Table Of Content6
Kaarel Piirimäe / Olaf Mertelsmann (eds.)
This book examines the role of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in the downfall of the
Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War. It includes groundbreaking, archives-based
research on important facets of the Soviet collapse like, for example, politics of his-
tory, Soviet Atheism, economic reforms, the military and the use of force. The authors
The Baltic States
place the Baltic struggle for independence in the context of international politics,
analyzing interlinkages with the Warsaw Pact countries, the activities of the Baltic
and the End of the Cold War
diaspora, small-state diplomacy and strategic and security-related questions from
the end of the Cold War and into the 1990s. gs
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Kaarel Piirimäe is an Associate Professor in Contemporary History at the University e / T
of Tartu and a Senior Research Fellow at the Estonian War Museum. ä
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Olaf Mertelsmann is an Associate Professor in Contemporary History at the Univer- Pii
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ISBN 978-3-631-71655-7 www.peterlang.com
THS 06_271655 Mertelsmann_MP_A5HCk 151x214 globalL.indd 1 30.09.18 23:48
6
Kaarel Piirimäe / Olaf Mertelsmann (eds.)
This book examines the role of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in the downfall of the
Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War. It includes groundbreaking, archives-based
research on important facets of the Soviet collapse like, for example, politics of his-
tory, Soviet Atheism, economic reforms, the military and the use of force. The authors
The Baltic States
place the Baltic struggle for independence in the context of international politics,
analyzing interlinkages with the Warsaw Pact countries, the activities of the Baltic
and the End of the Cold War
diaspora, small-state diplomacy and strategic and security-related questions from
the end of the Cold War and into the 1990s. gs
n
di
n
E
r
a
W
d
ol
C
d
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a
R,
S
S
U
e
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t
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at E e
St DI m
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s.) · CA
d I
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n O
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a T
m S
s I
el H
ert U
M T
f R
a
Ol A
Kaarel Piirimäe is an Associate Professor in Contemporary History at the University e / T
of Tartu and a Senior Research Fellow at the Estonian War Museum. ä
m
ri
Olaf Mertelsmann is an Associate Professor in Contemporary History at the Univer- Pii
sity of Tartu. el
r
a
a
K
www.peterlang.com
THS 06_271655 Mertelsmann_MP_A5HCk 151x214 globalL.indd 1 30.09.18 23:48
The Baltic States and the End of the Cold War
TarTu hiSToriCal STudiES
Edited by
Eero Medijainen and olaf Mertelsmann
voluME 6
Zu Qualitätssicherung und Peer Review Notes on the quality assurance and peer
der vorliegenden Publikation review of this publication
die Qualität der in dieser reihe Prior to publication, the quality of the
erscheinenden arbeiten wird vor der work published in this series
Publikation durch beide herausgeber is reviewed by both editors
der reihe geprüft. of the series.
Kaarel Piirimäe / olaf Mertelsmann (eds.)
The Baltic States
and the End of the Cold War
Bibliographic Information published by the Deutsche
Nationalbibliothek
The deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the deutsche
Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available in the
internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.
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Cover design:
© olaf Gloeckler, atelier Platen, Friedberg
iSSN 2191-0480
iSBN 978-3-631-71655-7 (Print)
E-iSBN 978-3-631-74494-9 (E-PdF)
E-iSBN 978-3-631-74495-6 (E-PdF)
E-iSBN 978-3-631-74496-3 (E-PdF)
doi 10.3726/ b13237
© Peter lang Gmbh
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Berlin 2018
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This book was peer reviewed prior to publication.
