Baltic Way
The Baltic Way or Baltic Chain was a peaceful political demonstration that occurred on 23 August 1989. Approximately two million people joined their hands to form a human chain spanning across the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, with a combined population of around eight million citizens, who had been subject to the Soviet Union's repression for more than 45 years before the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The central government in Moscow considered the three Baltic countries constituent republics of the Soviet Union.
The demonstration originated from "Black Ribbon Day" protests held in Western cities in the 1980s. It marked the 50th anniversary of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, in which Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Romania were divided between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. The Soviet-Nazi pact led to the outbreak of World War II in September 1939 and the Soviet invasion and occupation of the Baltic countries in June 1940.
Estonian Rahvarinne, Latvian Tautas fronte, and Lithuanian Sąjūdis were the Baltic pro-independence movements that planned, organized, and led the 1989 events with the primary goal of drawing global attention by demonstrating an overwhelming popular desire for independence and showcasing solidarity among the three nations. Contemporary historians generally agree that the Baltic Way represented an effective publicity campaign and an emotionally captivating, as well as visually stunning scene.
The event presented an opportunity for the Baltic activists to publicise the Soviet rule and position the question of Baltic independence not only as a political matter, but also as a moral issue. The Soviet authorities responded to the event with intense rhetoric, but failed to take any constructive actions that could bridge the widening gap between the Baltic republics and the rest of the Soviet Union. Seven months after the protest, Lithuania became the first Soviet republic to declare independence.
After the Revolutions of 1989, 23 August has become an official remembrance day both in the Baltic countries, in the European Union, and in other countries, known as the Black Ribbon Day or as the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism.
Background
Baltic stance
The Soviet Union denied the existence of the secret protocols to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, which had ceded control over the Baltic states to the USSR, despite the protocols' texts having been used as evidence during the Nuremberg Trials and having been published worldwide by many Western scholars. Additionally, the Soviet propaganda also maintained that there was no occupation and that all three Baltic states had voluntarily joined the Soviet Union – the People's Parliaments had expressed the people's will when they petitioned the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union to be admitted into the Union. The Baltic states claimed that they were forcefully and illegally incorporated into the Soviet Union. The existence and public revelation of the secret protocols had a significant effect on popular opinion, as people had concrete proof that the Soviet occupation of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania was illegal.Such an interpretation of the Pact had major implications for the Baltics' public policy. If Baltic diplomats could establish a link between the Pact and the occupation, they could claim that the Soviet rule in the republics had no legal basis and therefore all Soviet laws had been null and void since 1940. Such a position would automatically terminate the debate over reforming Baltic sovereignty or establishing autonomy within the Soviet Union – the states would have never belonged de jure to the union in the first place. This would open the possibility of restoring legal continuity of the independent states that had existed during the interwar period. Claiming that no Soviet laws had legal power in the Baltics would also cancel the need to follow the Constitution of the Soviet Union and other formal secession procedures.
In anticipation of the 50th anniversary of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, tensions were rising between the Baltic and Moscow. Lithuanian politician Romualdas Ozolas initiated a collection of 2 million signatures to demand the withdrawal of the Red Army from Lithuania. The Communist Party of Lithuania was deliberating the possibility of splitting off from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. On 8 August 1989, Estonians attempted to amend election laws to limit the voting rights of new immigrants. This resulted in several mass strikes and protests by Russian workers. Moscow gained an opportunity to present the events as an "inter-ethnic conflict" – it could then position itself as "peacemaker," restoring order in a troubled republic.
The rising tensions in anticipation of the protest spurred hopes that Moscow would react by announcing constructive reforms to address the demands of the Baltic people. At the same time, fears grew of a violent clampdown. East Germany's head of state, Erich Honecker, and Romania's dictator, Nicolae Ceaușescu, offered to provide military assistance to the Soviet Union in the case the Soviets decided to use force and break up the demonstration.
Soviet response
On 15 August 1989, in response to worker strikes in Estonia, Pravda, the official daily newspaper of the Soviet Union, published sharp criticism of "hysteria" driven by "extremist elements" pursuing selfish "narrow nationalist positions" against the greater benefit of the entire Soviet Union. On 17 August, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union published a project on a new policy regarding the union republics in Pravda. However, this project offered few new ideas; it preserved Moscow's leadership not only in foreign policy and defense, but also in economy, science, and culture. The project made a few cautious concessions; it proposed the republics have the right to challenge national laws in a court and the right to promote their national languages to the level of the official state language. The project also included laws banning "nationalist and chauvinist organisations", which could be used to persecute pro-independence groups in the Baltics, and a proposal to replace the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR of 1922 with a new unifying agreement, which would be part of the Soviet constitution.On 18 August, Pravda published an extensive interview with Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev, chairman of a 26-member commission set up by the Congress of People's Deputies to investigate the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and its secret protocols. During the interview, Yakovlev admitted that the secret protocols were genuine. He condemned the protocols, but maintained that they had no impact on the incorporation of the Baltic states. Thus, Moscow reversed its long-standing position that the secret protocols did not exist or were forgeries, but did not concede that the events of 1940 constituted an occupation. It was clearly not enough to satisfy the Baltics, and, eventually, on 22 August, a commission of the Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR announced that the occupation in 1940 was a direct result of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and therefore illegal. This marked the first time that an official Soviet body challenged the legitimacy of Soviet rule.
Protest
Preparation
In light of Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms, especially glasnost and perestroika, street demonstrations had been increasingly growing in popularity and support on the international level. On 23 August 1986, Black Ribbon Day demonstrations were held in 21 Western cities, including New York, Ottawa, London, Stockholm, Seattle, Los Angeles, Perth, and Washington, D.C., to bring worldwide attention to human rights violations by the Soviet Union. In 1987, Black Ribbon Day protests were held in 36 cities worldwide, including Vilnius, Lithuania. Additionally, in 1987, protests against the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact were held in Tallinn and Riga. In 1988, for the first time, such protests were sanctioned by the Soviet authorities and did not result in police violence or mass arrests of protesters. Furthermore, the activists planned an especially large protest for the 50th anniversary of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact in 1989. It is unclear when and by whom the idea of a human chain was advanced. It appears that the idea was proposed during a trilateral meeting in Pärnu on 15 July. On 12 August, an official agreement was reached between Baltic activists in Cēsis. Local Communist Party authorities approved the protest. At the same time, several different petitions denouncing Soviet occupation were gathering hundreds of thousands of signatures.The organisers mapped out the chain, designating specific locations to specific cities and towns to ensure that the chain would remain uninterrupted. Additionally, free bus rides were provided for those who did not have other transportation. Preparations spread across the country, energising the previously uninvolved rural population. Some employers did not allow workers to take the day off from work, while others sponsored the bus rides. On the day of the event, special radio broadcasts helped to coordinate the effort. Estonia declared a public holiday.
The Baltic pro-independence movements issued a joint declaration to the world and the European community in the name of the protest. The declaration condemned the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, describing it as a criminal act, and urged the passing of a declaration that would render the pact "null and void from the moment of signing." The declaration explicitly stated that the question of the Baltics was a "problem of inalienable human rights," while accusing the European community of "double standards" by effectively turning a blind eye to the "last colonies of Hitler–Stalin era." On the day of the protest, Pravda published an editorial titled "Only the Facts." It was a collection of quotes from pro-independence activists intended to show the unacceptable anti-Soviet nature of their work.