Communist Party Estonia

The Communist Party in the Soviet Baltic republic of Estonia, following the lead of neighboring Lithuania, voted Sunday to break with the Soviet Communist Party and work for the state's full independence. The Estonian Communists voted 432 to 3 to proclaim their independence from the Soviet party at a special congress in Tallinn, the republic's capital, but party officials said that more than 230 delegates, most of them Russians, did not take part in the vote.

The Communist Party in the Soviet Baltic republic of Estonia, following the lead of neighboring Lithuania, voted Sunday to break with the Soviet Communist Party and work for the state's full independence. The Estonian Communists voted 432 to 3 to proclaim their independence from the Soviet party at a special congress in Tallinn, the republic's capital, but party officials said that more than 230 delegates, most of them Russians, did not take part in the vote.

Estonia's Communist Party chief called Monday for ethnic Russian workers in his republic to end a six-day strike and negotiate differences. Unrest flared in the southern republic of Azerbaijan, meanwhile, with thousands of people holding a rally and saying they would concentrate their strike on key industries. Strike leaders in Estonia's capital of Tallinn said at least 20,000 Russian workers stayed off the job to protest a new law that tightens residency requirements for voters and candidates.

Estonia's Communist Party chief called Monday for ethnic Russian workers in his republic to end a six-day strike and negotiate differences. Unrest flared in the southern republic of Azerbaijan, meanwhile, with thousands of people holding a rally and saying they would concentrate their strike on key industries. Strike leaders in Estonia's capital of Tallinn said at least 20,000 Russian workers stayed off the job to protest a new law that tightens residency requirements for voters and candidates.

Among the many odd happenings in Eastern Europe, the nearing elections of the Estonian Congress rank with the strangest. Here's a country that Moscow still considers a part of the Soviet Union, yet its brash Citizens' Committees are preparing for non-Soviet elections Saturday. These will be full-fledged general elections that bypass the entire Soviet administrative structure and affirm the continued existence of the Republic of Estonia that Josef Stalin occupied and annexed 49 years ago.

"Estonia can be compared to a space rocket rushing to a dark opening in the skies. If the rocket does not pick up speed and does not make a maneuver, it will perish in that opening," says Albert Danilson, a 50-year-old lathe operator from the Estonian city of Tartu. Indeed, this Baltic republic of the Soviet Union illustrates most of the serious problems that we have to face today. In the past 40 years, Estonia's industrial production has increased by 60 times.