Towards stronger national unity: statist ideas in Estonian nationalism during the “Era of Silence” (1934–1940)

ABSTRACT

This article examines how the political elites of the Estonian authoritarian regime, established in 1934, imagined and reframed the state-nation relationship, and what the origins of their thinking were. It will also consider how these ideas were instrumentalized to legitimize the new authoritarian order. The argument is that the new regime was essentially statist and ‘nationalizing’ in character. The relationship between the state, the nation, and the individual remained, however, under discussion among the political elites. Not entirely uniform in their attitudes toward authoritarianism, they sought to define a new illiberal form of democracy, where individual autonomy would be in principle respected but, if necessary, restricted for the national interests

KEYWORDS:

• Estonia
• nationalism
• statism
• interwar period
• authoritarianism
• conservative thought
• democracy
• historical narratives

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The official name of the organization was the League of Veterans of the Estonian War of Independence (Eesti Vabadussõjalaste Liit)..

2. Andres Kasekamp (2000) claims that the core ideas endorsed by the Päts regime were in principle not too different from the ideology of the Vaps movement. These similarities did not go unnoticed by some of their contemporaries, particularly those leaning to the left. This is exemplified by the diary of Elo Tuglas, the wife of Friedebert Tuglas, a prominent figure in Estonian cultural life and a popular author. In her diary, Elo Tuglas labeled everyone collaborating with the new regime as Vaps (Tuglas 2017).

3. ‘Eesti Vabadussõjalaste Liidu põhikirjad ja kodukorrad,’ Rahvusarhiiv (Estonian National Archive, hereafter – RA), ERA.949.3.20, 24.

4. ‘Werner Hasselblatt: Erinnerungen “Von der Kulturautonomie zum Nationalitätenkongreß”,’ Archiv des Herder-Instituts, DSHI 140 Balt 488, 21.

5. As Brüggemann (2015) shows, the intention to celebrate Victory Day as a new national holiday had been confirmed already at the beginning of 1934 before the coup. The Victory Day (celebrated on 23 June from 1934), however, quickly developed into a celebration of Päts and his regime.

6. In such cases, the State Propaganda Service would send newspapers texts to be published. On the communication between the Propaganda Service and newspaper editors, see (Raag 2010; Roolaht 1990).

7. ‘Perekonnanimede korraldamise seaduse eelnõu.’ RA, ERA.31.3.2728.

8. The leaders of both Italian fascism and German national socialism prominently relied on the idea of the community’s dominance over the individual. One of the leading figures of Italian Fascism, Alfredo Rocco, for example, famously argued, ‘for Fascism, society is the end, individuals the means, and its whole life consists in using individuals as instruments for its social ends’ (Rocco [1926] 2017, 386). This can also be compared to the notorious motto Gemeinnutz vor Eigennutz (‘The good of the community before the good of the individual’) in the National Socialist Programme (25-Punkte-Programm): http://www.documentarchiv.de/wr/1920/nsdap-programm.html.

9. ‘Riigivanema päevaraamat,’ RA, ERA.31.5.499, 15–16p.

10. ‘Eesti Vabariigi põhiseadus,’ RA, ERA.31.4.254j.

11. ‘Trükiseadus,’ RA, ERA.31.3.2832.

12. ‘Koosolekute seadus,’ RA, ERA.31.3.2836.

13. ‘Ühingute ja nende liitude seadus,’ RA, ERA.31.3.2833.

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Notes on contributors

Liisi Veski

Liisi Veski is a Research Fellow in History of Political Thought at the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies, University of Tartu. She is also a Research Affiliate at the School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Glasgow. Her research interests include intellectual and conceptual history of interwar Estonia, history of nationalism, democracy, co-operation, and corporatism.