The Commune of the Working People of Estonia ( et, Eesti Töörahva Kommuun, initially '; russian: Эстляндская трудовая коммуна , or ETK) was an unrecognised government claiming the

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

-occupied parts of

Republic of Estonia A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...

as its territories during the

Estonian War of Independence The Estonian War of Independence ( et, Vabadussõda, literally "Freedom War"), also known as the Estonian Liberation War, was a defensive campaign of the Estonian Army and its allies, most notably the United Kingdom, against the Bolshevik westwa ...

and the

Russian Civil War , date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...

Establishment and fall

The Commune was established in

Narva Narva, russian: Нарва is a municipality and city in Estonia. It is located in Ida-Viru County, Ida-Viru county, at the Extreme points of Estonia, eastern extreme point of Estonia, on the west bank of the Narva (river), Narva river which ...

on 29 November 1918 with the support of the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

. It was chaired by

Jaan Anvelt Jaan Anvelt (also known by the pseudonyms Eessaare Aadu, Jaan Holm, Jaan Hulmu, Kaarel Maatamees, Onkel Kaak; in Russian or ; 18 April 1884 – 11 December 1937), was an Estonian Bolshevik revolutionary and writer. He served the Russian SFSR ...

for the duration of its existence. Within areas of their control, the Commune closed churches, nationalised industry and the banks and outlawed representatives of the Provisional Government. The Communist offensive was initially successful and eventually reached as far as 34 kilometres from

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

. However, a counter-offensive begun on 7 January 1919 by the Estonian People's Force (''Rahvavägi'') under Commander-in-Chief

Johan Laidoner Johan Laidoner ( – 13 March 1953) was an Estonian general and statesman. He served as Commander‑in‑Chief of the Estonian Armed Forces during the 1918–1920 Estonian War of Independence and was among the most influential people in the Eston ...

eventually drove the Red Army out of Estonia, with international military aid primarily from the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

. The Commune was thus rendered defunct, claiming a

government in exile A government in exile (abbreviated as GiE) is a political group that claims to be a country or semi-sovereign state's legitimate government, but is unable to exercise legal power and instead resides in a foreign country. Governments in exile us ...

Pskov Pskov ( rus, Псков, a=pskov-ru.ogg, p=pskof; see also names in other languages) is a city in northwestern Russia and the administrative center of Pskov Oblast, located about east of the Estonian border, on the Velikaya River. Population ...

, then Luga and finally, from 17 May 1919, in

Staraya Russa Staraya Russa ( rus, Старая Русса, p=ˈstarəjə ˈrusːə) is a town in Novgorod Oblast, Russia, located on the Polist River, south of Veliky Novgorod, the administrative center of the oblast. Its population has steadily decreased ov ...

International recognition

The

Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

(RSFSR) formally recognised the ETK on 7 December 1918 and remained the only government to do so. At that time, Soviet Russia was itself not internationally recognised. One of the first international treaties recognising Russia's Soviet government as legitimate was the Treaty of Tartu concluding the

in 1920.

Massacres

The regime instituted a reign of terror from November 1918 to January 1919. A considerable number of people were arrested in Tartu in December 1919 and a number of German estate owners were executed on the frozen river on January 9, 1919. A concentration camp was also set up near Luga, in January 1919. Just before Tartu was seized, the communists

executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

clergymen and other prisoners in the basement of a town bank, among the victims were Bishop

Platon Platon may refer to: People * Plato (Πλάτων, romanized as ''Plátōn''), Greek philosopher * Plato (comic poet) (fl. 420–391 BCE) * Plato of Bactria (2nd century BCE), Greco-Bactrian king * Plato (exarch) (fl. 645–653), Byzantine exarc ...

, the priest and the pastor . Around 500 people were killed in total.

Members of the Commune

– Chairman of the Council and People's Commissar of Defence *

Viktor Kingissepp Viktor Eduard Kingissepp ( in Karmel (now ) – 4 May 1922 in Tallinn) was an Estonian communist politician, the leader of the Estonian Communist Party. The son of a factory worker, he joined a Marxist circle as a schoolboy in Arensburg (no ...

– People's Commissar of the Interior (actually underground in Estonia,

Johannes Käspert Johannes is a Medieval Latin form of the personal name that usually appears as "John" in English language contexts. It is a variant of the Greek and Classical Latin variants (Ιωάννης, ''Ioannes''), itself derived from the Hebrew name '' Yeh ...

acting for him) * Hans Pöögelmann – Commissioner for the National Economy * Artur Vallner – People's Commissar of Culture and Public Education * Johannes Mägi – People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs (from 20 December 1918 Max-Alfred Trakmann) and state control (later Karl Mühlberg) * Rudolf Vakman – Commissioner for Social Insurance (acting Otto Rästas) *

– Executive Secretary of the Council Soviet authorities executed most of the members during the

Great Purge The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Nikolay Yezhov, Yezhov'), was General ...

Notes

References

* Szajkowski, Bogdan. ''The Establishment of Marxist Regimes''. London: Butterworths, 1982. p. 21-22. () * in ''Baltic Defence Review'', No.8, Volume 2/2002.

External links

Eesti Töörahva Kommuun

Jaan Anvelt
at arhiiv.ee.
Jaan Anvelt
at postimees.ee. {{DEFAULTSORT:Commune of the Working People Of Estonia Estonia, Commune of the Working People of Estonia, Commune of the Working People of Estonia, Commune of the Working People of

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

History of Narva

Communism in Estonia