From Resistance Movement to Civil War: Why Violence Escalated in Lithuania but not in Moldova during Soviet Annexation (1944–1952)

Abstract

This article compares resistance movements along the western borderlands of the Soviet Union between 1944 and 1952. Despite similar levels of state repression and local grievances, Moldova’s opposition movement did not escalate to the level of civil war, whereas civil wars emerged across the Baltic states, Belarus, and Ukraine. Through theory development and testing, the article compares Lithuania and Moldova, identifying the role of previous regime behaviour, the speed of Soviet takeover, and the availability of safe havens within Moldova and Lithuania as the key causal factors explaining the difference.

Notes

1 For more historical background see King (2000).

2 Arhiva Organizatiilor Social-Politice din Republica Moldova (hereafter AOSPRM), f. 51, inv. 2, d. 208, pp. 6–9, ‘Note from Bălți District Communist Party District Committee to First Secretary of the Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic’, 20 July 1944. Authorities were evaluating the number of possible conscripts at least as early as June 1944; see: AOSPRM, f. 51, inv. 2, d. 208, p. 1, ‘Note from Authorities of Balti District to Military Commissar of the Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic’, 10 June 1944.

3 AOSPRM, f. 51, inv. 2, d. 208, p. 20, ‘Notice from Deputy Head of Military Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Moldova (MSSR)’, 09/44.

4 ‘Dokladnaya zapiska o rezul’tatakh vypolneniya ukazanii MVD SSSR ob uluchshenii raboty organov bor’by s banditizmom 12 yanvarya 1947 g. sovershenno sekretno nachal’niku gubb MVD SSSR Leont’yevu po sostoyaniyu na 1 yanvarya 1947’, in Pasat (1994, p. 250).

5 ‘“Po nepolnym dannym na territorii Moldavii nakhoditsya 176 aktivnykh uchastnikov antisovetskikh politpartii”, iz vystuplenii na soveshchanii rukovoditelei MGB—MVD MSSR, 4 iyunya 1946 G., Upolnomochennyi MGB-MVD SSSR po Moldavii—General-Mayor Golubev', in Pasat (1994, p. 231).

6 While the Freedom Party did not commit violent acts, members agreed that violent means were a legitimate tactic and took steps to acquire weapons. Victor Andreev, a founding member of the Freedom Party, was accused of seeking weapons during his trial. See Arhiva Serviciului de Informații și Securitate a Republicii Moldova (hereafter ASISRM), f. 018219, dosar penal 5742, vol. 16, pp. 401–73, in Postică (1997, p. 198); ‘Forme de rezistenţă a populaţiei civile faţă de autorităţile sovietice în Republica Sovietică Socialistă Moldovenească (1940–1956)’, in Negură and Postică (2012, p. 62).

7 ‘Dokladnaya zapiska MVD MSSR ob operativnoi obstanovke i organizatsii agenturno-operativnoi raboty po bor’be s banditizmom na territorii Moldavskoy SSR, 17 sentyabrya 1946, G. sovershenno sekretno; Nach. GUBB MVD SSSR T. Leont’yevu; po sostoyaniyu na 1-ye sentyabrya 1946 goda’, listovki s prizyvom naseleniya k soversheniyu terroristicheskikh aktov nad nizovym sel’skim aktivom i k organizovannomu vystupleniyu protiv Sovetskoi vlasti, in Pasat (1994, pp. 233–34).

8 ‘ … Zdravstvuite, kolkhozniki. Vy vstupili v kolkhoz, brosili nashu veru, poshli sluzhit’ sovetskim. Esli vy iz kolkhoza ne uidete, ya vas vse ravno ub’yu’, ‘spravka MGB MSSR o formakh i metodakh bor’by kulatskogo i natsionalisticheskogo elementa, 17 yanvarya 1949’, in Pasat (1994, p. 359).

9 ‘Iz spravki TsK KP(b)M o vrazhdebnykh proyavleniyakh kulachestva i drugikh klassovo-chuzhdykh elementov za sentyabr’ i pervuyu polovinu oktyabrya, 16 Oktyabrya 1948, G. Predsedatelyu Byuro TsK VKP(b) po Moldavskoy SSR Ivanovu V. A.’, in Pasat (1994, p. 334).

