Yestonians

Yestonians (Estonian: jeestlased [ˈjeːstlɑsɛd], singular: jeestlane [ˈjeːstlɑnɛ]; Russian: естонцы, romanized: yestontsy) was a derogatory epithet for historically ethnic Estonians brought from Russia to Estonia after World War II to staff the political structures of Soviet Estonia with cadres loyal to Moscow.

The term thus relates to and derides the heavy Russian accent of these people and their practical inability to speak Estonian.

To alleviate this, they inevitably read their speeches from paper, and words for Estonians were mispronounced from eestlased to jeestlased [yeestlɑsed], serving as the origin of the epithet.

As Mart Laar wrote, the membership of the Communist Party of Estonia (CPE) in the year 1946 was 52% Russians, 27% local Estonians, and 21% "Yestonians".

In hopes of gaining more autonomy within the Soviet Union, many young Estonians joined CPE around the year 1956, while Yestonians were mostly of older generations.