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The Singing Revolution is the common title for events between 1987 and 1990 that led to the regaining of independence of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
Estonia
Night after night, since 1987, a cycle of singing mass demonstrations eventually collected 300,000 Estonians (more than one-fifth of the population) in Tallinn to sing national songs and hymns that had been strictly forbidden during the years of Soviet occupation, as rock musicians played. The Singing Revolution lasted over four years, with various protests and acts of defiance. In 1991, as Soviet tanks were rolling throughout the countryside in an attempt to quell the Singing Revolution, the Estonian Supreme Soviet together with the Congress of Estonia proclaimed the restoration of the independent State of Estonia and repudiated Soviet legislation. Estonians stood as human shields to protect radio and TV stations from the Soviet tanks. As a result, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Estonia won its independence without any bloodshed.
It was called the Singing Revolution because of the role singing played in the protests of the mid-1980s. But singing had always been a major unifying force for Estonians while they endured fifty years of Soviet rule.
In 1947, during the first song festival (Laulupidu) held after the Soviet occupation, Gustav Ernesaks wrote a tune set to the lyrics of a century-old national poem written by Lydia Koidula, “Mu isamaa on minu arm” (“Land of My Fathers, Land That I Love”). This song miraculously slipped by the Soviet censors, and for fifty years it was a musical statement of every Estonian’s desire for freedom.
In 1969, Soviets forbade the singing of “Mu isamaa on minu arm” at the hundredth anniversary of the song festival. Nonetheless, tens of thousands of Estonians on stage and in the audience sang the song in defiance of the Soviet authorities--not once, but numerous times. There was nothing the Soviets could do but invite the composer on stage to conduct the choir and pretend they intended to allow this all along.
When Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985, Estonians began testing his policies of perestroika (economic restructuring) and glasnost (free speech) to see how far they could go. The first test was in 1986, when Estonians protested a plan to build phosphorus mines throughout the country.
The environmental issue provided a relatively safe means of seeing whether people could truly speak openly without Soviet permission. Protestors did not suffer significant repercussions, and the mining project was eventually stopped. The first test was a success. A short while later, a more radical demonstration in Tallinn’s Hirve Park openly spoke of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (the secret agreement between Hitler and Stalin that led to the Soviet invasion of Estonia in 1939–40). The KGB observed this event, names were taken, leaders were harassed, but, much to the demonstrators’ surprise, no one was arrested.
It was illegal to own an Estonian flag during these years. Estonians tested this law by flying three separate blue, black, and white banners that effectively became the flag when flown side by side.
In the mid-1980s, six new rock songs became rallying cries for independence. These songs were repeatedly sung in large public gatherings. Soviet authorities wanted to ban them, but weren’t sure what to do in light of glasnost.
Momentum and courage grew. The Estonians calculated that as long as they shed no blood, Gorbachev wouldn’t be able to send in tanks to quash demonstrations. Such blatant censorship would be an international embarrassment to his carefully cultivated image. So people pushed Moscow as far as they could, taking great care to stay non-violent.
In this sense, the Singing Revolution was a strategically non-violent movement. But there were several different political approaches to gaining independence. These largely fell into three organized groups: The Popular Front, The Estonian National Independence Party, and The Heritage Society. Each group had a different philosophy about how to gain freedom - even how to define freedom.
Many Estonians supported more than one of these organizations; some supported all three. Others felt more loyal to one or the other. There was significant tension among some of the leaders. Those who moved more cautiously felt that the “radicals” would bring Soviet retribution on Estonia, as had happened in Hungary in 1956 and in Czechoslovakia in 1968; the “radicals” felt that working within the Communist system betrayed their country and dishonored those who had died and suffered under Soviet rule.
Matters came to a head in 1991 when Moscow hard-liners staged a coup d’état and placed Gorbachev under house arrest. As troops rolled into Estonia to quell any independence-minded thinking, Estonians decided to escalate their bid for freedom. Unarmed people faced down soldiers and tanks, while political leaders assembled to declare Estonia’s independence.
Latvia
By the time Mikhail Gorbachev introduced glasnost and perestroika in the USSR, which rolled-back restrictions to freedom in the Soviet Union, aversion to the Soviet regime had grown into the Third Latvian National Awakening. It reached its peak in mid-1988.
During the second half of the 1980s the process of perestroika (restructuring) began in the Soviet Union, which was now led by Mikhail Gorbachev. The dissident movement that had been subdued in the first half of the 1980s became reactivated in 1986.
In 1986 it became widely known to the public that the USSR was planning to build another hydroelectric power plant on Latvia's largest river Daugava, and that a decision had been made to build a subway in Riga. Both of these projects planned by Moscow would lead to the destruction of Latvia's landscapes, and cultural and historical wealth. In the press journalists urged the public to protest against these devastating resolutions. The public reacted immediately, and in response the Environmental Protection Club was founded on February 28, 1987. During the second half of the 1980s the Environmental Protection Club became one of the most influential mass movements, which simultaneously began to make demands for Latvia's sovereignty.
On June 14, 1987, the commemorative day of the 1941 deportations, the human rights group "Helsinki-86", which had been founded one year earlier, organised a ceremony of placing flowers at the Freedom Monument (Latvia's symbol of independence that was erected in 1935). This was an unprecedented event that demonstrated the rebirth of national courage and self-confidence in Latvia.
