THE BALTIC KNOT
SCHWARZ, SOLOMON
THE BALTIC KNOT 1. Russian and German Intrigue in Latvia, Lithuanian, and Estonia By Solomon Schwarz THE Had Army will probably soon cross the frontier* of the Baltic States. Its appearance will...
...A KTER formal appeasement was reached in the ** east, the Baltic states centered their efforts on domestic problems...
...only German elements and some )J*M**r» of the local Russian aristocracy supported the ,[***"" ennexation plans...
...This interpretation is in rrasa com r .diction to historic facts...
...The Estonian and within certain limits the Latvian governments were supported by representative organs elected <n the basis of a universal suffrage...
...This was sharply revealed in that government's notorious attitude toward the trade unions: it is enough to mention that local unions were prohibited from joining into national federations, for the openly expressed fear that such federations might increase the influence ef the Social Democrats (S...
...the results of those attempts at'the time when their memory was still vivid: t perfectly confident, of the stability of the BrestWevsk peace, the German authorities began to lay the foundation for their rule in the Baltic states...
...But the political development ef the three states wai less favorable...
...It is noteworthy that these treaties, especially that between Russia and Latvia, contain paragraphs guaranteeing the growth of economic collaboration between the contracting parties, in particular conferring on Russia important privileges in the use of the means of trans|Mirtation (railroads and rivers) as well as of seaports for transit and foreign trade...
...In his recent book The Balkan Riddle (L...
...But even among workers the Latvian Soviet government could find no firm support...
...In the Baltic lands there is an age-eld tradition of hatred toward the Germans who for centuries dominated their social and economic life, of hatred by peasants toward their former feudal lords...
...The Communist revolution dealt a hard blow to this tendency, and the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, in January 1918, was its death-blow...
...Lozovski's article in the collected volume The Party and the Trade Union*, edited by G. Zinoviev, Petrograd 1921, p. 162-164...
...accordingly, the paramount economic efforts were directed toward building up an economy en the Daniah pattern, i.e...
...Yet it was evident that the Soviet governments of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania were* not enjoying the support of their peoples...
...In the lumnier of 1917 the prevailing tendency among the Baltic peoples was toward national consolidation within the framework of a future federative Russian republic...
...IN 1920 it seemed that the relations between Soviet * Russia and the Baltic states were taking a normal course...
...In Estonia and Lithuania the situation was not a shred better...
...v.* • * ACCORDING to the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, the Soviet government was obliged to withdraw the Russian army frem Livonia and Estonia in March 1918...
...Hon detignt...
...The chances for industrial development in independent Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania were scarcely favorable...
...In Lithuania the ceaseless conflicts with Poland (over Vilno) and with Germany (over Memel) encumbered the inner development, and the upheaval of 1926 brought to the helm a semi-fascist dictatorship...
...Towards the end of the 'twenties the three nations had already accomplished much in thia respect,, and after the crisis of the middle 'thirties, in the last few years before the war, they achieved ether important successes...
...No wonder the Soviet governments in the three republics carried on only for a few months...
...The Latvians were bracing ^•¦eelves for a struggle, not preparing for an agree¦"•A^i A bloc of Latyian political factions was formed *¦¦%«, in which all local trends, except the Bolsheviks ¦M the pro-Germans, were represented...
...Nonetheless, pro-German and pro-fascist tendencies appeared in political circles leaning on the mass of the Latvian and Estonian peasantry, and soon after Hitler's access to power, the democratic regime in both nations collapsed (in 1934...
...In this agreement the Baltic states, particularly Latvia, were no less interested than Russia, since their own foreign trade cannot sufficiently guarantee the development of their railroads and of their relatively big ports...
...a semi-fascist dictatorship, in Latvia with certain leanings toward Hitlerism, was established...
...Only among the Lithuanians did the idea ef an independent state have a few advocates...
...Its appearance will bring delivery frem the hateful Nazi yoke...
...But its political consequence was that, for a number of years, the Baltic republics kept on the alert in regard to their powerful eastern neighbor...
...Russia's taking advantage of these privileges might have helped considerably toward a rapprochement between Soviet Russia and the Baltic states...
...Before the revolution, and during the few months following it, there were no Latvians or Estonians who seriously considered a complete separation from Russia...
...The Baltic knot tightened...
...The hope for • free national existence within a free democratic Russia was smashed to pieces...
...Yet joy over the newly wen freedom from Nazi slavery will be clouded iiy the realization that this liberation does not bring democracy in its wake, and that the violence of 19391940 is to be renewed...
...The situation in Latvia and Estonia was different...
...The main •/ the bloc wa* the struggle against German an...
...Almost against their own will, the Baltic states embarked upon the road to independent national existence...
...In regard to the Latvian Soviet government this is incautiously confirmed even by Meiksin: "Ruled by the unimaginative urban industrial workers and' soldiers, the Red government of Latvia had antagonized the peasantry (i.e...
