The Estonian Working People's Union () was a

front organization A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, terrorist organizations, secret societies, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy ...

of the

Communist Party of Estonia The Communist Party of Estonia (, abbreviated EKP; in Russian: Коммунистическая партия Эстонии) was a regional branch of the CPSU, Soviet communist party (CPSU) which in 1920–1940 operated illegally in Estonia an ...

(''de facto'' controlled by the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and the

Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...

) formed to contest in the rigged

1940 Estonian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Estonia on 14 and 15 July 1940 alongside simultaneous elections in Latvia and Lithuania. The elections followed the Soviet occupation of the three countries. As was the case in Latvia and Lithuania, the elect ...

, as the sole officially allowed bloc. It consisted of 22 organizations, including the formally independent Estonian Communist Party, Estonian branch of

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, usually known as Komsomol, was a political youth organization in the Soviet Union. It is sometimes described as the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), although it w ...

, the Central Union of Estonian Trade Unions and cultural society "Idea". Its platform claimed to unite "democratic strata of the society" and demanded friendship and alliance between Estonia and the USSR, democratic liberties, raising salaries, combatting unemployment, social security, land for the landless, assistance for small farms, lowering the workers' burden of debt, re-organization of personal taxation, free education, ethnic equality, democratization of the military and wide development of national culture. According to official results, 92.8% of voters voted for the bloc, with a voter turnout of 84%. Similar organizations were set up in the other two occupied

Baltic States The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...

for the same purpose: Union of the Working People of Lithuania and

Latvian Working People's Bloc The Communist Party of Latvia (, LKP) was a political party in Latvia. History Latvian Social-Democracy prior to 1919 The party was founded at a congress in June 1904. Initially the party was known as the Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party ...

July Council

The new

People's Parliament The People's Parliaments or People's Assemblies (; ) were puppet legislatures put together after the show elections in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to legitimize the occupation by the Soviet Union in July 1940. In all three countries, the ...

of Estonia . Despite the fact that the platform of the bloc did not explicitly call for the unification of Estonia with the Soviet Union, only for their alliance, the parliament, informally called "Juulivolikogu" ("July Council"), on its first session, on July 21, voted unanimously to convert the state to

Estonian SSR The Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, (abbreviated Estonian SSR, Soviet Estonia, or simply Estonia ) was an administrative subunit ( union republic) of the former Soviet Union (USSR), covering the occupied and annexed territory of Estonia ...

, renamed itself to "the Provisional

Supreme Soviet of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic The Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR (Estonian language, Estonian: ''Eesti NSV Ülemnõukogu'') was the formal Rubber stamp (politics), rubber stamp legislative body of the Estonian SSR without any substantive meaning, which was formally ele ...

" and on July 22 declared accession to the Soviet Union. On June 23 the parliament sent a petition to the Soviet Supreme Soviet asking to join, which was granted on August 6, 1940.
Riigireeturid Toompeal — saatuslikud 1940. aasta juulipäevad
("State traitors in Toompea — the fateful days of July 1940"), ',July 22, 2005
''Country Studies'' (digital version of Walter R. Iwaskiw, ''Estonia: A Country Study'') (Library of Congress, 1995). Retrieved 21 February 2019.

References

{{reflist *'' Estonian Soviet Encyclopedia'', Tallinn, 1987, vol 2, p. 456. Defunct political parties in Estonia Parties of one-party systems 1940 in Estonia

July Council

See also

References