Estonian uprising of 1924

1924 Estonian coup d'état attempt
Date 1 December 1924 Location Estonia Result Estonian victory
Belligerents
Communists from Estonia and Russia	Estonia
Commanders and leaders
Jaan Anvelt	Johan Unt
Strength
279 armed militants and red soldiers, 56 sympathisers with 5 Thompson light machine guns, 55 rifles, 65 hand grenades, 8 explosive devices and 150 pistols	500-700 soldiers and cadets
Casualties and losses
125 killed, 500 arrested	26 soldiers and cadets

The Tallinn Uprising of December 1 was a failed revolution in Estonia staged by Communists on December 1, 1924. Of the 279 actively participating communists, 125 were killed in action, later more than 500 people were arrested. The government forces lost 26 men.

The modern Estonian government refers to the uprising as an attempted coup orchestrated by the comintern.

In 1920 the rules were laid down in the Soviet Union at the Comintern's Second Congress, Communist parties abroad were to be created either afresh or else by splitting Social Democratic parties; in any case, they were to be accountable to Moscow and not to their domestic constituencies.

The Communist Party of Estonia had affiliated with the Comintern in 1920, and it continued underground activities in Estonia with strong Soviet backing.

The incapacity and death of Vladimir Lenin (January 21, 1924) triggered a struggle for power between Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin. The country's foreign policy drifted during this. On 1 December 1924 the Estonian communists carried out the uprising.

60 Razvedupr officers were dispatched to Tallinn in the spring of 1924 to organise an uprising.

The plan for was hatched by Jaan Anvelt and Karl Rimm. The latter was a veteran of the Russian Civil War. The plan envisaged the main attack aimed at Tallinn, with subsequent coups in Tartu, Narva, Pärnu, Viljandi, Rakvere, Kunda, and Kohila.

The revolt was supposed to start at 5:15 a.m. The 279 communists, mostly infiltrated from the Soviet Union, were armed with 5 Thompson light machine guns, 55 rifles, 65 hand grenades, 8 explosive devices and 150 pistols. It was mistakenly expected that the workers and soldiers would join the insurgency and would seize power in the capital together. The plan called for the establishment of an Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic and of a "working people's government".

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