ABSTRACT
The major internal change in Estonian politics in 1989 was the steady progress of the citizens committees. The Estonian Supreme Council met, Soviet troops had begun to maneuver and seize buildings in Lithuania—hence the more cautious wording about Estonia being an illegally occupied country "in transition" toward independence. The USSR Congress passed Mikhail Gorbachev's anti separation law, and Gorbachev demanded immediate retraction of the Estonian declaration. The Supreme Council pledged cooperation with the Congress, recognizing it as "the restorer of independence." The Popular Front of Estonia (PFE) platform also intimated that PFE would declare itself a Social Democratic Party. However, in January 1990, only a part of the PFE activists, headed by Marju Lauristin, formed an Estonian Social Democratic Independence Party. The new Estonian Supreme Council, by a bare majority, replaced Indrek Toome as prime minister by PFE leader Edgar Savisaar.
