Johannes Lauristin (pseudonym:Juhan Madarik;29 October 1899 –28 August 1941) was an Estonian 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. Hs wife was communist politician Olga Lauristin and his daughter was politician Marju Lauristin. [1]
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). In 1919,he was enrolled in the Army of the Republic of Estonia and participated in the War of Independence. [2]
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 and became a member of the Central Council of the Estonian Workers' General Union.
He was a member of the II Riigikogu,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. [1]
After the banning of the Communist Party of Estonia,Lauristin was arrested and was one the defendants involved with the trial of the 149 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.
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.
After the start of the German-Soviet War in the summer of 1941,Lauristin was appointed deputy chairman of the Republican Defense Committee of the Estonian SSR. [2]
Johannes Lauristin died during the Soviet evacuation of Tallinn;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 war orders;however,this version is also contested. [3]
Lauristin was awarded the Order of Lenin posthumously in 1946.
The Riigikogu is the unicameral parliament of Estonia. In addition to approving legislation,the Parliament appoints high officials,including the prime minister and chief justice of the Supreme Court,and elects the president. Among its other tasks,the Riigikogu also ratifies significant foreign treaties that impose military and proprietary obligations and bring about changes in law,as well as approves the budget presented by the government as law,and monitors the executive power.
Konstantin Päts was an Estonian statesman and the country's president in 1938–1940. Päts was one of the most influential politicians of the independent democratic Republic of Estonia,and during the two decades prior to World War II he also served five times as the country's prime minister. After the 16–17 June 1940 Soviet invasion and occupation of Estonia,President Päts remained formally in office for over a month,until he was forced to resign,imprisoned by the new Stalinist regime,and deported to the USSR,where he died in 1956.
Tunne-Väldo Kelam is an Estonian politician and former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Estonia. He is a member of the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union,part of the European People's Party.
Jaan Tõnisson was an Estonian statesman,serving as the Prime Minister of Estonia twice during 1919 to 1920,as State Elder from 1927 to 1928 and in 1933,and as Foreign Minister of Estonia from 1931 to 1932.
Enn Tarto was an Estonian politician who was a leading dissident during the Soviet occupation of Estonia. He was imprisoned from 1956 to 1960,1962 to 1967,and again from 1983 to 1988 for anti-Soviet activity.
Johannes Vares was an Estonian and Soviet poet,medical doctor,and politician.
The Commune of the Working People of Estonia was an unrecognised government claiming the Bolshevik-occupied parts of Republic of Estonia as its territories during the Estonian War of Independence and the Russian Civil War.
The Congress of Estonia was an innovative grassroots parliament established in Estonia in 1990–1992 as a part of the process of regaining of independence from the Soviet Union. It also challenged the power and authority of the pre-existing quasi-parliament in the country,called the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR,which had been imposed on Estonia after the Soviet invasion,occupation and illegal annexation of Estonia in 1940. The Congress of Estonia declared that it represented the highest authority on questions of Estonian statehood and citizenship,deriving this authority from the consent and initiative of the citizens of Estonia. The aim of the Congress was to restore Estonian independence based on the principle of legal continuity,with the pre-1940 Republic of Estonia,which had been established in 1918,as the foundation.
Indrek Toome was a Soviet and Estonian communist politician and,after the restoration of Estonia's independence in 1991,an entrepreneur. In 1988–1990 he was the head of the Council of Ministers —informally the "prime minister" —in then Soviet-occupied Estonia.
The Vares Government was a puppet government named after prime minister Johannes Vares,installed by the Soviet Union in Estonia,in office from 21 June 1940 to 25 August 1940.
Karl Säre was a Soviet and Estonian communist politician. He was the first first secretary of the Central Committee of the Estonian Communist Party. During World War II,he was arrested by Nazi Germany and taken to Sachsenhausen concentration camp,where he died in 1945. The Soviet government avoided the mention of Säre's name in any public sources,as he was suspected of treason by disclosing to Nazi Germany information about the Stalinist officials and pro-Soviet agents who had remained in German-occupied Estonia during the war.
Boris Kumm was an Estonian communist politician.
Aleksander Hendrikson was an Estonian Soviet communist politician who was the chairman of the Executive Committee of Tallinn from September 1945 to March 1961.
Hans Johannes Kruus was an Estonian historian,academic and politician. As well as sitting in the Estonian parliament and the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR,he was Deputy Prime Minister of Estonia in 1940 and Foreign Minister of the Estonian SSR between 1944 and 1950. He was also Rector of the University of Tartu in 1940–41 and in 1944.
The Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR was the formal rubber stamp legislative body of the Estonian SSR without any substantive meaning,which was formally elected in general elections,but whose members were essentially appointed by the leadership of the Communist Party. Before 1988,the Supreme Soviet had no meaningful political role. After its first democratic elections on 18 March 1990,the institution was renamed the Supreme Council of the Republic of Estonia on 8 May 1990.
Hendrik Allik was an Estonian communist politician and a long-term member of the Estonian Communist Party.
Maksim Unt was an Estonian and Soviet politician.
Aleksander Aben was an Estonian politician. He was a member of VI Riigikogu. On 26 August 1939,he was removed from his position and he was replaced by Aleksander Jõeäär. After years in exile in the USSR and return to Estonia he was imprisoned in 1950,then rehabilitated in 1950.
Friedrich Niggol was an Estonian lawyer and politician.
Arnold Veimer was a Soviet Estonian politician and economist.
International | |
---|---|
National |