Printer-friendly version
Send to friendIn June of 1988 hundreds of thousands of Estonians (as many as 300,000 or one-third of the Estonian population by some estimates) gathered for five nights in a row in the capital city of Tallinn to sing forbidden or politically-risky folk songs. Similar song festivals were held that summer in Latvia and Lithuania. This “Singing Revolution,” as it became known, was an important step toward the independence of the Baltic states from the Soviet Union in August 1991.The song festivals galvanized and popularized the nascent resistance movement by using powerful folk cultural symbols. Many participants came to the stadium wearing traditional dress and they sang songs that emphasized their Estonian identity. Under a regime that had used the homogenization of culture as a tool of repression, the festivals gave Estonians a chance to stand up publicly as Estonians rather than Soviet citizens. The presence of 300,000 compatriots took some of the risk out of such a stance.
The festivals were organized by the Estonian Heritage Society (Eesti Muinsuskaitse Selts), an unofficial organization that took advantage of the relative openness of the glasnost era to push for public celebration of important national anniversaries and to revive key pre-Soviet national symbols, such as the blue-black-and-white Estonian flag and the national anthem. In the nearly-bloodless battle for independence in the Baltics, these symbols became the most powerful weapons.
Read more innovative tactics
