---
title: 'Eesti rahwas, hoia kokku! (Estonian people, hold together!): Rahvarinne election leaflet'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eesti-rahvas-hoia-kokku-rahvarinne-1938/
description: A blackletter Estonian handbill for the 1938 Riigivolikogu election tells voters to 'hold together', not to 'split your votes', and to vote only for…
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![Eesti rahwas, hoia kokku! (Estonian people, hold together!): Rahvarinne election leaflet](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/eesti-rahvas-hoia-kokku-rahvarinne-1938.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/eesti-rahvas-hoia-kokku-rahvarinne-1938.jpg)

# Eesti rahwas, hoia kokku! (Estonian people, hold together!): Rahvarinne election leaflet

A blackletter Estonian handbill for the 1938 Riigivolikogu election tells voters to 'hold together', not to 'split your votes', and to vote only for People's Front candidates 'chosen and put forward by you'. It lists 'four happy years of peace' with order, 'unprecedented' industrial growth and 'cheerful activity' in every field, and credits the state leaders Päts and Laidoner with saving the country from 'a threatening danger'.

- **Date:** 1938
- **Period:** [Interwar](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=interwar)
- **Made by:** Rahvarinne (People's Front) election list, Estonia; printed by A.-S. Ühiselu per the holding museum's record
- **Region:** [Eastern Europe and Eurasia](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=eastern-europe-eurasia)
- **Country:** [Estonia](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=estonia)
- **Medium:** [Leaflet](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=leaflet)
- **Issuer type:** [Party](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=party)
- **Regime:** [Pats Regime](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=pats-regime)
- **Leader:** [Konstantin Pats](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=konstantin-pats)
- **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public)
- **Purpose:** [Persuade or win support](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=persuade-support)
- **Theme:** [Elections and party politics](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=elections-party-politics)
- **Techniques:** [Identity fusion](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/identity-fusion/) [Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [Virumaa Museums (Estonia), via MuIS and Europeana](https://www.muis.ee/museaalView/1955408), retrieved September 29, 2026
- **Rights:** CC0 1.0 (stated by the holding museum on MuIS/Europeana); anonymous 1938 print Virumaa Museums, RM _ 2824 Ar1 241:2, via MuIS.ee and Europeana (CC0).

## Text on the object

Original (Estonian) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
Eesti rahwas, hoia kokku!
Ära killusta walimistel oma hääli!
Ainult Sinu poolt väljawalitud ja ülesseatud
Rahwarinde kandidaadid wali Riigiwolikokku!

Wiimased neli õnnelikku rahuaastat
on toonud meie maale kosumist ja edu kõigil aladel.

Meie kodumaal on walitsenud kord ja Walitsus on wõinud juhtida plaanikindlalt ning püsiwalt meie riiki. Rahwas on teinud wisalt tööd ega ole oma jõudu asjatult kulutanud seesmiste tülide peale.

Meie põllumajandus töötab täie hooga
meie tööstuses on ennenägemata tõus,
meie kaubanduses, käsitöös ja
kõigil muudel aladel
walitseb rõõmus tegutsemine.

Selle eest wõlgneme tänu meie andekatele riigijuhtidele
eesotsas Riigihoidja K. Pätsi ja Sõjawägede ülemjuhataja kindral J. Laidoneriga, kes
päästsid meie kodumaa ähwardawast hädaohust
ja andsid meile tagasi usu meie riiki ja meie rahwasse.
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
Estonian people, hold together!
Do not split your votes at the election!
Only the People's Front candidates chosen and put forward by you,
vote for them to the Riigivolikogu [Chamber of Deputies]!

The last four happy years of peace
have brought recovery and progress to our country in all fields.

Order has prevailed in our homeland, and the Government has been able to lead our state steadily and durably. The people have worked faithfully and have not wasted their strength on internal quarrels.

Our agriculture is working at full speed,
our industry has seen an unprecedented rise,
in our trade, crafts and
all other fields
cheerful activity prevails.

For this we owe thanks to our gifted state leaders,
headed by the State Regent K. Päts and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces General J. Laidoner, who
saved our homeland from a threatening danger
and gave us back faith in our state and our people.
```

Blackletter type in the pre-1930s Estonian spelling (w for v). A faint show-through of text from the reverse is visible behind the upper block and is not transcribed.

[← "Credere Obbedire Combattere": a school group photograph, Mirandola, 1938](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/credere-obbedire-combattere-mirandola-1938/) [Human Sterilization Today →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/human-sterilization-today-1938/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Salzburg 20-Kronen "Anschluss" voucher (1921)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/salzburg-anschluss-voucher-20-kronen-1921/) (1921 · Identity fusion)
- [The Bombay Chronicle reports a foreign-cloth bonfire (1921)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bombay-chronicle-cloth-bonfire-1921/) (Jul 30, 1921 · Identity fusion, Glittering generalities)
- [Ein Volk, ein Führer, ein Ja (One People, One Leader, One Yes)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ein-volk-ein-fuehrer-ein-ja-1933/) (Nov 1933 · Identity fusion)
- [Palazzo Braschi dressed for the 1934 plebiscite: rows of "SI" around the Duce](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/palazzo-braschi-si-1934/) (Mar 1934 · Identity fusion, Bandwagon)
- [Oro alla Patria: handing in gold wedding rings in Milan, 1935](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/oro-alla-patria-milan-1935/) (Dec 1935 · Identity fusion, Transfer, Bandwagon)
- ["Credere Obbedire Combattere": a school group photograph, Mirandola, 1938](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/credere-obbedire-combattere-mirandola-1938/) (1938 · Identity fusion, Glittering generalities)
- ['Zeitaku wa teki da!' (Luxury Is the Enemy!) street sign, Tokyo](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/luxury-is-the-enemy-sign-1940/) (Aug 1, 1940 · Semantic hijacking, Identity fusion)
- [Românii basarabeni, Bucovinenii și minoritarii pașnici (leaflet for Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, Romanian and Russian sides)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/romanian-german-leaflet-bessarabia-1941/) (1941 · Fear appeal, Identity fusion)