Intermovement

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This article is about a movement in Estonia.

For movement of the same name in Latvia, see International Front of the Working People of Latvia.

The Intermovement (International Movement of Workers in the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic) (Estonian: Interliikumine, Russian: Интердвижение) was a political movement and organisation in the Estonian SSR. It was founded on 19 July 1988[1] and claimed by different sources 16,000 - 100,000 members.[1][2] The original name of the movement was Interfront (International Front of Workers in the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic), which was changed to Intermovement in autumn 1988.

The movement was aligned with the conservative wing of Estonian Communist Party, and opposed the Estonian independence movement lead by the Popular Front of Estonia and the liberal wing of the CPE.[3] It gained its support mainly among Estonia's post-war Soviet immigrants. The main leader of the movement was Jevgeni Kogan (Russian: Евгений Коган, sometimes transliterated as Evgeny Kogan).[4] Other leaders of the movement included Vladimir Jarovoi (Russian: Владимир Яровой, also transliterated as Vladimir Yarovoi), Arnold Sai,[5] Vladimir Lebedev (Russian: Владимир Лебедев) and economist Konstantin Kiknadze[6]

The Intermovement functioned at factories, mainly, at military plants and those factories that had an all-union importance. A large part of Estonian heavy industry was part of the integrated production chain providing their production to the industries in other Soviet regions. These included e.g. the engine factory Dvigatel, Kalinin's and Pöögelmann's electrotechnical plants, and the (especially but not only phosphorite) mining industry in Northern Estonia. It was feared that Estonian independence would lead to the loss of jobs. In fact, after independence the industries were forced to restructure their production and re-orientate to new markets, which in most of cases drastically reduced production and forced lay off many people, a large number of whom were Soviet-era immigrants, brought into Estonia specifically to work at these industries.

According to critics, the movement's aim was to protect the conservative Soviet values and make everything possible to block the actions of the Popular Front. According to the former KGB general Oleg Kalugin (Russian: Олег Калугин) it was established in Estonia as also in other parts of the USSR on the initiative of the KGB, as a counterbalance to the Popular Fronts, which were widely perceived as nationalist.[7] Despite the stereotyping of the Russophones as a force opposing an Estonian independence movement, the Interfront organizations were never mass movements and their membership was largely confined to members of the Party apparat and plant managers.[8]

In elections for the Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union in 1989 pro-Intermovement candidates won 6 seats out of Estonia's 36, against 27 won by the Popular Front.[9]

From 29 August 1990 to 21 August 1991 the Intermovement ran the radiostation Nadezhda (Russian: Надежда, meaning 'Hope'), which contrary to the ordinary procedure got its license from the central authorities of the Soviet Union without informing local authorities in Estonia. Following an order by the Soviet Defense Minister Dmitry Yazov, the radiostation was installed at the territory of the Soviet military base in Keila, near Tallinn.[10]

After Estonia's regaining of independence, Juri Mišin (Russian: Юрий Мишин, also transliterated as Yury Mishin) and a few other former activists of the Intermovement made demands of regional autonomy for Estonia's Russian minority, seeking autonomy of the ethnic Russian dominated areas in North-East Estonia.[11] A plebiscite, considered by the Republic to be unconstitutional, on this matter was held on July 16–July 17, 1993 in Narva [12].

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b An Annotated Survey of Independent Movements in Eastern Europe, 13 June 1989
  2. ^ Soviet Union Look Who's Feeling Picked On - Time magazine - September 25, 1989
  3. ^ Employee Ownership and the Political Debate in Estonia 1987-1994.
  4. ^ Suri endine Interrinde liider Jevgeni Kogan, Postimees 29 March 2007
  5. ^ An Annotated Survey of Independent Movements in Eastern Europe, 13 June 1989
  6. ^ Estonia - Time magazine - November 28, 1988
  7. ^ THE ANATOMY OF INDEPENDENCE, Kripta, Tartu, Sankt Petersburg 2004, ISBN 5-98451-007-3
  8. ^ Estonia: Nation Building And Integration. Political And Legal Aspects - (Google cache); originally Smith, Graham 1996. ‘The Ethnic Democracy Thesis and the Citizenship Question in Estonia and Latvia’. Nationalities Papers, 24, 2, pp. 199-216.
  9. ^ ELECTIONS AND REFERENDUMS IN ESTONIA 1989-1999 - Elections to the Congress of the USSR People's Deputies 26.03.1989
  10. ^ Eesti Ekspress August 15, 2006: Raadiohääl Keila tankipolgust (Estonian)
  11. ^ Aliens in a Land They Call Home - Time magazine - July 19, 1993
  12. ^ Kansalaisuuskiistojen ei uskota vievän sijoittajia Virosta - Kauppalehti July 9, 1993 (Finnish)

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