Editing Great Patriotic War (section)

=== Sovietization of the Baltics (Summer 1940) ===
With Germany on the border, the USSR achieved a military deal with the Baltic states. The USSR had no intention of annexation or Sovietization of the Baltic states, but once they tried to sign a secret deal with Nazi Germany threatening the USSR, it supported their people's uprisings.<ref>Geoffrey Roberts, Soviet Policy and the Baltic States.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09592299508405982</ref>

The Baltic workers rose up against their dictatorships with a general strike.<ref>IskoLat on X. https://x.com/IskoLat/status/1860818453801664774</ref> They set up People's Democracies, only allowing the Popular Front to run. The Popular Front included communist and independent candidates, chosen in primaries by meetings of the common people. Bourgeois politicians refused to participate, claiming the Popular Front was a Soviet puppet. The Popular Front candidates won with overwhelming popularity, and then voted to join the USSR.