View source for Commune of the Working People of Estonia

{{Short description|Bolshevik government in Estonia}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{Expand Polish|topic=hist|date=January 2023}}
{{Expand Estonian|topic=hist|date=January 2023}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}}
{{Infobox country
| conventional_long_name = Estonian Workers' Commune
| native_name            = ''Eesti Töörahva Kommuuna''
| common_name            = Estonia
| status                 = State of [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]] (until December 7th, 1918)<ref name ="rev">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zlsvDwAAQBAJ | isbn=978-0-19-979421-8 | title=Russia in Flames: War, Revolution, Civil War, 1914-1921 | date=22 January 2024 | publisher=Oxford University Press }}</ref>
| image_flag             = Flag of the Estonian Workers' Commune (1918-1919).svg
| flag                   = List of Estonian flags#Historical flags
| flag_caption           = Flag <ref name="f1">{{cite web | url=https://www.muis.ee/museaalView/2785195 | title=Eesti muuseumide veebivärav - Eesti Töörahva Kommuuni lipp }}</ref><ref name="f2">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1HMWAQAAIAAJ | isbn=978-9985-2-1053-6 | title=Эстонский флаг, эстонский герб | date=2005 | publisher=Авита }}</ref>
| image_map              = Estonia on the globe (Europe centered).svg
| image_map_caption      = Location of [[Estonia]] in northern Europe.
| capital                = [[Narva]]
| common_languages       = [[Estonian language|Estonian]]<br/>[[Russian language|Russian]]
| government_type        = [[Soviet republic (system of government)|Soviet republic]]
| title_leader           = Chairman<sup>a</sup>
| leader1                = [[Jaan Anvelt]]
| year_leader1           = 1918–1919
| legislature            = [[Soviet (council)|Soviet council]]
| date_start             = 29 November
| year_start             = 1918
| date_end               = 5 June
| year_end               = 1919
| currency               =
| footnote_a             = Chairman (''Esimees'') of the Soviet of the Commune of the Working People of Estonia (''Eesti Töörahva Kommuuni Nõukogu'').
}}
The '''Estonian Workers' Commune<ref name ="rev"/>''' ({{langx|et|Eesti Töörahva Kommuun}}, initially ''{{lang|et|Eesti Töörahwa Kommuuna}}''; {{langx|ru|Эстляндская трудовая коммуна}} {{transliteration|ru|Estlyandskaya trudovaya kommuna}}, {{lang|ru|ЭТК}} or '''ETK''', also '''Estonian Labour Commune'''<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iFYBBAAAQBAJ | isbn=978-0-7735-6285-1 | title=Survival and Consolidation: The Foreign Policy of Soviet Russia, 1918-1921 | date=27 April 1992 | publisher=McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP }}</ref> and '''Commune of the Working People of Estonia'''<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DYyBEAAAQBAJ | isbn=978-91-87121-83-8 | title=Cultural Transformations After Communism: Central and Eastern Europe in Focus | date=8 January 2011 | publisher=Nordic Academic Press }}</ref>) was a government claiming the [[Bolshevik]]-occupied parts of [[Republic of Estonia]] as its territories during the [[Estonian War of Independence]] and the [[Russian Civil War]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Eesti ajalugu |language=et |trans-title=History of Estonia |author1-link=Küllo Arjakas |first1=Küllo |last1=Arjakas |author2-link=Mati Laur |first2=Mati |last2=Laur |author3-link=Tõnis Lukas |first3=Tõnis |last3=Lukas |author4-link=Ain Mäesalu |first4=Ain |last4=Mäesalu |publisher=[[Koolibri]] |location=[[Tallinn]] |date=1991 |page=261}}</ref> It was recognised as an independent state only by Russian SFSR on December 7th, 1918.<ref name ="rev"/>
== Establishment and fall==
The Commune was established in [[Narva]] on 29 November 1918 with the support of the [[Red Army]]. It was chaired by [[Jaan Anvelt]] for the duration of its existence.
Within areas of their control, the Commune closed churches, nationalised industry and the banks<ref>{{cite book |last=Miljan |first=Toivo |title=Historical Dictionary of Estonia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xeXwMDZbTBoC&pg=PA226 |year=2004 |publisher=[[Scarecrow Press]] |isbn=9780810865716 |page=226}}</ref> and outlawed representatives of the Provisional Government.<ref name="Karsten">{{cite journal |last=Brüggemann |first=Karsten |date=29 August 2008 |title="Foreign Rule" during the Estonian War of Independence 1918–1920: The Bolshevik Experiment of the "Estonian Worker's Commune" |journal=[[Journal of Baltic Studies]] |publisher=[[Routledge]] |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=210–226 |doi=10.1080/01629770608628880 |s2cid=144738999}}</ref>
The Communist offensive was initially successful and eventually reached as far as 34 kilometres from [[Tallinn]].  However, a counter-offensive begun on 7 January 1919 by the Estonian People's Force (''Rahvavägi'') under Commander-in-Chief [[Johan Laidoner]] eventually drove the Red Army out of Estonia, with international military aid primarily from the [[British Empire]]. The Commune was thus rendered defunct, claiming a [[government in exile]] in [[Pskov]], then [[Luga, Leningrad Oblast|Luga]] and finally, from 17 May 1919, in [[Staraya Russa]].
