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Katie DuPreeHIST 104Peck 4/29/06

The Cash is Greener on the Other Side (of the Atlantic)

During the 1990s there were many Baltic state citizens that immigrated to the US. Manyof those citizens would agree that there are greater opportunities in the US than there were intheir states when they left. In fact, many of these Baltic citizens came to the US to find better jobs and raise their families. However, one should ask why they would all decide to move atonce. Some great event must have had to happen to motivate that many Baltic citizens to allleave their countries at once. It is no secret that Baltic economies are to this day, in a state of recovery but what caused their economies to take a turn for the worst in the first place? There issubstantial evidence that points to the Baltic States gaining independence and causing the fall of the USSR that in turn, caused Baltic citizens to emigrate. Although, this paper will address themajority of the Baltic States in regards to the events that led to Baltic emigration, the main focuswill be on Lithuania since that is the country my interviewee emigrated from.Since it is the aim of this paper to argue that the fall of the USSR led to the emigration of Baltic citizens, it is important to know what caused the fall of the USSR . What else would it be besides politics? Politics usually favors he who has the biggest stick or those with enoughnumbers to eradicate the holder of the biggest stick, as was the case when it came to Balticindependence. So when politics finally went in the favor of Baltic independence in 1990 for Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia , the USSR ’s metaphorical stick was eradicated ( Norton pg. 611).

The Baltic Economies in Transition

explains, “The Baltic States have a tradition of nationalindependence, they never joined the USSR voluntarily, the goal of independence was generallyshared among the population, and there has been no hesitation concerning the grand goal of

transition: to become a normal European state” (Lainela & Sutela, 1994, pg. 2). As a result of this, the USSR ’s economy was fatally wounded. This is because as part of the Soviet Union, theBaltic States provided the Soviet Union with the majority of its market for the goods it produced(Lainela & Sutala, 1994, pg. 2). No matter how much of a good you produce, if youdon’t have a market for your goods, they will not sell and you will not make any money. Withoutthe Baltic States trading with the Soviet Union, its ability to market is crippled, forcing itseconomy to nose dive.Due to the repercussions of trade between the Baltic States and the Soviet Union beingdiscombobulated, the Soviet economy did not survive. The USSR fell in 1991 and Gorbachevlost power due to his plunders in striving for Soviet autonomy and his ignorance of Sovietdependence on Baltic trade (Pope, 1991). The fall of the USSR occurs just about a year after theBaltic States gained independence. This is not a coincidence, but a cause and a consewuence.Although the Baltic States were declared independent for about a year before the fall of the USSR, they did not get to really try their hands at a free-market until after it fell. Besides, astate does not transition from being a communist satellite state to being a democratic free-marketstate overnight and this transition dis not go into full swing until after the USSR was gone(Lainela & Sutela, 1994, pg. 2). However, this transition presents a problem: almost as much asthe Soviet Union was dependent on the Baltic States for marketing their goods, the Baltic Statesrelied on the Soviet Union for raw materials to produce and market their own goods. Not tomention, having control of their own economies was a new frontier to the Baltic States , sincethey had never had this kind of responsibility before (Lainela & Sutela, 1994, pg. 2). Given their independence, the Baltic States took their own different courses of actions to try and benefitthemselves.

The Baltic Economies in Transition

elaborates in referrencinf the free tradeagreement of September 1993, “Latvia wants to protect its agricultural producers from its

European competitors, while Lithuania strives to at a gradual transition and wants to preserveimport restrictions and quotas” (Lainela & Sutela, 1994, pg. 3). Each state felt that its way of doing things was the right way and the other states were inferior.Ethnocentrism of each of the Baltic States has kept inter-Baltic trade down to a bareminimum, while western trade was still at about 90 percent by the time 1994 rolled around. This proved to be detrimental to the Baltic States as they are still having economic hardships to thisday. Some problems they faced as a newborn free trade market states was the risk of becomingsites of money laundering, inefficient privatization (Lithuania), and high rates of inflation. Balticstates probably would not have had nearly as many problems if they had preserved trade withRussia, but their failure to do so impeded the progress of their developing economy (Lainela &Sutela, 1994, pg. 3).Economic hardship causes people to lose their jobs or not be able to get good jobs. Thisin turn means less income for families. Families with limited incomes will spend less money.When people are not spending money, it causes businesses to that are producing goods to notmake as much money, make budget cuts and lay people off. They may even possibly go out of business. This lowers the number of jobs and buying power of citizens even more. This leaves all parties of economic hardship desperate for relief.All of this economic uncertainty is probably why it would be tempting to return tosomething more familiar, as in the case of Lithuania in 1992 when the (ex-communist)Democratic Labour Party came to power and slowed down the transition to a free marketeconomy and improved relations with the Russian Federation. These actions were taken as aresult of Lithuanians blaming the Nationalist movement for their economic predicament (FactMonster, 2007, pg. 5). For Lithuanians, this is probably what started to scare them into wantingto leave. A survey taken in Lithuania in 1991 suggests just this. A survey reveals that 48.3% of

Category:	Research > Arts & Architecture
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Upload Date:	05/19/2009
Copyright:	Attribution Non-commercial
Tags:	USSR baltic citizens USSR baltic citizens (fewer)

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