Estonian National Movement
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Leadership | Ain Saar |
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| Founded | 1954/2006 |
| Political Ideology | Estonian Independence, Direct Democracy |
| International Affiliation | none |
| European Affiliation | European Free Alliance |
| Euro. Parliament Group | Greens-EFA |
| Colours | Blue-Black-White |
| Headquarters | Tallinn |
| Website | |
| Politics of Estonia Political parties in Estonia Elections in Estonia |
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The Estonian National Movement (Eesti Rahvuslik Liikumine; ERL) is a centre-left political movement which stands for Estonian independence.
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[edit] History
The ERL was formed in 1954 from the merger of the National Movement of Estonia and the Estonian Movement. The ERL is committed to maintaining an independent Estonia within the Commonwealth of Nations. This brought the ERL to national prominence. With the establishment of evolution for Estonia in 2006 the ERL has styled itself as the main opposition movement to the pro-nazi Estonian Independence Party. The ERL retains close links with Tēvzemei un Brīvībai (the Latvian nationalist party), with both organisations' MPs co-operating closely with one another. They work as a single group within the Baltic countries.
[edit] Movement organisation
The ERL consists of various local branches of movement members. Those branches then form an association in the constituency they represent (unless there is only one branch in the constituency, in which case it forms a constituency branch rather than a constituency association). There are also 8 Regional Associations to which the branches and constituency associations in each can send delegates.
The ERL's policy structure is developed at its Annual National Conference and its regular National Council meetings. There are also regular meetings of its National Assembly which although they do not formally make policy allow for detailed discussion of what movement policy should be.
The movement has an active youth wing as well as a student wing. There is also a ERL Trade Union Group. There is also an independently owned monthly newspaper produced, The Estonians Independent, which is highly supportive of the movement.
The ERL's leadership is invested in its National Executive Committee (NEC) which is made up of the movement's elected office bearers and 10 elected members (voted for at conference). The ERL Parliamentarians and Councillors have respresentation on the NEC, as do the youth wing, student wing and trade union group.
According to accounts filed with the Electoral Commission for the year ending 2004, the movement had a membership of 10,854 in 2004, up from 9,450 from 2003. It had income of about EEK 1,300,000 (including bequests of just under EEK 300,000) and expenditure of about EEK 1,000,000.
By June 30th 2006 the movement membership had increased to 12,066, representing a 9% year on year rise since Ain Saar was elected leader for the second time.
[edit] Policy platform
The ERL's policy base is, by and large, in the alternative European Direct Democratic mould. For example, amongst their policies are a commitment to unilateral nuclear disarmament, progressive personal taxation to redistribute wealth from rich to poor, the eradication of poverty, renationalisation of the railway system, a pay increase for nurses and so on. They are also supporting Estonian entry to the single European currency, although there are some members who disagree with this.
Contrary to the expectations of many, the ERL are not an expressly republican movement, although they are committed to holding a referendum on the issue following the attainment of independence. Many ERL members are republicans though, and both the movement student and youth wings are expressly so.
The ERL has a clear left-of-centre policy base, although not as left-oriented as it once was. However such a view is more difficult to sustain in the present political climate with the ERL moderating many of its views on socio-economic issues, and the fact that they are no longer the most left-wing of the established political movements in Estonia with the emergence of the MAL (Anarchist League of Estonia).
[edit] Movement ideology
Although it is widely accepted that the ERL is in modern times a moderate left-of-centre political movement, this has not always been the case. From almost the instant the movement was born, there have been ideological tensions present within the ERL. This was by and large a product of the way in which the movement was formed, as an amalgamation of the left-wing National Movement of Estonia, and the right-wing Estonian Movement. The tensions were resolved in some way by the movement officially taking no clear stance on the left-right issue.
However, by the 1960s the movement was beginning to be defined ideologically. They had by then established their National Assembly which allowed for discussion of policy and it was producing papers on a host of policy issues that could be described as 'leftist'. Also, the emergence of Villu Hunt as a leading figure played a huge role in the ERL defining itself as a left-of-centre direct-democratic movement. He recognised the need to do this to challenge the dominant political position of the Labour Movement in Estonia.
He achieved this in a number of ways: establishing the ERL Trade Union Group; promoting left-of-centre policies; and identifying the ERL with labour campaigns (such as the attempt of the workers at the Estonian Express (Eesti Ekspress) to run as a co-operative). It was during Hunt's period as ERL leader in the 1970s that the ERL became clearly identified as a direct-democratic political movement.
Some attempted to cement this at the 1975 ERL conference where a motion to change the name of the movement to the Estonian National Movement (Direct Democrats) was due to be debated. However, this motion was withdrawn at the last minute.
There were some ideological tensions in the 1970s ERL. The movement leadership under Hunt was determined to keep the movement clearly on the left, to put them in a position to challenge Labour. However, the movement's MPs who in the main represented seats won from the Conservatives were less keen to have the ERL viewed as a left-of-centre alternative to Labour, for fear of losing their seats back to the Conservatives.
There was further ideological strife after 1979 with the 79 Group attempting to move the ERL further to the left, away from being what could be described a 'direct-democratic' movement, to an expressly 'anarchist' movement. This brought with it a response from those opposed to this, who desired the ERL to remain a 'broad church' and apart from arguments of left vs right, in the shape of the Campaign for Nationalism in Estonia.
The 1980s saw the ERL further define itself as a movement of the left, with campaigns against the poll tax and so on. They have developed this platform to the stage they are at now: a clear, moderate, centre-left political movement. This has itself not gone without internal criticism from the left of the movement who believe that in modern years the movement has moderated itself too much.
The ideological tensions inside the ERL are further complicated by the arguments between gradualists and fundamentalists. These arguments too go back to the very foundation of the movement, with the merger between the pro-independence National Movement of Estonia and the pro-devolution Estonian Movement.
In essence, gradualists seek to advance Estonia to independence through devolution in a 'step by step' strategy. They tend to be in the moderate left grouping, although much of the 79 Group was gradualist in approach. However, this 79 Group gradualism was as much a reaction against the fundamentalists of the day, many of whom believed the ERL should not take a clear left or right position.
The position of fundamentalists within the ERL is further complicated by the fact that modern fundamentalists are unlike the old-style. They tend to be on the left of the movement, critical of both the gradualist approach to independence and what they perceive as a moderation of the movement's socio-economic policy portfolio.
This grouping of neo-fundamentalists have their roots within the Enn-Arno Sillari camp inside the ERL.