June 1 and 2, 1988, the Writers' Union held a congress, during which the Latvian intelligentsia discussed the democratisation of society, Latvia's economic sovereignty, ending migration from the USSR, the transformation of industry and the protection of Latvian language rights. Over the course of these days, for the first time in post-war Latvia, the secret protocol of the "Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact", which had determined Latvia's fate after 1939, was publicly acknowledged.
The congress of the Writers' Union stirred up the public masses and provided an additional stimulus for the general process of national revival.
In the summer of 1988 two of the most important organisations of the revival period began to assemble themselves: the Latvian People's Front (LPF) and the Latvian National Independence Movemen (LNIM). Soon afterwards the more radically inclined Citizens' Congress entered the political arena and called for complete non-compliance with the representatives of the illicit Soviet regime. All of these organisations had a common goal – the reinstatement of democracy and independence. October 7, 1988, there was a mass public manifestation that was dedicated to the issue of Latvia's sovereignty and the establishment of judicial order. October 8 and 9 was the first congress of the Latvian People's Front. This organisation, which united 200,000 members, became the guiding force of the revival movement in Latvia and the return to independence.
On August 23, 1989, fifty years had gone by since the signing of the "Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact". In order to call the world's attention to the fate of the Baltic countries, on this day the People's Fronts of all three Baltic countries held a grandiose political manifestation – "The Baltic Way". The Baltic people created a 600-km-long human "chain" from Tallinn through Riga to Vilnius. This was a symbolic demonstration of the Baltic people's united will for independence.
New elections of the Supreme Soviet took place on March 18, 1990, in which the supporters of independence gained victory. May 4, 1990, the new Supreme Soviet of the LSSR adopted a Declaration of Independence, which called for the renewal of pre-war Latvia and the 1922 Constitution. Moscow and the USSR military circles could not come to terms with the plans to reinstate Latvia's independence. January 1991 pro-Moscow and procommunist political forces launched an attack. With the use of brutal force attempts were made to overthrow the lawfully elected power. The implementation of Moscow's goals was thwarted by the Latvian people's organised and non-violent resistance, which entered history as the "Days of the Barricades". August 19, 1991, an unsuccessful attempt at a coup d'etat took place in Moscow when a small group of visible Soviet functionaries tried to usurp power. This event resulted in Latvia moving toward independence at an even more accelerated pace. August 21, 1991, the Supreme Soviet of the Latvian Republic announced that the transition period to full independence that was declared on May 4, 1990, has come to an end. Thus, Latvia proclaimed itself a fully independent nation – a nation whose judicial foundation stemmed back to statehood that existed before the occupation on June 17, 1940.
Lithuania
- Further information: History of Lithuania (1988-1990)
Lithuania was the first of the Baltic States where the movement now known as the Singing Revolution appeared. The ancient Baltic tradition of singing folk songs became an act of political protest when the independence movement was rekindled in the mid-80s. Later, hundreds of thousands regularly gathered in public places across Lithuania and sang national songs and Catholic hymns. The popularity of patriotic songs had risen significantly during this period. Many popular singers had followed this trend, often adapting the poetry of the national poets, such as Bernardas Brazdžionis or Justinas Marcinkevičius, to the lyrics of their songs. Some of these, most notably Laisvė ("Freedom") by Eurika Masytė, have retained their popularity for decades to come. On June 24, 1988 the Sąjūdis, a political and social movement to lead the independence and pro-democracy movement, was established.
The active and universal national opposition towards the regime culminated the return of the Vilnius Cathedral, former museum of fine arts, to the Catholic community on 21 October 1988, followed by the gradual restoration of national symbols, including the erection or restoration of independence monuments throughout the country. The national anthem of Lithuania and the traditional national Tricolor were re-legitimised in Lithuania on 18 November 1988, officially replacing the flag and the anthem of Lithuanian SSR.
Five decades after Lithuania was occupied and incorporated into the Soviet Union, Lithuania became the first republic to declare its independence from the USSR on March 11, 1990 and was later followed by Latvia and Estonia. However, almost all nations in the international community, except Iceland, hesitated to recognize the restoration of Lithuania's independence until August of 1991.
The Soviet military cracked down. On January 13, 1991, fourteen non-violent protesters in Vilnius died and hundreds were injured defending the Vilnius Television Tower and the Parliament from Soviet assault troops and tanks. Lithuanians referred to the event as Bloody Sunday. The extraordinary discipline and courage of its citizens - linking arms and singing in the face of tanks and armor piercing bullets - avoided a much greater loss of life, and symbolized to the world the moral bankruptcy of the Soviet Union and the illegitimacy of Lithuania's Soviet occupation.
Perhaps more than any other event, Bloody Sunday in Vilnius won Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia the world's sympathy and support. Later that same year, the international community recognized their independence.
Notes and references
See also
External links
- Lithuanian history, including information about Bloody Sunday
- Audio interviews of two leaders of Lithuania's Singing Revolution: Vytautas Landsbergis and Valdas Adamkus, current President of the Republic of Lithuania
- The U.S.-Baltic Foundation: Film: Estonia's Singing Revolution
- Tallinn-Life: A Brief Guide to the Estonian Singing Revolution
- US documentary film of the Estonian Singing Revolution
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