ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses two related topics: Soviet nationality policy and the Estonian Communist perspective of it; and how this policy has been implemented by the Communist party of Estonia within its own ranks and describes the limits of available data, the Soviet Estonian Communist elite. Historically, Estonian Communists have called for close cooperation with their Russian counterparts, albeit in a proletarian, internationalist sense. Parenthetically, in December 1917 Lenin had proposed to Jaan Anvelt, an Estonian Communist leader, that the Estonian Communists declare a formally independent socialist republic so as to forestall an imminent German occupation of the country. Political integration in the Soviet Union is, of course, maintained by the Communist party. The proper terminology should be the Communist party of Estonia, denoting merely the territorial subdivision of a unitary party organization. The leadership of the Communist party of Estonia is centered in the secretariat and the bureau of its Central Committee.
