Estonian National Progress Party
에스토니아 민족진보당
The first Estonian political party, founded in the Russian Empire after the Revolution of 1905 by Jaan Tõnisson and Villem Reiman. Its programme, close to that of the Russian Constitutional Democrats, called for a constitutional monarchy together with limited autonomy for Estonia and equal rights for Estonians. In 1917 Tõnisson reorganised it as the Estonian Democratic Party.
In depth
The party began its activity on 26 November (9 December) 1905, after the October Manifesto opened political freedoms. Its programme sought autonomy for Estonia like that of the Grand Duchy of Finland and Poland, and rights for Estonians equal to those of Baltic Germans and Russians, by peaceful and democratic means. Its chief ideologists were Tõnisson and Reiman.
At the congress of Estonian representatives in Tartu at the end of 1905 the party kept to its moderate positions and parted with the radicals, who discussed taking revolutionary power. Because it had not backed the revolution, the party remained legal after the revolution was put down, and for many years it was the only legally active party in Estonia.
The party put up candidates for the State Duma of the Russian Empire and had representatives in three Dumas; Tõnisson was elected to the First Duma in 1906. After the February Revolution of 1917 Tõnisson reorganised the party as the Estonian Democratic Party, which won 7 of the 55 seats in the Estonian Provincial Assembly.