Freedom for the Baltic Republics
Freedom for the Baltic Republics

Summary/Abstract: The beginning of the eighties convinced the Soviet authorities, and in particular the younger leaders of the USSR, that the situation in the empire was getting out of hand. An attempt to rescue the system was made when Mikhail Gorbachev came to power (1985). Perestroika was an attempt to liberalise the politics of the empire and thus regain control of the nations which had now learnt to demand their rights. Economic change was also expected to give Communism a new lease of life. A particularly sensitive area for perestroika's experimentation proved to be the most restless of all the Soviet Republics - the Baltic States. Here, the Communists tried to stand at the head of the revolts but in vain - they found themselves immersed in it. The sequence of events vvhich was sweeping the Western part of the Soviet bloc, had an impact on the whole of the Soviet Union, which was in shambles. When in December 1991, it was being transformed into the Federation of Independent States, the only states to actually be independent were the Baltic States - already for many months beyond the Soviet dictatorship.

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