Although by early 1920s EKP had dropped much below from its 1917 level of popularity, it still had significant support amongst the industrial proletariat and it held a strong position within the Estonian trade union movement.

However, following the 1 December 1924 failed coup attempt by the Estonian communists, the party rapidly lost support, its membership fell to around 70–200 people and remained low until 1940.

After the February Revolution, as in the rest of the empire, Bolsheviks started to gain popularity with their demands to end the war immediately, as well as their support for fast land reform and originally even ethnic claims (to introduce Estonian as an official language parallel to Russian).

By the end of 1917, Estonian Bolsheviks were stronger than ever — holding control over political power and having significant support — remarkably more than in Russia.

Those parties supported different ideas but were united around the demand for an independent, or Finland-linked, Estonia and wished to redistribute land to the landless and small farmers.

A pro-Leninist puppet government ("Estonian Workers' Commune") was set up in areas occupied by the Red Army, but it had very limited influence.

The EK(b)P was purged in 1950 of many of its original native leaders they were replaced by a number of prominent Estonians who had grown up in Russia,[1] see "Yestonians".