...In the economic and social domains the three nations carried on a vigorous program beginning with far-reaching agrarian reform...
...In these nations the permanent menace from Soviet Russia became the decisive factor in their foreign policy, rendering normal inner development impossible...
...This menace hampered inner Consolidation in those nations upon a broad democratic foundation...
...Did the rulers in the Kremlin at that time realize the great responsibility which the Soviet government bears for the fact that the Baltic republics, with their predominant peasant population, instead ef becoming faithful allien of a free democratic Ramie, actually turned Into a pillar ef Fascism in Eastern Europe...
...above all, by preventing political progress "on the Danish pattern," it fomented rightist tendencies among the peasantry...
...Significant is the phrasing of the latter treaty: "By virtue of the principle proclaimed by the Federal Socialist Republic ef the Russian Soviets, which establishes the right of self-determination for all nations, even to the point of fetal separation from ih» states with which they have been incorporated, and in view ef the deeire expressed by the Latvian people te possess an independent national existence, Russia undeservedly recognizes the independence and sovereignty of the Latvian State and volantarily and forever renounces all sovereign rights over the Latviaa people and territory which formerly belonged to Russia...
...the two provinces, says the treaty, were to be "occupied by a German police force until the time when public ¦arsrity it provided for by local authorities, and state iaetiUUtiis are established...
...On February 2, 1920, Russia and Estonia signed a peace treaty which declared unequivocally that "no obligation toward Russia devolves upon the Estonian people and territory from the fact that Estonia was formerly part of Russia...
...Later Bolsheviks and fellow-travelers persistently tried to spread the idea that the creation of independent Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania was the fruit either of imperialist plotting at Versailles or—according to the latest version—of German conspiracy...
...Their ••arts te obtain cooperation of the local population for *"*deeign were futile, since there was not a single "J**** •/ Latvian public opinion that was ready to •*ecret« with the German...
...9tf through complete disregard and underestimation of agrarian problems...
...The same principle was laid down in the peace treatiea which Russia soon afterward concluded with Lithuania (July 12) and Latvia (August 11...
...During the 'thirties the reconstruction of industry, too, was started in Latvia end Estonia On the eve of the second World War the three Baltic republiee had reached m relatively high economic level No wonder the Red A r'my, upon entering these region* in 1939 and 1940, woe deeply impressed by Bui tic "prosperity...
...Estonia the "German intrigue" struck the same Only in Lithuania, harassed by three years of !?J"*n occupation (since 1916), was the resistance *umnet the German plots less determined, and "manf^ring" was often tried by local politicians...
...In 1918, when, in Riga, tee anniversary of the German occupation was celebjjenLwith much ado, not a single Latvian was present ••the celebration...
...This underground organization •"••ad its influence over the whole of occupied Latvia...
...What unbounded enthusiasm would animate the mass of the Latvian, Estonian and Lithuanian peoples if the Red Army would really fulfill its liberating mission...
...B. Fisher, New York), Gregory lieikain tries to kill two birds with one atone: in accordance with the new "party line" he emphasizes the "German intrigue," yet he attributes its realization io the Allies' efforts...
...the great majority of the population.—S...
...Only thirty years ago, the independence of the Baltic republics did not appear either as an historic necessity, or aa an aspiration to any important strata in those nations...
...Bat this is what a democratic Russian writer said 'haa...
...Stankevioh, The Fate of the Peoples of Russia, ¦*«ia 1921, p. 169...
...At that time the Germans warn persistently trying to establish their rule over the "•Hie regions with the support of the local population...
...Yet even ™J»w case, it is only ignorance of indisputable historic thet can lead to the assertion that the indeof the Baltic nations was established by the 1",**ans or, for that matter, through their initiative...
...But the actual value of these paragraphs of the Soviet-Baltic treaties remained rather small, since, despite many representations made by the Baltic governments, particularly by that of Latvia, the Soviet government, for various reasons, did not avail itself of the facilities which it had acquired...
...This was the tragic result of a twenty-year development: at the head of half-fascist Baltic states appeared the same men— lllmanis, Smetona, I'm is—who bad earlier taken an active part in the building up of the free democratic republics...
...The economic reconstruction and development ef the Baltic states, devastated by the war and virtually cut off from Russia, went ahead under very difficult conditions...
...But toward the end of the year, owing to Soviet Russia's armed intervention, the three governments were driven out of their capitals, and, for a short period, were replaced by Soviet governments which proclaimed the reunion of the three republics with Soviet Russia...
...Germany's collapse in 1918 the supreme power ¦ the three Baltic states was taken over by national governments which emerged from local national movements...
...of an intrusive agriculture producing mainly for the market...
...From an historic point of view this was a short-lived "incident...
Vol. 27 • February 1944 • No. 6
