Following the Lithuanians' lead, Communist leaders in neighboring Estonia have voted overwhelmingly to break with the Moscow-based national party.
To soften the blow for Soviet authorities, however, the Estonian party's Central Committee agreed to wait six months before voting to finalize the split.Sunday's move by Estonia's ruling party follows a similar vote in December by its sister party in its fellow Baltic republic of Lithuania, whose Communist Party broke with Moscow in December.
On March 11, Lithuanian declared itself independent, touching off a war of nerves with Moscow, which called the secession illegal and invalid.
But shows of military strength and decrees asserting Soviet sovereignty over the republic have not deterred the Lithuanians, whose republic was forcibly annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940 along with Estonia and the third Baltic state, Latvia.
Most Latvians and Estonians appear determined to follow Lithuania, though move at a slower pace, in the drive for independence.
Sunday's vote to establish an independent Communist Party in Estonia was 432-3 with seven abstensions, said Lembo Taning, an adviser on economic affairs to the party's Central Committee.
But the official Soviet news agency Tass said 228 delegates, including ethnic Russians, boycotted the polling.