People's Parliament

The People's Parliaments or People's Assemblies (Latvian: Tautas Saeima; Lithuanian: Liaudies Seimas) were puppet legislatures put together after the show elections in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to legitimize the occupation by the Soviet Union in July 1940.[1] In all three countries, the elections to the parliaments followed the same script, dictated by functionaries in Moscow and borrowed from the examples of the incorporation of the Belarusian and Ukrainian lands into Soviet Union in the aftermath of the invasion of Poland in 1939.[2]

This article is about the 1940 occupation by the Soviet Union puppet legislatures. For the Channel 4 deliberative democracy TV program, see The People's Parliament.
People's Parliament

Latvian: Tautas Saeima
Lithuanian: Liaudies Seimas
History
Preceded byRiigikogu (Estonia)
4th Saeima (Latvia)
Fourth Seimas (Lithuania)
Succeeded bySupreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR
Supreme Soviet of the Latvian SSR
Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR
Elections
First election
14–15 July 1940

Occupation
Main article: Occupation of the Baltic states

On 15 and 16 June 1940, the Soviet Union presented ultimatums to all three Baltic states, which were then invaded by the Red Army. After the invasions, the previous governments of the Baltic states were replaced by pro-Communist "People's Governments". The new governments then dismissed the existing parliaments (Riigikogu in Estonia, Seimas in Lithuania) and announced new elections to the "People's Parliaments" to be held on 14 and 15 July 1940 (originally, the election in Lithuania was to be held only on 14 July, but due to low turnout was also extended to 15 July).[3]

Elections
Results of the show elections[4]
CountryTurnoutVotes for
communists
Estonia81.6%92.2%
Latvia94.7%97.6%
Lithuania95.5%99.2%
See also: 1940 Estonian parliamentary election, 1940 Latvian parliamentary election, and 1940 Lithuanian parliamentary election

Only candidates proposed by legally functioning institutions could run in each election. By that time all non-communist parties and organizations were outlawed.[4] The local Communist parties emerged from underground with 1,500 members in Lithuania, 500 in Latvia, and 133 in Estonia.[5] Therefore only the Working People's Leagues proposed candidates, exactly one per each available seat. There were a number of non-communists on its slate. Efforts to present alternative candidates were blocked.[4] Repressions and terror were employed against election critics and political activists. For example, in Lithuania some 2,000 activists were arrested on 11 June.[3] People were coerced to vote – those who voted had their passports stamped[4] while anyone who did not vote was dubbed an "enemy of the people" and could expect future persecutions for "failing their political duties".[6] The ballots had only one option – the name chosen by the Communists. According to the rigged results, Communist candidates received over 90% of the vote. The Soviet envoy in London released election results even before the voting booths closed.[3][7]

Parliament sessions and aftermath

All three parliaments convened on 21 July 1940. In their first sessions all three parliaments unanimously adopted resolutions to convert their states to Soviet Socialist Republics (SSR): the Estonian SSR, Latvian SSR, and Lithuanian SSR. Another decree resolved to petition the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union to accept these newly established SSRs into the Soviet Union. The parliaments also elected their representatives to go to Moscow and personally present their case in front of the Supreme Soviet.[3] Other acts adopted in these early sessions concerned nationalization of virtually all larger enterprises, real estate, and land, and other Sovietization policies.[4] The laws were adopted unanimously, with virtually no discussion.

On 1 August, the Baltic delegates arrived to Moscow and petitioned the Supreme Soviet. After apparent deliberation, the Lithuanian request was granted on 3 August, the Latvian request on 5 August, and the Estonian request on 6 August.[4] As a result the People's Parliaments renamed themselves Supreme Soviets of the respective SSRs. Thus the process of legitimizing the occupation was complete.[3] Even after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia officially maintains that all three Baltic states voluntarily joined the Union.[8]

See also
  • People's Seimas, the parliament in Soviet-occupied Lithuania
  • People's Saeima, the parliament in Soviet-occupied Latvia

References
  1. International Political Science Association. Research Committee of Legislative Specialists; Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (1998). World encyclopedia of parliaments and legislatures. Congressional Quarterly. p. 409. ISBN 1-56802-365-0. In July Soviet authorities held a rigged election for a puppet legislature, the People's Parliament
  2. Senn, Alfred Erich (2007). Lithuania 1940: Revolution from Above. On the Boundary of Two Worlds. Identity, Freedom, and Moral Imagination of the Baltics. Rodopi. p. 205. ISBN 978-90-420-2225-6.
  3. Vardys, Vytas Stanley; Judith B. Sedaitis (1997). Lithuania: The Rebel Nation. Westview Series on the Post-Soviet Republics. WestviewPress. pp. 52. ISBN 0-8133-1839-4.
  4. Misiunas, Romuald J.; Rein Taagepera (1993). The Baltic States: Years of Dependence 1940–1990 (expanded ed.). University of California Press. pp. 26–29. ISBN 0-520-08228-1.
  5. O'Connor, Kevin (2003). The history of the Baltic States. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 117. ISBN 0-313-32355-0.
  6. "RUSSIA: Justice in The Baltic". Time. 19 August 1940. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007.
  7. Mangulis, Visvaldis (1983). "VIII. September 1939 to June 1941". Latvia in the Wars of the 20th century. Princeton Junction: Cognition Books. ISBN 0-912881-00-3.
  8. Bugajski, Janusz (2004). Cold Peace. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 109. ISBN 0-275-98362-5.
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