Estonian Working People's Union
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The Estonian Working People's Union (Estonian: Eesti Töötava Rahva Liit) was a front organization of the Communist Party of Estonia formed to contest the rigged 1940 Riigivolikogu election as the sole officially allowed bloc. It consisted of 22 organizations, including the Communist Party, Komsomol, the Central Union of Estonian Trade Unions, and cultural society "Idea", and claimed to unite "democratic strata of the society" , running on a platform demanding friendship and alliance between Estonia and the USSR, democratic liberties, raising salaries, combatting unemployment, social security, land for landless peasants, assistance for small peasants, lowering the burden of debt of peasants, re-organization of personal taxation, free education, ethnic equality, democratization of the military and wide development of the national culture. According to official results, 92.8% of voters voted for the bloc, with a voter turnout of 84%. All 80 candidates of the bloc were elected to the Riigivolikogu. Despite the fact that the bloc had explicitly stated they did not support the unification of Estonia with the Soviet Union[citation needed], the Riigivolikogu soon voted to join the USSR.
See also
References
- Eesti Nõukogude Entsüklopeedia, Tallinn, 1987, kd 2, lk. 456.