Popular Fronts (Perestroika)
인민전선 (페레스트로이카)
Mass political movements that formed in Soviet republics during Perestroika, initially organized under the banner of supporting reform but quickly evolving into vehicles for national sovereignty and independence campaigns. Beginning with Estonia's Rahvarinne (April 1988), Lithuania's Sąjūdis (June 1988), and Latvia's Tautas Fronte (October 1988), popular fronts also emerged in Moldova, Azerbaijan, Belarus, and Ukraine, functioning as broad coalitions of reformist Communists, liberal intelligentsia, and the general public. They led republican sovereignty declarations, language laws, and demands for publication of the Molotov–Ribbentrop secret protocols, becoming key political agents in the dissolution of the USSR.
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Sources
- Wikipedia (EN) Wikipedia article on popular fronts, section on Soviet republics (1988–1992), describing how these movements began as defenders of perestroika and evolved into challengers to communist party hegemony and vehicles for independence
- soviethistory.msu.edu Lewis Siegelbaum, 'The Baltic Republics Achieve Independence' (Seventeen Moments in Soviet History, Michigan State University): describes the formation of Sąjūdis in Lithuania, the Popular Front for the Support of Perestroika in Estonia, and the Latvian Popular Front in 1988, their role in agitating for national emblems, economic control, and political autonomy
- newleftreview.org Ronald Suny, 'Incomplete Revolution: National Movements and the Collapse of the Soviet Empire' (New Left Review I/189, 1991): analysis of how popular fronts in the Baltic republics and Caucasus became the dominant political force challenging Soviet federal structures
- Wikipedia (RU) Russian Wikipedia disambiguation page listing all Popular Fronts that emerged in the USSR during Perestroika: Leningrad, Latvia, Estonia, Moldova, Belarus, Azerbaijan