Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies and Zemstvo Soviets in the Baltic Provinces in 1917: the Formation of National Statehood and Proletarian Internationalism

Abstract

The article examines the interaction and conflicts between the Zemstvo Councils and the Councils of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies on the issues of the future organization of power in the territories of the Estland, Livonia and Courland provinces. It is shown that representatives of the liberal public of Estonia and Latvia in the spring of 1917, with the help of the Provisional Government, managed to create Zemstvo Councils and abolish the authorities of the German noble self-government, provoking protests from the Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, who regarded this as the removal of workers from power. The article analyzes the attitude of the Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies to the slogans of national autonomy and national statehood, which were in contradiction with the ideas of proletarian internationalism. In practice, the Soviets sought to organize power separately on the territory of Estonia and Latvia, outside the all-Russian associations of Soviets, thus providing, along with the Zemstvo Councils, conditions for the creation of national statehood. It is concluded that organizations of different political orientation — Zemstvo Councils and Councils of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies — contributed to the creation of national statehood in Estonia and Latvia by their activities in 1917.