10 ‘Ty russkii bol’shevik, priekhal syuda nad nami izdevat’sya, krov’ iz nas pit’. Ty svoimi kolkhozami vsekh krest’yan razoril. Ya takikh, kak ty, uzhe neskol’ko ubil. Tebya vse ravno unichtozhu tozhe kak bol’shevika’, ‘spravka MGB MSSR o formakh i metodakh bor’by kulatskogo i natsionalisticheskogo elementa, 17 Yanvarya 1949’, in Pasat (1994, p. 358).

11 ANRM, f. 3401, inv. 1, d. 10099 (vol. I), p. 268.

12 ASISRM, f. 19116, pp. 526–27, ‘Review of 1951 Dossier of Nine Members of Agrarian Democratic Party’.

13 ASISRM, f. 19116, p. 526, ‘Review of 1951 Dossier of Nine Members of Agrarian Democratic Party’.

14 ‘Bandity terrorizirovali naseleniye i sovershali vooruzhennye grabezhi grazhdan’, ‘Dokladnaya zapiska MVD MSSR ob aktivizatsii antisovetskoi podryvnoi deyatel’nosti kulachestva v Moldavskoi SSR i neobkhodimosti, v svyazi s etim, izolyatsii ego, 12 oktyabrya 1948, g. sovershenno sekretno, ministru vnutrennikh del SSSR Kruglovu S. N.; Tol’ko Lichno’, in Pasat (1994, p. 328).

15 AMAIRM, f. 103, inv. 1, d. 72, pp. 56–66, The report of the Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the MSSR Tutushkin for 1946–1948.

16 ‘Operation “LES” (The Forest). The 1940–50 MGB Operation Against Moldavian “Freedom Party”. Folder 8. The Chekist Anthology’, History and Public Policy Program Digital Archive, contributed to the Cold War International History Project by Vasili Mitrokhin, June 2007, available at: http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/110338, accessed 20 December 2019.

17 AMAIRM, f. 103, inv. 1, d. 72, p. 61, The report of the Minister of Internal Affairs of the MSSR Tutushkin for 1946–1948.

18 In 1947 there were an estimated 230,000 total Soviet forces, including intelligence; in 1948 there were 35,000 air, navy, ground, and intelligence troops (Verona 1992, pp. 50–1).

19 The exact Soviet–Romanian border was further clarified in 1948 with the signing of the Treaty of Friendship, Collaboration, and Mutual Assistance.

20 AMAIRM, f. 103, inv. 1, d. 72, p. 60, The report of the Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the MSSR Tutushkin for 1946–1948.

21 ‘Iz Vystuplenii Na Soveshchanii Rukovoditelei MGB-MVD MSSR, 4 Iyunya 1946 G., Upolnomochennyi MGB-MVD SSSR Po Moldavii–General-Mayor Golubev’, in Pasat (1994, p. 233).

22 ‘Our army’ meaning ‘Romanian’ (Vladimirtsev & Kokurin 1985, p. 558).

23 AOSPRM, f. 51, inv. 2, d. 208, p. 34, ‘Notice from Deputy Head of Military Department of the Balti District Committee of the Communist Party of Moldova (MSSR)’, 22 November 1944.

24 These data are from 2013 and do not replicate exact forest coverage in the 1940s, but there is no evidence of dramatically disproportionate changes in coverage. See ‘Data Sets’, World Resources Institute, available at: https://www.wri.org/resources/data_sets, accessed 2 December 2016.

25 Laurinavičius notes that the ‘majority of the Lithuanian public calmly accepted’ the Bolshevik rule of 1918–1919 and that ‘political loyalty’ to the Bolsheviks was demonstrated by at least part of society, with many Lithuanian activists serving as commissars (Laurinavičius 2015, pp. 68–70). Livezeanu notes that notes that ‘Romanian authorities were deeply suspicious about the loyalty of the [Bessarabian] population’ (Livezeanu 2000, p. 89).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Carter Johnson

Carter Johnson, Department of International Relations, National Research University Higher School of Economics, 17 Malaya Ordynka, Moscow 119017, Russian Federation. Email: [email protected]; [email protected]