The Conditions of Soviet Colonialism
The Conditions of Soviet Colonialism

Summary/Abstract: This essay focuses on questions of colonialism through the historical reality of the Soviet Union in its relationship to the Baltic states. I am interested in the question whether the vocabulary of postcolonialism can help us to investigate the mechanisms of oppression in the Soviet Union. First some historical reminders about the Baltics: in the year 1940 Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia were each independent states, they were all economically flourishing, they each had a high national consciousness and a clearly formed national culture. In the summer of 1940, Russia invaded these countries; one year later, in 1941, the Germans took the Baltic States; three years later, in 1944, Russia reoccupied the countries and did not leave for almost fifty years. Finally, in 1991, the economic chaos and political instability of the Soviet Union was such that it could not defend itself from falling apart and the Baltic states broke away.

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