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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2018
Getting a fix on Estonians’ state of mind was difficult in the years before and after September 1991. The runup and aftermath of independence produced what an observer in Estonian Life called a “psychic rollercoaster”—euphoric hopes, long periods of boredom, and moments of sheer terror as Soviet agents struck hard at Baltic independence. Earlier years of collective obedience training had produced the effect of psychic numbing. In the 1990s Estonians dared to think and feel.
* For research materials and critical comments, the author wishes to thank Mari-Ann Rikken, Toivo U. Raun, and Rein Taagepera.Google Scholar
1. For recent surveys, see Toivo U. Raun, Estonia and the Estonians (2d ed., Stanford: Hoover Institution, 1991); Rein Taagepera, Estonia: Return to Independence (Boulder: Westview, 1993); Romuald J. Misiunas and Rein Taagepera, The Baltic States: Years of Dependence, 1940–1991 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993).Google Scholar
2. BALTFAX in English 6 April 1993 in FBIS-SOV-93-066 p. 15; Baltic Independent, April 9–15, 1993, p. 3; BBC, April 12, 1993. For 1992, see Walter C. Clemens, Jr., “Negotiating a New Life: Burdens of Empire and Independence—the Case of the Baltics,” Nationalities Papers, 20, 2 (Fall 1992), pp. 67–78 at 72–3.Google Scholar
3. Estonian Independent, October 9–15, 1992, p. 8.Google Scholar
4. The Estonian parliament passed a law in February 1993 intended to lower and render more specific the language requirements for citizenship, but precise examination procedures were left for the government to decree. Estonian leaders hoped that the law would ease Estonia's way into the Council of Europe. See Baltic Independent, February 12–18, 1993, p. 10.Google Scholar
5. Alar Jaanus headed the government's Repatriation Section and was manager of the private repatriation fund: Estonian Radio, April 14, 1993, as summarized by BBC, April 17, 1993.Google Scholar
6. There were reports of pressure on elderly people to vote for a certain candidate when the ballot-box was brought to their home, hospital, or retirement home. Some observers estimated that such pressures affected 10 to 12 percent of all votes cast, but the results were not clear because each polling place had its own slant. There were also reports of voter-cards sent to homes for persons with Russian names who did not live there. Often the non-existing resident was also carried on lists authorizing money exchange. Rather than vote fraud, this phenomenon may have been a device for apartment managers to change more money.Google Scholar
7. An election rule provided representation in parliament only for parties winning more than 5 percent of the popular vote. This led many smaller parties to form coalitions in order to assure representation.Google Scholar
8. Tiit Made, head of the Estonian Entrepreneurs Party, complained about complicated election rules that denied representation to any candidate who failed to get at least 5,200 votes.Google Scholar
9. This alignment, reported on Tallinn Radio on October 7, 1992, took shape after much jostling.Google Scholar
10. On January, Moscow News, April 7, 1993. On February, Estonian Statistics Department reported by Economic News Agency (Moscow), April 1, 1993, summarized by BBC, April 9, 1993.Google Scholar
11. Leonid Levitskii, “Bank of Estonia Does Not Change Policies with Change of Governments,” Ivestiia (Moscow), March 12, 1993, p. 4.Google Scholar
12. This is also the interpretation of Riina Kionka in RFE/RL News Briefs, 8–12 February 1993, p. 15.Google Scholar