Citizens' Peace Movement in the Soviet Baltic Republics
| Author | Rein Taagepera |
| Published date | 01 June 1986 |
| Date | 01 June 1986 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002234338602300208 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Citizens’
Peace
Movement
in
the Soviet
Baltic
Republics*
REIN
TAAGEPERA
School
of
Social
Sciences,
University
of
California
A
citizens’
peace
movement
emerged
in
the
Soviet
Baltic
republics
in
January
1980,
when
about
23
Lithuanians,
Estonians,
and
Latvians
signed
an
antiwar
declaration
in
the
wake
of
Soviet
military
in-
volvement
in
Afghanistan.
The
concern
for
peace
was
intertwined
with,
but
distinct
from,
concerns
for
national
autonomy,
civil
rights,
and
ecology.
The
movement
culminated
with
a
proposal
in
October
1981
that
the
Baltic
republics
be
enclosed
in
the
Nordic
Nuclear-Weapon-Free
Zone.
This
proposal
was
signed
by
38
Latvians,
Lithuanians,
and
Estonians,
in
response
to
Brezhnev’s
offer
to
consider
some
NWFZ-related
measures
’applicable
to
our
own
territory’.
At
least
five
of
the
signatories
have
been
jailed
since
then,
and
at
least
in
one
case
the
NWFZ
proposal
figured
among
the
most
incriminating
char-
ges.
Despite
some
remaining
problems
of
wording,
the
Baltic
Letter
on
the
NWFZ
represented
a
major
advance
from
uncompromising
declaratory
dissent
toward
advocacy
of
specific
and
negotiable
mea-
sures.
The
Baltic
action
preceded
and
partly
inspired
the
formation
of
the
now-defunct
citizens’
peace
group
in
Moscow,
1982.
The
demand
for
inclusion
of
the
Baltic
republics
in
the
Nordic
NWFZ
was
re-
peated
in
a
December
1983
letter
by
unnamed
Estonian
Peace
Supporters
to
the
Stockholm
disarmament
conference,
in
a
rather
declaratory
style.
Although
the
civil
and
religious
rights
movement
remains
strong
in
Lithuania,
detentions
seem
to
have
broken
up
the
Baltic
citizens-initiative
peace
movement
for
the
time
being.
1.
Introduction
In
early
1982
a
rather
unusual
declaration
by
38
Soviet
Baltic
residents
reached
Western
Europe.
Entering
the
perennial
discussion
about
the
merits
and
feasibility
of
a
Nordic
Nuclear-Weapon-Free
Zone,
they
gave
the
NWFZ
proposal
their
full
support
-
and
recommended
that
their
own
republics
(Lat-
via,
Estonia,
and
Lithuania)
be
included
in
the
NWFZ.
From
the
vantage
point
of
1985,
the
declaration
represents
the
high
point
of
non-governmental
peace
initiative
in
the
Baltic
republics
and
in
some
ways
in
the
en-
tire
Soviet
Union.
Furthermore,
the
propo-
sal
to
add
some
Warsaw
Pact
territories
to
the
NATO
and
neutral
territories,
which
are
usually
envisaged
for
the
Nordic
NWFZ,
in-
troduced
an
element
of
interbloc
balance,
the
lack
of
which
is
a
major
reason
why
the
NWFZ
has
not
yet
become
a
reality.
The
way
the
38
Baltic
citizens
proposed
to
bal-
ance
the
NWFZ
may
present
problems
of
its
own,
but
some
sort
of
balance
would
seem
to
be
necessary.
The
immediate
catalyst
for
the
Baltic
pro-
posal
was
an
interview
in
Finland’s
Suomen
So.sialidemokraatti
(16
June
1981)
by
the
Soviet
head
of
state
Leonid
Brezhnev.
The
latter
not
only
offered
’negative
security
guarantees’
to
the
Nordic
members
of
the
NWFZ
(i.e.,
a
promise
not
to
use
nuclear
weapons
against
the
NWFZ)
but
also
added:
’...this
does
not
preclude
the
possibility
of
considering
some
other
measures
applicable
to
our
own
territory
in
the
region
adjoining
the
nuclear-free
zone
in
Northern
Europe’.
Later
(in
November
1981)
Brezhnev
added
that
such
measures
could
be
’substantial’
(New
Times,
No.
27,
1981,
pp.
8-9;
Vaahto-
ranta
1983,
p.
57).
Brezhnev
did
not
specify
the
measures
in
a
positive
way
but
clearly
indicated
that
all
So-
viet
territories
discussed
would
be
’adjoin-
ing’
rather
than
part
of
the
NWFZ.
How-
ever,
the
38
Baltic
citizens
of
the
USSR
were
willing
to
expand
the
scope
beyond
the
one
offered
by
the
Chairman
of
the
Pre-
sidium
of
the
Supreme
Soviet.
Their
decla-
*
This
research
was
supported
by
a
grant
(No.
7-84)
from
the
Institute
on
Global
Conflict
and
Cooper-
ation,
University
of
California.
The
strategic
and
for-
eign
policy
aspects
are
discussed
in
more
detail
in
Taagepera
(1985).
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