Estonia. This was based on the fact that the Republic of Estonia, which was illegally annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940, continued to exist de iure. Most Western democracies never recognised the occupation of the Baltic States, members of the pre-war League of Nations, as legal.

Overcoming the deep-seated fear created by Soviet terror, the Estonian citizens’ movement resulted in an authentic referendum in favor of restoration of a fully independent state, relying on international law and the principle of legal continuity. By the time the first session of the Congress of Estonia convened in March 1990, a crucial mental and political change had taken place. Instead of cherishing hopes of being granted some more economic and cultural autonomy within the framework of the Soviet Union, Estonian citizens succeeded in creating a democratic alternative to the half-hearted reforms, offered by perestroika-minded communist elites. A new paradigm of full-fledged democracy and complete independence resulted. After the first session of the Congress of Estonia, the Estonian branch of the communist party quietly melted away.

The Citizens’ Committees movement relied on legal, not ethnic, principles. Among citizens of pre-occupation Estonia, there were thousands of Russians, Germans, Swedes, Jews and others, whose citizenship was hereditable by their children (ius sanguinis). Simultaneously, the Citizens’ movement offered non-citizens a chance to register themselves as applicants for Estonian citizenship. For such a courageous act, they were promised an easier path to citizenship, when and if Estonian independence was restored. About 60,000 individuals applied and elected their own representatives to the Congress of Estonia. This was the beginning of inclusive national politics.

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Tunne Kelam, Chairman of the executive of the Congress of Estonia, the Estonian Committee.

Delegates at the first session can be seen, from Toronto: Reet Roman-Metsmaa, Reet Marten-Sehr, Markus Hess, Toomas Trei, Laas Leivat, Hans Lupp, Tönu Parming, Ülo Tamre. Missing – Walter Pent.