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Table of Contents
Kaarel Piirimäe
Preface �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������7
Kaarel Piirimäe, with a contribution by Olaf Mertelsmann
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania at the End of the USSR and the Cold War ������������9
Jan Lipinsky
Reception and Historiography of the MRP in (Soviet) Russia –
Historians and Their Responsibility �������������������������������������������������������������������������27
Juhan Saharov
An Economic Innovation as an Icebreaker: The Contractual
Work Experiment in Soviet Estonia in 1985 �����������������������������������������������������������65
Justinas Dementavičius
Atheism as an Intellectual Project in Soviet Lithuania: Assumptions,
Objections, and Transformations ������������������������������������������������������������������������������85
Rytis Bulota
Informal Social Networks as the Precondition for Mass Mobilization:
The Case of Kaunas in the Late Soviet Period �����������������������������������������������������107
Olev Liivik
Glasnost Policy Reaching Estonia: Fear and Hope in the Protest
Letters of Estonian Residents during the Campaign against the
Phosphorite Mines in 1987 ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������123
Triin Tark
The Wind of Change in Cultural Diplomacy: Estonian Society
for Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries
in the Late 1980s and Early 1990s �������������������������������������������������������������������������153
Luboš Švec
Spillover of Revolution: The Baltic Republics and
Czechoslovakia 1988–1989 ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������175
6 Table of Contents
Kristīne Beķere
Latvian Diaspora’s Involvement in the Latvian State Independence
Renewal Processes 1989–1991 �������������������������������������������������������������������������������189
Eduards Bruno Deksnis
The Baltic Diaspora and Restoration of Baltic Independence –
the Latvian Contribution ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������207
Lars Gronbjerg
The Baltic Independence Struggle and Danish Diplomacy 1988–1991 �����������239
Joseph Enge
Why the Soviet Coercive Use of Force in the Baltic Republics Failed in
1990–1991 and Led to the End of the Soviet Union� ������������������������������������������269
Kaarel Piirimäe
Gorbachev’s “Last Trench Line”: Estonian Diplomacy toward the East
and the Soviet Crackdown in the Baltic States in January 1991 ������������������������293
Holger Mölder
Competing Narratives at the Start of Estonia’s Security-Building
Process in 1991–1994 ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������317
List of Contributors �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������353
Preface
This book is the result of two complementary research enterprises� The idea to
study the end of the Cold War in the Baltic region, and also part of the funding for
research, came from the project “Reimagining Futures in the European North at
the End of the Cold War” (REIMAG) financed by the Academy of Finland from
2013 to 2017� I wish to thank Kimmo Rentola, Juhana Aunesluoma, Suvi Kansikas,
Pertti Grönholm, and all the other members of the REIMAG team for continuing
support and encouragement� The other impetus came from “Estonia, the Baltic
States and the Collapse of the Soviet Union: New Perspectives on the End of the
Cold War,” a project financed by the Estonian Research Council from 2015 to
2016 (PUT683)� This was a smaller undertaking and focused more specifically on
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (whereas REIMAG centered mostly on Finland)�
There was also a small supplementary grant awarded by the Contemporary His-
tory Foundation at the University of Tartu, which contributed towards the cost
of editing� I would like to thank both the Estonian Research Council and the
University of Tartu for support�
Most of the work for this volume was based entirely on the authors’ enthusiasm
and hard work, often unpaid� We did not organize a conference to discuss all the
contributions, which was a handicap because much of the work on individual
papers had to be completed by correspondence� It required a lot of diligence and
good will on the part of the authors and referees� However, we did meet with a
smaller group of researchers and doctoral students at the University of Tartu to
review and debate each other’s papers, which I believe added much to the results
of those individual research pursuits� I am grateful to Joseph Enge, Juhan Saharov,
and Triin Tark, doctoral students at the University of Tartu, my colleague Olaf
Mertelsmann, as well as to Olev Liivik and Holger Mölder, faithful members of
the “New Perspectives” team, for the success of those workshops�
Last but not least, I would like to thank Olaf for volunteering to becoming
involved with this project, which has been out of the scope of his research and as-
suring that the upshot of the efforts would fit smoothly into the publication series
Tartu Historical Studies with Peter Lang� I am also grateful to Joe for helping out
with the grammar and the specifics of American English�
Kaarel Piirimäe
January 2018, Tartu