Vaino Väljas

Vaino Väljas (born March 28, 1931 in Külaküla , rural community Emmaste , Hiiumaa island , Estonia ) is an Estonian politician and Soviet diplomat. He was the last chairman of the Estonian Communist Party (EKP) before Estonia's separation from the Soviet Union .

Education

Vaino Väljas graduated in 1955 from the history faculty of the State University of Tartu ( Estonian Tartu Riiklik Ülikool ). In 1973 he received his doctorate as a candidate in history.

Politician and diplomat

Väljas made a straightforward career within the Communist Party of Estonia ( Eestimaa Kommunistlik Party ): 1951/52 he was secretary of the Leninist-Communist Youth Association of Estonia ( Eestimaa Leninliku Kommunistliku Noorsooühing - ELKNÜ), the youth organization of the Communist Party at the University of Tartu . From 1953 to 1955, Väljas was secretary of the city committee of the ELKNÜ. 1955 to 1961 he held the post of First Secretary of the Central Committee of the ELKNÜ.

From 1961 to 1971 Väljas was First Secretary of the Tallinn City Committee of the EKP and from 1971 to 1980 Secretary of the Central Committee of the EKP. Väljas then embarked on a career in the Soviet diplomatic service, which was rather unusual for Estonians. From 1980 to 1986 Väljas was the Soviet ambassador to Venezuela , before he served as the Soviet ambassador to Nicaragua from 1986 to 1988 . In March 1988 a peace treaty was signed there between the communist rulers and right-wing rebel groups .

Last years of the Estonian SSR

In June 1988 the General Secretary of the CPSU , Mikhail Gorbachev , surprisingly appointed Väljas to head the EKP. Under the sign of glasnost and perestroika , the previous First Secretary of the Central Committee of the EKP, Karl Vaino , got on the defensive within the party because of his rigid anti-reformist stance and had to vacate his office on June 16, 1988. The very next day there was a large rally by the democratic opposition at the Tallinn Singing Stage , at which 150,000 people displayed the blue, black and white Estonian national flag , which was banned in the Soviet Union . Just a week later, under pressure from the demonstrators, the Supreme Soviet declared it the official flag of Estonia again.

When the relatively liberal Väljas took office, the EKP largely opened up to Gorbachev's ideas, but also to demands for more extensive Estonian national self-determination. However, the EKP could hardly keep pace with developments in the country and the democratic demands of the Estonian people. She was increasingly put on the defensive. The leadership of the EKP under Väljas wanted to prevent bloodshed at all costs.

Vaino Väljas himself chaired the historic meeting of the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR , at which on November 16, 1988 the declaration on the sovereignty of the Estonian SSR was adopted with only one vote against. She declared the primacy of Estonian law over Soviet law. The declaration laid the foundation for the success of the so-called Singing Revolution , the final separation from the Soviet Union and the regaining of Estonia's national independence in August 1991.

In September 1988 there was another peaceful mass rally of the opposition people's movement Rahvarinne . At the Eesti laul (“The Estonian Song”) event , 300,000 people called for democracy and the restoration of Estonia's national independence. Väljas also gained the insight that the final separation from the Soviet Union could no longer be stopped without violence, especially since Moscow rejected the idea of ​​a loose federation of Soviet republics.

After the abolition of party monopoly promote EFP in February 1990 tried Väljas, transforming the EKP in a Democratic Left Party. At the 20th party congress of the EKP in March 1990, however, the irreconcilable split between hardliners loyal to Moscow and reform-oriented forces within the party became clear. The parliamentary elections to the Supreme Council of March 18, 1990, the first democratic elections in Estonia in fifty years, were won by the democratic-liberal independence movement under its top candidate Edgar Savisaar , who replaced Indrek Toome as prime minister. In August 1991, during the coup in Moscow , Estonia declared the restoration of its state independence. In March 1991, a majority of 77.8% of the population voted in a referendum in favor of restoring Estonian independence.

After the turn

From 1992 to 1995, Väljas took over the chairmanship of the left-wing socialist Estonian Social Democratic Workers' Party ( Eesti Sotsiaaldemokraatlik Tööpartei - ESDTP), which was later renamed the Eesti Vasakpartei (Estonian Left Party). Politically, the party remained insignificant after the end of communism. In 1995 Väljas retired from politics.

Private life

Vaino Väljas is married to the Estonian Mai Väljas (* 1931). He has a daughter and a son.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Eesti Elulood. Tallinn: Eesti Entsüklopeediakirjastus 2000 (= Eesti Entsüklopeedia 14) ISBN 9985-70-064-3 , p. 624
2. ^ Tiit Kellers: A Hundred Great Estonians of the 20th Century. Tallinn 2002 ISBN 9985-70-103-8 , pp. 212f.