The Estonian Student Building Brigade (ESBB) was founded in 1966, following the organisation of student building brigades in the Soviet Union, as a structural unit of the Komsomol. It was part of the All-Union Student Building Brigades organisation, but distanced itself from its injunctions. However, the term ESBB was used as early as 1963, which is also unofficially considered the founding date of the ESBB, mainly by the organisation's alumni. 
From the beginning, the ESBB tried to establish some autonomy, as not all its members were also members of the Komsomol. Formally, it was intended to be an ideological educator. Student building brigades everywhere in the Soviet Union had to ensure Soviet patriotism and encourage political responsibility. In reality, members of the ESBB enjoyed a lot of freedom during their working summers, which they used to make a lot of jokes about Soviet society and politics, among other things. However, the aim of this behaviour was never to offer conscious opposition or resistance. Therefore, the term 'free space' is used to describe the activities of the ESBB. This free space was primarily possible due to the fact that almost all functionaries in the ESBB came from within, and only two from outside the organisation. Another reason is the fact that the headquarters of the organisation were in Tallinn, while the brigades acted in different places in Estonia, and even outside, which made control over them complicated.
Hints at everyday communist life as a subject for parody began firstly from the style and names of the brigades. For example, in 1981, one brigade took the name Persostrat, derived from the phrase pervyi sovetskij stratostat (the first Soviet high-altitude balloon), pointing to the history of technology in the Soviet Union on one hand, and on the other hand to the clumsy portmanteau words that were common in the Soviet Union. The free space is also reflected in the entertainment and productions by the brigades. The practices varied in different brigades. They used old student traditions, such as certain initiation rituals, which were discouraged by the authorities, since old student organisations had been liquidated and banned. Another practice was the symbolic funeral, whereby different objects were buried, such as freedom. Songs written and sung during these working summers were famous, and some of them are even popular today. The song of the Euromais brigade from 1982 used the American tune 'Yankee Doodle', which was known as the signature tune of the Voice of America radio station. The song itself contains a lot of hints at aspects of the Cold War.
The ESBB reached the peak of its popularity in the first half of the 1980s, and then quickly lost it in the second half of the decade. The ESBB organisation was finally liquidated in 1993.