[[File:Flag of Estonian Commune.png|thumb|Flag<ref name="f1"/><ref name="f2"/>]]
== International recognition ==
The [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic]] (RSFSR) formally recognised the ETK on 7 December 1918 and remained the only government to do so.<ref>''Eesti ajalugu'', a textbook for grade 11 by [[Küllo Arjakas]], [[Mati Laur]], [[Tõnis Lukas]] and [[Ain Mäesalu]]; [[Koolibri]], [[Tallinn]] 1991; p. 263.</ref> 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 (Russian–Estonian)|Treaty of Tartu]] concluding the [[Estonian War of Independence]] in 1920.
== Massacres ==
{{See also|Red terror}}
[[File:Victims of Bolshevik Cheka in Tartu, Estonia, 1919.jpg|250px|thumb|left|Corpses of victims of the 1919 [[Tartu Credit Center Massacre]], among them Estonian bishop [[Platon (Kulbusch)|Platon]], killed by the [[Battle of Tartu (1919)|winthdrawing]] Bolsheviks]]
The regime instituted a reign of terror<ref>{{cite book |last=Miljan |first=Toivo |title=Historical Dictionary of Estonia |series=European Historical Dictionaries |volume=43 |year=2004 |publisher=[[Scarecrow Press]] |isbn=0810849046 |page=226}}</ref> from November 1918 to January 1919.<ref name="Rauch">{{cite book |last=Von Rauch |first=Georg |title=The Baltic States – The Years of independence 1917 – 1940 |year=2006 |publisher=Hurst & Company |isbn=1850652333 |pages=58–59}}</ref> A considerable number of people were arrested in [[Tartu]] in December 1918 and a number of German estate owners were executed on the frozen river on 9 January 1919.<ref name="Rauch"/> A [[Internment|concentration camp]] was also set up near Luga, in January 1919.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ammela |first1=Mari-Leen |title=Estonian Workers' Commune |url=http://www.estonica.org/en/Estonian_Workers%E2%80%99_Commune/ |website=estonica.org |accessdate=3 September 2019 |archive-date=21 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200121121001/http://www.estonica.org/en/Estonian_Workers%E2%80%99_Commune/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> Just before Tartu was seized, the Bolsheviks carried out the [[Tartu Credit Center Massacre]] executing clergymen and other prisoners in the basement of the town's bank,<ref name="Rauch"/> among the victims were Bishop [[Platon (Kulbusch)|Platon]], the priest {{Interlanguage link|Sergei Florinski|et|Sergi Florinski}} and the pastor {{Interlanguage link|Traugott Hahn|et}}.<ref name="Rauch"/> Around 500 people were killed in total.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tannberg |first1=Tonu |last2=Maesalu |first2=Ain |last3=Lukas |first3=Tonis |last4=Laur |first4=Mati |last5=Pajur |first5=Ago |title=History of Estonia |edition=2nd |year=1997 |publisher=Avita |isbn=9985206061 |page=212}}</ref>
== Members of the Commune ==
* [[Jaan Anvelt]] – Chairman of the council and People's Commissar of Defence
* [[Viktor Kingissepp]] – People's Commissar of the Interior (actually underground in Estonia, [[Johannes Käspert]] 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]])
*[[Johannes Käspert]] – Executive Secretary of the council
Soviet authorities executed most of the members during the [[Great Purge]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.epl.ee/artikkel/400987 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120801131138/http://www.epl.ee/artikkel/400987 |url-status=dead |archive-date=1 August 2012 |title=Hea kommunist on surnud kommunist |language=et |trans-title=A good communist is a dead communist |last=Kaljuvee |first=Ardo |date=22 September 2007 |work=Eesti Päevaleht |access-date=7 March 2013}}</ref>
== See also ==
*[[Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic]]
*[[Soviet Republic of Naissaar]]
*[[Estonian War of Independence]]
*[[Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic]]
*[[Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic]]
*[[Finnish Democratic Republic]]
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
== Sources ==
* Szajkowski, Bogdan. ''The Establishment of Marxist Regimes''. London: Butterworths, 1982. p.&nbsp;21-22. ({{ISBN|0-408-10834-7}})
* {{cite web |url= http://bdcol.ee/fileadmin/docs/bdreview/bdr-2002-8-11.pdf |title= ''The Baltic States from 1914 to 1923: The First World War and the Wars of Independence'' |url-status= dead |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20070616145931/http://bdcol.ee/fileadmin/docs/bdreview/bdr-2002-8-11.pdf |archivedate= 16 June 2007 }}&nbsp;{{small|(1.24&nbsp;[[Mebibyte|MiB]])}} in ''Baltic Defence Review'', No.8, Volume 2/2002.
== External links ==
*[https://archive.today/20070929091605/http://www.atlasgeo.net/FOTW/flags/su-ee_h.html Eesti Töörahva Kommuun] {{Dead link|date=July 2022}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070306094859/http://riigi.arhiiv.ee/naitus/1det.m2ss/Jaan%20Anvelt%20%281925%29.jpg Jaan Anvelt] at arhiiv.ee.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070602234428/http://www.postimees.ee/291104/esileht/siseuudised/151338_foto.php Jaan Anvelt] at postimees.ee.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Commune of the Working People of Estonia}}
[[Category:Early Soviet republics|Estonia, Commune of the Working People of]]
[[Category:Post–Russian Empire states|Estonia, Commune of the Working People of]]
[[Category:1918 establishments in Estonia|Estonia, Commune of the Working People of]]
[[Category:Soviet military occupations|Estonia]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1918|Estonia]]
[[Category:History of Narva]]
[[Category:Former countries of the interwar period|Estonia]]
[[Category:Former socialist republics|Estonia]]
[[Category:Communism in Estonia]]
[[Category:Commune of the Working People of Estonia| ]]
[[Category:Revolutionary communes]]