The Foreign Policy of the U.S.S.R. and Her Relations With the Baltic States in the Period 1933-1939.

1933 saw some change in the relations between the U.S.S.R. and the Baltic States. This was the year of the Hitler coup in Germany, and the Baltic countries found themselves between, on the one hand, Fascist Germany striving not only to annul the Articles of the Versailles Treaty, but also to establish her own supremacy in the whole of Europe, and on the other, the Soviet Union, which was pursuing her invariable policy for the consolidation of world peace in general, and in Eastern Europe in particular. It would have seemed that the choice between these two directly opposite tendencies should have been quite clear for the Baltic countries ; it would have appeared that their national interest, their solicitude for the preservation of their political independence and national culture should have indicated to them their only possible road, to look for support to the Soviet Union and to assist the latter in her struggle against the aggressive aims of German Fascism. However, the policy chosen by the Baltic States was, in effect, diametrically opposed to their own interests.

In spite of Hitler’s aggressive plans, which were also directed against the Baltic States, in spite of the fact that in his book “ Mein Kampf ” he had definitely declared that his aim was to seize the Baltic countries, in spite of the fact that these aims were even more fully and clearly expressed in many of the writings of one of Hitler’s assistants, Rosenberg (himself it may be well to recall, a native of Estonia), in spite of the fact that at the London Economic Conference in 1933 a member of Hitler’s Government, Hugenberg, presented a Memorandum in which he demanded for Germany the right of colonisation of the whole of Eastern Europe (the Baltic States and various territories of the Soviet Union)—in spite of all this, we repeat, the Baltic countries failed to draw the only possible conclusion which the international position and their instinct of self-preservation should have dictated to them.

Only in the summer of 1933, influenced no doubt by Hitler’s direct threats, did the Baltic States accept the proposals of the Soviet Government and sign in London a Convention for the Definition of an Aggressor. This Convention was signed by Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and also by Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and Rumania. It is interesting to note that the, most hostile attitude towards the Soviet proposals was shown by Poland and Finland. Poland did not wish to sign this Convention at all, and it was only the pressure of the then Minister for Foreign Affairs of Rumania, Titulescu, which forced the Polish Government to agree to sign the Convention. Poland at that time valued very highly her good relations with Rumania. As for Finland, she took up a peculiar position ; she did not sign the Convention together with the others, and for a long time refused to sign. The Finnish Government considered it necessary to conduct special negotiations with Hitler, and only when Finland had received “ permission ” from Hitler, did the Finnish Government also sign the Convention to Define an Aggressor.

Immediately following his coming to power, Hitler sfarted an energetic campaign for the political subordination of the Baltic States to the plan of German Fascism. The most favourable and already well-prepared soil he found in Finland, where the Government Coalition Party and all the anti-Soviet organisations mentioned above, were entirely at his disposal.

The undermining campaign in Estonia was conducted along two channels—through the Fascist German minority in Estonia and through the Estonian Fascist Organisation, the “ Veterans Union.” The results of this undermining activity were pretty substantial. It is characteristic, for instance, how the Estonian press interpreted the conspiracy of the “ Veterans Union ” which was unearthed on December 8, 1935. Whilst the whole of the world press was full of information proving that the threads of this conspiracy led direct to Berlin, whilst in many foreign journals facts were given showing how the conspiracy had been subsidised by Hitler’s Germany and also that the Estonian conspirators had received arms from Germany, the Estonian press suppressed these facts. Only once did the Estonian semi-official paper “ Uusi Eesti ” timidly mention that the German Government radio station had openly expressed dissatisfaction that this conspiracy had failed.

The Hitler policy in relation to Latvia was very similar.

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