The Soviet takeover of the Baltic states Research Paper

The Soviet takeover of the Baltic states - Research Paper Example This is a break from the long independent existence of the three states, which had been the norm ever since the Russian Civil War that lasted from 1917 to 1922. The Nazi occupation put a halt to the integration of the three Baltic states into the Soviet Union for four years, from 1941 all the way to 1945, but with the end of the occupation that integration resumed in earnest, and in rapid manner, so that the three states were effectively made part of the Soviet Union through a process that has been termed â€Å"Sovietization†. The traditional arrangements and institutions of the existing political, social and economic order in the three states were totally ignored and supplanted with Soviet counterparts, causing significant disruption to the lives of the countries involved. Industries were nationalized where they were previously private concerns. Land distribution and collectivization were imposed and made the norm. The school systems were supplanted by the Soviet systems, inc luding the college level curricula. The Soviet system of politics was also used to supplant the existing political systems of the time. ... sians into the three states, to shift the population balance and demographics to skew towards the Soviet Union’s preferred mix (Smith; Occupation Museum Foundation; Institute of the History of Latvia; Lina; Shtromas et al. 249-260). II. The Puppet Communist Parties/People’s Diets By the time the Soviet Union made its attempts to homogenize the political and legislative systems in the Baltic states in 1940, the Soviet Union had effected the actual control of the three countries by a series of moves that included military action, as well as the annexation and takeover of government through purges of existing members of government and their replacement with Soviet-sourced members in the main. The government elites of the three countries were purged through deportation as well as via their being put to prison. This paved the way for the introduction of the next wave of changes aimed at overhauling the people’s assemblies, effected through the illegal change of the el ectoral laws in the three counties by Soviet decree, and the calling of People’s Diets elections made on July 14 of 1940. The election was to be in the style and manner of the Soviet Union, where a single party consisting of one slate of candidates were â€Å"voted† into office, and named as the â€Å"Working People’s Leagues†. These one-slate parties were to be voted without opposition, and with a unanimity of votes. In all of the three states there were indications of suppression of other competing parties wanting to join in the elections and to present alternatives to the Soviet one-party prescription, and the suppression was effective to the degree that the Soviet will won the day. Estonia in particular was singled out for the intensity of the efforts to counter the Soviet machinations there, but in