Konstantin Päts ( – 18 January 1956) was an Estonian statesman and the country's president from 1938 to 1940. Päts was one of the most influential politicians of the independent democratic Republic of Estonia, and during the two decades prior to World War II he also served five times as the country's State Elder. After the 16–17 June 1940 Soviet invasion and occupation of Estonia, Päts remained formally in office for over a month, until he was forced to resign, imprisoned by the new Stalinist regime, and deported to the USSR, where he died in 1956.
Päts was one of the first Estonians to become active in politics, and he then started a famous, nearly four-decade long, political rivalry with Jaan Tõnisson — first through journalism with his newspaper Teataja, later through politics. Although Päts was sentenced to death (in absentia) during the Russian Revolution of 1905, he was able to flee abroad, first to Switzerland, then to Finland, where he continued his literary work. He returned to Estonia (then part of the Russian Empire), and had to serve a prison sentence in 1910–1911.
After the February Revolution in 1917, Päts headed the provincial government of the newly formed Autonomous Governorate of Estonia, which was forced to go underground after the Bolshevik coup in November 1917. On 19 February 1918, Päts became one of the three members of the Estonian Salvation Committee that issued the Estonian Declaration of Independence on 24 February 1918. He headed the Estonian Provisional Government (1918–1919), although he was also imprisoned by the German occupation regime for several months in 1918. In the provisional government, Päts also served as Minister of Internal Affairs (1918) and Minister of War (1918–1919) that left him in charge of organizing the Estonian military in the War of Independence against the Soviet Russian invasion.
During the 1920s and early 1930s, Päts led one of the more prominent right-wing parties of the time – the conservative Farmers' Assemblies, which eventually merged into another party, the Union of Settlers and Smallholders in 1932. Päts was the Speaker of the Parliament (Riigikogu) (1922–1923) and served five times as State Elder, a post equivalent to that of president in Estonia's radically parliamentarian system (1921–1922, 1923–1924, 1931–1932, 1932–1933, and 1933–1934). During his last term as State Elder, he organized a self-coup to neutralise the right-wing populist Vaps Movement. He was supported by the army and the parliament. During the 1934–1938 "Era of Silence", many reforms were made and the economy grew, while he postponed the return of constitutional order. Largely supported by General Johan Laidoner, Commander of the Estonian Defence Forces, Päts ruled as Prime Minister in duties of the State Elder (1934–1937) and President-Regent (1937–1938) until a new constitution was adopted in 1938, after which Päts was elected the first President of Estonia. During his presidency, the Stalinist Soviet Union invaded and occupied Estonia in June 1940. As president, he was forced to sign decrees for over a month, until being arrested and deported to Soviet Russia, where he died in 1956.
Family
Päts' patrilineal ancestors originated from the village of Holstre near Viljandi, Estonia.Pimeduse katte all leidis teenekas mees viimase puhkepaiga abikaasa kõrval Pärnu Postimees, 4 March 2005. His father, Jakob (Jaagup) Päts (1842–1909), was a housebuilder from Heimtali, near Viljandi. Konstantin's mother, Olga Päts (née Tumanova; 1847–1914), was an orphan. According to some sources, she was raised in the Russian-speaking Razumovsky family (and her adoptive father was at one time the mayor of Valga in the then Governorate of Livonia). Other sources indicate that she may have grown up with the Krüdener family instead, and that the adoptive father was her uncle Baron Krüdener; however, it is more likely that she served the Krüdener family later as a governess. Jakob and Olga met while they were both working for the Krüdener family.
Päts had an elder brother, Nikolai (1871–1940), three younger brothers – Paul (1876–1881), Voldemar (1878–1958), and Peeter (1880–1942) – and a younger sister, Marianne (1888–1947). Since their mother Olga had been raised an Eastern Orthodox Christian, their father Jakob converted from Lutheranism to Eastern Orthodox faith. The children were all brought up in strong Orthodox traditions.
The family initially lived in Viljandi. Päts' father Jakob was one of the Estonian nationalist farmers, who in 1865 petitioned to Emperor Alexander II of Russia to remove the (what they considered oppressive) aristocratic privileges of Baltic German landowners. After the petition, Jakob came into conflict with the local nobility and in 1873 he was forced to move to Tahkuranna near Pärnu. As Päts' father was unable to find a job in Tahkuranna, the family moved to a rental apartment in Pärnu in 1882. Three years later, Jakob bought himself some land in Raeküla, near Pärnu, where they initially lived in a roadside tavern, but built a new house after the tavern burned down. Jakob divided his land into smaller lots and built half a dozen new houses on the site, which eventually grew into a borough, and later became a district of Pärnu.
Early life Konstantin Päts was born on near Tahkuranna. According to locals' memories, he was born on a neighbouring roadside farm, since his mother could not reach a doctor in time and was unable to make the last few kilometers back home.Kallas, Vaino. "Eesti esimene president Konstantin Päts" . He was baptized in the Tahkuranna Orthodox Church.Tahkuranna Jumalaema Uinumise apostliku-õigeusu kirik. Puhkaeestis.ee. Konstantin started his education in the Orthodox parish school of Tahkuranna. In Pärnu, Konstantin attended the Russian language Orthodox parish school. Later, he attended the Riga Clerical Seminar in 1887–1892, but after deciding not to become a priest, he left for the high school in Pärnu.Konstantin Päts. President.ee.
