The Estonian Socialist Party's Foreign Association (ESPVK)

The Estonian Socialist Party's Foreign Association (ESPVK) was the exile organisation of Estonia's social democrats, active in Sweden after the Second World War. During the occupation, when party life was crushed at home, ESPVK kept the continuity of Estonian social democracy alive — and it is the forerunner of today's Social Democratic Party. For the Estonian Tatar community, ESPVK holds a special place: the Tatar Ibrahim Zarip (elected to the board on 9 May 1953 and 24 April 1954) sat on its board. But the social democrats' story with the Estonian state begins much earlier — at the birth of the state itself.

Founders of the state: the social democrats and the birth of Estonia

The social democrats had a leading role in the birth of the Estonian state. Already in the pivotal autumn of 1917 the Estonian Social Democratic Workers' Party was founded, demanding Estonian autonomy and the right of nations to self-determination. That same year the poet Gustav Suits made the first public proposal for Estonia's own state and drafted the memorandum “Estonian Workers' Republic” — an idea-draft of an independent Estonia. Less than two months later, on 24 February 1918, the Republic of Estonia was proclaimed.

After the War of Independence, the left won the 1919 Constituent Assembly elections and the social democrats were the largest party. The Assembly's chairman was the social democrat August Rei (1886–1963); under his leadership a land reform ended the centuries-old manorial order. In June 1920 the Assembly adopted Estonia's first constitution — one of the most democratic in the world of its day, granting women the vote and national minorities cultural autonomy. It was precisely this cultural autonomy that later allowed the Estonian Tatars, too, to keep their language and customs. August Rei, who chaired the Constituent Assembly, later led the Estonian government-in-exile — the founder of the state became its keeper.

Social democracy in exile

After the Great Flight of 1944, the Estonian socialists and social democrats who reached Sweden — heirs of the pre-war Estonian Socialist Workers' Party — regrouped and founded ESPVK. Among its members was the poet and well-known left-wing thinker Gustav Suits, who had fled to Sweden in 1944. At home social democracy had been destroyed by the occupation authorities; abroad the idea and the movement were kept alive, awaiting the restoration of Estonia's freedom.

Activities in the 1950s

The association first operated under the name Estonian Socialist Society and, at its general meeting in Stockholm in March 1953, officially took the name Estonian Socialist Party's Foreign Association. In the 1950s it was internationally active: ESPVK took part in the Socialist International and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), worked with the socialists of Central and Eastern Europe, and led the Centre of Estonian Refugee Trade Unions under Johannes Mihkelson. In 1953 a socialist youth section was founded, and the organisation was represented in the “Teataja” publishing cooperative.

Documenting the occupation: the Kersten Committee

The exiles' work was not only to keep the party alive but to keep the truth of the occupation before the world. One landmark was the US Kersten Committee (1953–1954) — a House select committee that investigated the forced and illegal incorporation of the Baltic states — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — into the Soviet Union. ESPVK officially assisted the committee, gathering and supplying the documentary materials its investigation needed (Välis-Eesti, 9 May 1954). The committee heard some hundred witnesses, among them Estonian exiles such as the former government official Johannes Klesment and the former foreign minister Karl Selter, and its findings reinforced the US refusal to recognise the annexation de jure — the very principle of legal continuity that ESPVK and the other exile organisations upheld.

The forerunner of today's Social Democrats

It is precisely in exile that the continuity of today's Estonian social democracy lies. In September 1990 ESPVK merged with three other movements, and so the Estonian Social Democratic Party was born (chaired by Marju Lauristin). Through this exile organisation, the continuity of today's Social Democratic Party (SDE) reaches back to pre-war Estonia — making the Social Democrats one of the longest continuously operating Estonian parties.

The Estonian Tatar connection

ESPVK holds a special place in the Estonian Tatars' story. Johannes Mihkelson recruited Ibrahim Zarip — an Estonian Tatar and a soomepoiss — into the party as early as 1946. Zarip was elected to the association's audit committee on 15 March 1953 and, as early as 9 May 1953, to its board in Stockholm; on 24 April 1954 he was re-elected to the board. He was active in Sweden until he emigrated to America in 1956. The 1954 board comprised Johannes Mihkelson (chairman), Gustav Suits and Ernst Peterson (vice-chairmen), Raimond Kolk (secretary), Bernhard Mäelo (treasurer), Elmar Puura and Ibrahim Zarip. That same general meeting of 15 March 1953, at which the association took the ESPVK name and Zarip was elected to the audit committee, was chaired by Meinhard Treilmann. So a member of Estonia's tiny Tatar minority helped keep Estonian political life itself alive in exile. Ibrahim and the community's life in exile are told of at greater length in The Estonian language in exile.