On his way to the Second Comintern Congress, leading Norwegian leftist Jacob Friis describes his journey through the Baltics wracked by post-Imperial convulsions.

‘Through Latvia and Esthonia to Russia’ by Jacob Friis from Soviet Russia (New York). Vol. 3 No. 5. July 31, 1920.

[The following article appeared in a recent number of “Social Demokraten,’ Christiania, Norway. It is from the pen of that paper’s correspondent in Russia, Jakob Friis.]

ON MARCH 1, Editor Otto Grimlund, of Stockholm, and I, left Stockholm on the steamship Igel, bound for Libau, intending to enter Russia via Riga, Reval, and Narva. The route through Murman had not yet been opened, and it was impossible for Grimlund to obtain a passport through Finland, while there were as yet no direct connections between Stockholm and Reval. The way through Libau was thus the only possible one. It proved, however, to be a much more tiresome and troublesome way than we had expected. It took us fourteen days to reach Narva, but as a reward we obtained some very vivid and valuable impressions of conditions in the border states, impressions which were of especial value in making comparisons with conditions in neighboring countries.

As is well known, Latvia and Esthonia became independent states after the Russian revolution. Their populations aggregate not more than three millions, both together. That these two small states have been able to stop the access to the sea of the giant Russia is in itself rather abnormal. It is doubtful whether they can govern themselves, since in the short period of their independence they have already become mutually hostile. If the matter had been one for their decision alone, they would have undoubtedly already been at war with each other, so strong was this hostility, but the Entente powers prevented this war. It was during the worst days of this wrangle that Grimlund and I travelled through Latvia and Esthonia, hearing expressions of opinion from both sides, and everyone said that there was more hatred than love for each other in these two newly founded independent states.

The Letts and Esthonians belong to entirely different races, the former to the Indo-Germanic racial group, forming a single language group, with the Lithuanians and ancient Prussians. The Esthonians, on the other hand, belong to the Finnish-Ugrian race, being as similar as are, for instance, the Norwegians and Swedes.

Libau is “Leepaya” in Lettish and means the “linden-tree town.” (Numerous towns in territory no longer Slavic bear evidence of former Slavic occupation; thus, Leipzig, in Saxony, is also derived from the Slavic root lipa, “linden-tree,” although it is situated in what is now Germanic territory.) It is an important seaport, which carried on an enormous trading and shipping business before the war, when it had a population of about 110,000 inhabitants. “The great prosperity of the town was evident from its appearance,” says a book about Esthonia. “An elegant residence quarter and modern and up to date institutions give the town a modern west European character.” So says the book, and it was probably true when the book was written, but times have changed since then. The town looks unclean and decayed, and its impression is far from that of having a “modern west European character.” In the best hotel of the town the effect of the years of war can everywhere be seen. The dining room makes a very poor impression, and the food is very scanty. We did not desire to extend our stay here longer than necessary and took the first train, to continue our journey as soon as possible.

Here as everywhere else in the belligerent countries trains were all crowded with people. We knew this in advance, and inquired at the station at Libau if we might be permitted to buy a special stateroom, as we had quantities of baggage which we wanted to keep with us. “Oh, yes,” we were told, “it will be all right.” It was only necessary to buy eight tickets instead of two. As the difference in cost was not great enough to warrant long discussion, we bought the eight tickets. We did not get the stateroom, however. It was so crowded with passengers that special rights were of no use whatever. Our stateroom was simply taken over and occupied by others.

Riga appears to be a much more modern city than Libau. Before the war it had about a half million inhabitants. It is, moreover, a very old city. In the year 1150 it was razed to the ground by Gothlandian merchants from Lubeck. The inner part of the city has a very venerable aspect. From the broad modern circular boulevards it is only a few steps to the old narrow streets where the religious and guild atmosphere of the middle ages seems still to exist. The high tower of St. Peter’s church rises here above the old-fashioned houses and precipitous slanting roof of the monastery of the Holy Ghost. Here stands the ruin of the old church of the Knights of the Sword, St. George’s cathedral, where the Augustinian monk Meinhard, Bishop Albert of Bremen, and several others are buried. Together with the merchants front Gothland Meinhard went out to the Baltic States, the merchants to carry on exchange trade with shipments from the Novgorod market, Meinhard to convert the heathens to Christianity. The Hanseatic ships went home again when the autumn storms began, but Meinhard remained and preached among his heathens, among whom he died, in 1196. Bishop Albert of Bremen became, however, the real founder of Riga. With crowds of noble crusaders he founded the colony of Riga and instituted there the famous order of the Knights of the Sword, which carried on the work of reformation with great zeal and faithfulness.

In addition to the churches there are the Guild buildings, which remind one of ancient times. The magnificent “House of the Black Hoods,” with its beautiful tower, and the Marie guildhouse with its wonderful architecture, are the most famous. It is remarkable how little damage has been done to this city in spite of the battles that raged about it during the war. True, however, the beautiful town theatre was destroyed by a 42-centimeter shell, but the city as a whole seems untouched.

Before the war Riga was governed by German capital. The upper class of the German merchant families, small and few in number, dominated the economic and political life of the town. They guarded their privileges, carefully upheld their connections with the German home country, and held the Lettish laboring class under a strict German discipline. At the outbreak of the war there were fifty Germans and only fifteen Letts and Russians participating in the local government of Riga.

The provincial national government of Latvia, the “People’s Council,” now existed at Riga. The Social Democrats had one-third of the representation there. Election to the Constituent Assembly was being held while we were in Riga. We visited the office of the Right Social Democrat headquarters where the young Dr. Kalnitz gave us some information on the situation. When the German troops marched into the town in 1918 they formed a Baltic-Lettish reactionary government, but they had to flee when the Bolshevist government came into power. In May, 1919, the government came back again, however. The elections to the Constituent Assembly took place with the participation of everyone above twenty-one years of age. There are five election districts: Latgallia, Riga, Kurland, Semgallian, and Livland. The results depend especially on Latgallia, where the priests have great power over the peasants and where reaction is therefore strong. The Communists boycotted the elections, since they could only work illegally. The trade unions which go with the Social Democratic party number about 25,000 members. The most important question of the election was the attitude towards Russia. The government was against, the Social Democrats for, peace with Russia. I do not remember the immediate results of the election, but the government has been compelled to make peace with Russia. In the same house where I lived in Moscow, later on, peace negotiations between Soviet Russia and Latvia took place. Peace was declared, but on much severer terms for Latvia than they had expected. The Russians reasoned, and rightly, that it was more important for Latvia to obtain peace than for Russia. Had Latvia offered peace at the time when Russia had not yet defeated all her enemies, the Lettish negotiations would have been met with greater benevolence than they met later.

From Riga we proceeded through the border town to walk to Esthonia, and, by way of Dorpat to Beval. It was not a pleasant trip.

Soviet Russia began in the summer of 1919, published by the Bureau of Information of Soviet Russia and replaced The Weekly Bulletin of the Bureau of Information of Soviet Russia. In lieu of an Embassy the Russian Soviet Government Bureau was the official voice of the Soviets in the US. Soviet Russia was published as the official organ of the RSGB until February 1922 when Soviet Russia became to the official organ of The Friends of Soviet Russia, becoming Soviet Russia Pictorial in 1923. There is no better US-published source for information on the Soviet state at this time, and includes official statements, articles by prominent Bolsheviks, data on the Soviet economy, weekly reports on the wars for survival the Soviets were engaged in, as well as efforts to in the US to lift the blockade and begin trade with the emerging Soviet Union.

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