Anarchism in Estonia

In September 1917, the Anarchist Communist Youth Association of Narva was founded in Narva. It established libraries, autonomous groups, choirs and an orchestra for young anarcho-communists to participate in.[1] However, the Estonian War of Independence brought its activity to an end, as Narva was occupied by the nascent Commune of the Working People of Estonia, a puppet state of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.

After Estonia achieved independence, the anarchist movement in the country was suppressed; first by the Estonian Defence League, then by the anti-communist Vaps Movement, and finally with the outlawing of opposition groups with the beginning of the Era of Silence, a period of authoritarian rule by Konstantin Päts. Political opposition remained suppressed following the Soviet occupation, the subsequent Nazi occupation and finally the Soviet annexation.

In the 1970s, the anarchist movement re-emerged in the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, as part of the Estonian punk subculture. The Singing Revolution, which brought an end to Soviet rule in the Baltic states and saw the return of freedom of expression, allowed for the complete re-organization of the anarchist movement. This first took form on May 10, 1995, with the foundation of the "Anarchist League of Estonia" (Estonian: Maavalla Anarhistlik Liit, MAL) by a group of individualist anarchists.[2] This was followed on May 1, 1999, by the Fraternitas Anarchensis Corporation (Estonian: Korporatsioon Fraternitas Anarchensis, KFA),[3] on April 30, 2002, by the Estonian Anarchist Party (Estonian: Eesti Anarhistlik Partei, EAP)[4] and on February 22, 2006, by RedBlack (Estonian: PunaMust, PM).[5]

• Estonian punk