Johannes Lauristin (pseudonym: Juhan Madarik; 29 October 1899 – 28 August 1941) was an

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 ...

n communist politician, activist, writer and statesman who served as the first Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the

Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic The Estonian SSR,, russian: Эстонская ССР officially the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic,, russian: Эстонская Советская Социалистическая Республика was an ethnically based adminis ...

. Hs wife was communist politician Olga Lauristin and his daughter was politician

Marju Lauristin Marju Lauristin (born 7 April 1940) is an Estonian politician, and former Member of the European Parliament and Minister of Social Affairs. She is a member of the Social Democratic Party, part of the Party of European Socialists. Lauristin is cu ...

Biography

Lauristin was born in to a family of industrial workers. After the revolutionary events of 1917, he quit his work and joined the

Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks) "Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first)Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspaper ...

. In 1919, he was enrolled in the Army of the Republic of Estonia and participated in the

War of Independence This is a list of wars of independence (also called liberation wars). These wars may or may not have been successful in achieving a goal of independence. List See also * Lists of active separatist movements * List of civil wars * List of o ...

. After independence, Lauristin became a member of the illegal Estonian Communist Youth Union and worked as an editor in various underground newspapers and magazines. In the same year, he joined the

Communist Party of Estonia The Communist Party of Estonia ( et, Eestimaa Kommunistlik Partei, abbreviated EKP) was a subdivision of the Soviet communist party which in 1920-1940 operated illegally in Estonia and, after the 1940 occupation and annexation of Estonia by the ...

and became a member of the Central Council of the Estonian Workers' General Union. He was a member of the

II Riigikogu II Riigikogu was the second legislature of the Estonian Parliament (Riigikogu). The legislature was elected after 1923 elections (held on 5–7 May 1923). It sat between 31 May 1923 and 14 June 1926, before the next round of elections were held. ...

, having been a member since 7 June 1923, replacing Aleksander Mahlberg. On 27 June 1923, he resigned his position and was replaced by Aleksander Janson. After the banning of the Communist Party of Estonia, Lauristin was arrested and was one the defendants involved with the

trial of the 149 ''Trial of the 149'' () is the name given to the legal proceedings against 149 Estonian Communist Party, communists in Estonia that lasted from 10 to 27 November 1924. Many defendants were accused of high treason. One of them – Jaan Tomp – was ...

and was sentenced to six years of forced labor. He was released, however, after an amnesty and remained in Estonia alongside other activists and once again engaged in underground activities. Johannes and Olga Lauristin 24

Upon the June Coup which established Soviet power in Estonia, Johannes Lauristin was the secretary of the Communist Party of Estonia from June to July 1940 . From August 25, 1940, until the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Estonia in the summer of 1941, he was the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Estonian SSR, as well as the secretary of the Central Committee of the ECP and a representative to the

Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union The Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( rus, Верховный Совет Союза Советских Социалистических Республик, r=Verkhovnyy Sovet Soyuza Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respubl ...

. After the start of the

German-Soviet War The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Sout ...

in the summer of 1941, Lauristin was appointed deputy chairman of the Republican Defense Committee of the Estonian SSR. Johannes Lauristin died during the

Soviet evacuation of Tallinn The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

; however, the circumstances of his death are unclear. According to the official Soviet version, he died on the Yakov Sverdlov destroyer after it was struck by a mine. According to the historian Mati Õun, he was executed by fellow communist officials for disobeying

Stalin's Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

war orders; however, this version is also contested. Lauristin was awarded the

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration b ...

posthumously in 1946.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lauristin, Johannes 1899 births 1941 deaths Politicians from Tallinn People from Kreis Harrien Old Bolsheviks Workers' United Front politicians Members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Estonia Heads of government of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic Members of the Riigikogu, 1923–1926 Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1940–1947 First convocation members of the Soviet of the Union 20th-century Estonian writers Prisoners and detainees of Estonia Estonian military personnel of the Estonian War of Independence Recipients of the Order of Lenin Civilians killed in World War II