A Nation State Doomed to Fall. Soviet Historiography, Narrative Identity and the Republic of Estonia (1918–1940)
: Pertti Grönholm
: Priit Raudkivi, Mart Seppel
: Tallinn
: 2009
: Sõnasse püütud minevik. In honorem Enn Tarvel
: 363
: 387
: 978-9949-438-60-0
In this article I attempt to present and analyze some of the most essential Soviet narrative themes and argumentative techniques which were guiding the Soviet Estonian historians in their efforts to write coherent Marxist-Leninist popular texts on the contemporary history of estonia. The focus of the article is on the Soviet narratives on the Republic of Estonia (1918-40). The official Soviet narratives were introduced in three major Soviet Estonian popular history textbooks, published in 1952, 1957 and 1955-71.
I shall surface some recurring narrative topics and themes. In addition, I shall contextualize and analyze the most important ideological, rhetorical and methodological changes regarding the Marxist-Leninist narratives on the history of the interwar Estonia. In the latter part of the article, I shall pinpoint the Soviet argument on the claimed artificiality, instability and inviability of the Republic of Estonia, which constituted the argumentative backbone of the Soviet historiography on Estonia.