From 1894 to 1898, he attended the Faculty of Law of Tartu University, from which he graduated as a cand. jur. After graduation, Päts served in the Russian 96th Infantry Regiment of Omsk in Pskov and was promoted an ensign. After rejecting an academic career in Tartu, he moved to Tallinn in 1900, to start a political career.Eesti ajalugu elulugudes: 101 tähtsat eestlast. Olion. Tallinn, 1997. pp. 112–113.
Career
Journalism In Tallinn, Konstantin Päts started his career as an assistant at the advocacy of Jaan Poska, but the job was not satisfactory for Päts. In Tartu, Jaan Tõnisson had already founded his nationalist newspaper Postimees in 1891; Päts was planning to found his own in Tallinn. The first inspiration came from writers Eduard Vilde and A. H. Tammsaare, who could not get a licence from the Ministry of Internal Affairs because of their social democratic views. Instead, they used the help of Päts as an unknown lawyer with an affiliation in the Orthodox Church.XX sajandi kroonika, I osa. Eesti Entsüklopeediakirjastus. Tallinn, 2002. P. 27.
Päts was assumed by the authorities to have had established a newspaper that was loyal to the Empire and would "unite all Orthodox Estonians"; however, in reality his newspaper had a radical political content. The first issue of the Teataja ("The Gazette") came out on , starting a rivalry not only between Postimees and Teataja, but also between Jaan Tõnisson and Konstantin Päts personally for the position of leadership in the Estonian nationalist movement. Unlike the more nationalist and radically ideological Postimees, Teataja emphasized the importance of education and commerce for the nationalist cause. The work was made difficult by the strict censorship policies imposed by the Russian Empire's governmental authorities.
Early political career Päts's first political goal was to take power in the towns, where Baltic Germans still controlled the municipal governments. Päts served as a municipal adviser in Tallinn from 1904; and together with Jaan Poska, he organized an electoral block between Estonians and liberal Russians, which managed to win at the 1904 Tallinn municipal elections. Päts became a member of the city council; and in April 1905, he became the deputy mayor, chairing the city council. His active work at the town government left him little time for his newspaper. Because of the lack of Päts’ supervision of Teataja, a group of revolutionaries, led by Hans Pöögelmann, had managed to take control in the newspaper’s staff and publish anti-government articles, calling people for a revolution.
During the 1905 Revolution, Päts was already an activist on self-government reform, where he supported national autonomy in the Baltic governorates.XX sajandi kroonika, I osa. Eesti Entsüklopeediakirjastus. Tallinn, 2002. P. 54. In the escalation of the revolution, his newspaper was closed and its staff members arrested. Päts found out about this in advance and managed to escape to Switzerland, only to find out that he had been condemned to death in the Russian Empire.
In 1906, he moved to Helsinki, Finland, where he continued his literary and journalist career. Much of his work was published anonymously in Estonia. He also advised local municipalities on land reform questions. In 1908, Päts moved to Ollila, which was located at the Russian border near Saint Petersburg. There he became one of the editors for the Estonian newspaper Peterburi Teataja ("The St Petersburg Gazette"), although he still resided in Finland. In Ollila, he was reunited with his family, with whom he had parted when he escaped to Switzerland in 1905.
After his wife had become seriously ill, Päts found out that he was no longer condemned to death in the Russian Empire. He moved back to Estonia in 1909, to face only minor charges. From February 1910, he served time in Kresty Prison in Saint Petersburg, while his wife died of tuberculosis in Switzerland, where Päts had sent her for treatment. During his imprisonment, he was able to study foreign languages and write articles, to be published in newspapers. Päts was released on 25 March 1911. The governor of the Governorate of Estonia complained about Päts's activity in Estonia in 1905 and pleaded for the government not to let him return.XX sajandi kroonika, I osa. Eesti Entsüklopeediakirjastus. Tallinn, 2002. P. 95. He was banned from living in the Governorates of Estonia and Livonia for six years. However, strong connections with Jaan Poska helped him return to Estonia, where he founded another newspaper, Tallinna Teataja ("The Tallinn Gazette").
From February 1916, Päts served as an officer in Tallinn. In July 1917, he was elected as Chairman of the Supreme Committee of Estonian Soldiers, where he actively worked to form Estonian units in the Imperial Army. During the war, he also organized the cooperation between Estonians and liberal Baltic German estate owners.
1917–1918: Autonomy and German occupation
In 1917, when German forces were advancing on Estonia, Päts was able to avoid the mobilization. Since the control after the February Revolution was in the hands of the Russian Provisional Government, Estonians were pursuing for an autonomy within the Russian Empire. In local debates on whether to form one or two autonomous governorates in Estonia, Konstantin Päts, who supported a single autonomous governorate, took yet another victory from Jaan Tõnisson, who supported two autonomous governorates. After Estonian mass protests in Petrograd, the provisional government formed the autonomous Governorate of Estonia on .