Bibliografía: Libros, monografías y artículos

veterans' organizations set up by the other parties: the Settlers' Northern Riflemen's Legion, the Farmers' National Veterans' Association, and the Socialists' Democratic Frontline Soldiers' Association, Sisekaitse Ulema otsus nr. 1193, ERA, f. 1, n. 7, s. 69, Ik. 1.

man is a unit", and Paul Telg's "the idea will not die".®^ Such

melodramatics, however, proved unnecessary as the League continued to function largely unhindered. On 24 August Veterans' leaders presented a draft bill to amend the state of emergency law by popular initiative so that a state of emergency could only be proclaimed in response to a threat of

w ar.85

The Tonisson government made a last ditch effort to prevent the League's constitutional amendment proposal from being voted on by quickly offering its own alternative scheme for a strengthened executive. The plan drafted by law professor Ants Piip, the Foreign Minister, was discussed and accepted by the cabinet on 7 August and then submitted to the Riigikogu. The guiding principle of the plan was to substantially increase the power of the Riigivanem "in the direction of the American presidency" through ordinary legislative means (i.e. without a

referendum). According to Piip's plan, the Riigivanem w ould be elected by the Riigikogu for a three year mandate and could only be toppled by three-quarters of the Riigikogu. The Riigivanem w ould be able to freely choose and replace his ministers and also be given the right to issue decrees. Other significant changes included modifying proportional representation to allow personal mandates and transforming the

chairman of the Riigikogu into a non-partisan figure like the speaker of the British p a r l i a m e n t . 8 6 The plan met stiff opposition in the Riigikogu

and scepticism of its legality by a committee of legal experts.®^ The draft got no further than the Riigikogu committee stage.

Having failed to preempt the League's amendment proposal with the Piip bill, the government and the Riigikogu resorted to one last ditch measure. In order to prevent the League's proposal from succeeding at the polls, the Riigikogu voted to raise the quorum of registered voters

required for the acceptance of a constitutional amendment to 50%, as it had been two years earlier.®® The Centre, the Socialists and the ethnic minority parties all pushed for the bill while the Farmers strenuously opposed.®9 The passage of the quorum bill on 4 October, just ten days

®^ Voitlus, 17 August 1933. ®5 Ibid., 26 August 1933.

®^ ERA, f. 1, n. 7, s. 78, Ik. 1-5. Piip's draft was obtained by the League and copies sent to Veterans' leaders so they could familiarize themselves with it in order to effectively criticize it.

®^ Marandi, M ust-valge lijju all, p. 231. ®® Riigi Teataja 81 - 1933, art. 593. ®9 Paevaleht, 5 October 1933.

before the referendum did more harm than good to the Riigikogu's cause since such a transparent attempt to manipulate the outcome caused considerable public indignation.

The League launched its campaign on 10 September and on the follow ing Sunday held 100 meetings across the country. In Tallinn 2000 people jammed into the Marina cinema to hear Sirk speak, while another 1000

who could not

stood outside.^® The month preceding the

referendum witnessed frenzied campaigning. According to Kaja

"Referendum excitement has conquered town and country. Tallinn has already for some time been in a fever, one meeting follows another."^!

Paevaleht reported that "We have never before seen campaigning of such intensity. Never previously have there been so many people at campaign m e e t i n g s . " 9 2 xhe agitation was mostly on the part of the League and its staunchest opponents, the Socialists. There were several instances of clashes between the Veterans and the Socialists, mostly taking the form of Veterans breaking up Socialist meetings, especially in small towns, such as in Keila where eighty Veterans drove in from Tallinn and made so much noise that the Socialist meeting was broken up, or in Rapla where a lorry full of Veterans "took over" a Socialist m e e t i n g . ^ ^ a similar tactic was one used in Kohila where eighty Veterans occupied the town hall before a Socialist meeting and thus succeeded in preventing it from taking place.^^ The themes of their agitation are illustrated by their campaign posters. The Veterans' poster featured a sturdy Estonian farmer on whose shoulders sat the politicians and an inscription stating that the people w ould shake themselves free of them on 14-16 October [the referendum days]. The Socialists' poster pictured a Baltic German baron riding in a carriage with a black-bereted Veteran in the coachman's seat.^s

The League was not without allies in the campaign, the most significant being the Farmers' Party. Their leader, Pats, asked: "The Farmers have long demanded the amendment of the constitution . . . m ust the third attempt also fail? And if that occurs, what f o l l o w s ? "^6

Kaja, The Farmers' Party organ, stressed that the referendum and the Veterans' movement were two different things. The amendment

Voitlus, 12, 19 September 1933. 91 Kaja, 13 October 1933.