ABSTRACT
The period from September 1987 to September 1989 was characterized by active Estonian demands for autonomy within the Soviet framework. The usual pattern of rising expectations during reforms was reinforced when the limitations of autonomy, as understood by the Kremlin, became apparent. As effective autonomy of press, political symbolism, and local administration was achieved in 1988, the mood increasingly shifted toward a focus on independence. Some major dates in that shift from quest for autonomy to quest for independence were October 1989, when the Popular Front spelled out independence as the end goal in its platform, and November 1989, when the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic (ESSR) Supreme Soviet declared that Estonia's annexation by the USSR amounted to a "military occupation". Mikhail Gorbachev seemed delighted with such a reformist initiative from below, expecting it to be simply socioeconomic and democratic within the general framework of a Russian-speaking state, because this is how Gorbachev saw the USSR.
