Estonia, Wonderful Present—Marvelous FutureAlexei Murisep. Soviet Booklets, London. 1959.

Capitalist Legacy

When Estonia was part of the Russian empire, it was counted an industrially well-developed region. The number of factory workers here, to every 1,000 of the population, was double the countrywide average.

Estonia, however, fell into careless hands when her capitalists took over. The Estonian capitalists ignored Estonia's national interests and curtailed every branch of industry that did not yield a quick profit.

Gradually, big industrial enterprises, employing tens of thousands of people, were snuffed out of existence.

Thus at one of Europe's biggest textile mills, the Narva Krenholm Manufactures, 9,000 of its 11,000 employees were laid off, and output fell to a seventh of what it had originally been.

The same sad fate overtook the Volta electric-motor plant where the staff was cut from 2,000 to 230.

Old workers still shudder when they recollect those years of mass unemployment.

Alexander Laansalu, quite a celebrity in the Republic today, who was recently returned as a deputy to the Estonian Supreme Soviet, is a blacksmith and works at the factory of mercury-arc rectifiers.

In the old days, however, this first-rate craftsman was unemployed for years on end. At a meeting of constituents, he told the young people present the story of his former miserable life:

"After service in the army I went to Tallinn to look for work. I'd learned the trade of a blacksmith when a young lad. I applied at one factory for a job and was told that they had dismissed their own blacksmiths just the day before. I then went to another factory and again found that workers were being laid off.

"To cut the story short, I couldn't find a job anywhere. And let me add that there were crowds of unemployed like me in Tallinn then. I was glad even if I could find work as an unskilled labourer.

"All I had for many years was an occasional job now and then. I had grown quite desperate when in 1938 I finally found a job at the railway workshops. Even then every day I was haunted by the thought that they might suddenly begin to lay off people and again I would be out of work."

The shale industry did, it is true, begin to develop a bit, but chiefly on account of foreign investment. This, however, could not compensate for the damage done to Estonia's economy by the abolition of her large-scale industry.

Gradually capitalist Estonia lost her one-time industrial significance. Dairy and meat farming became the main branch of her economy.

But only the rich peasants who had enough in the way of farming implements, grazing grounds and resources could prosper.

The bulk of the peasants were land hungry and could not make ends meet by farming. Every year at least 70,000 of them hired themselves out to the richer landowners as farm hands.

To obtain good crops one needs fertiliser. But it was very costly. In 1938 a metric ton of superphosphates cost as much as 55 lb. of butter and a ton of potassium salts as much as 127 lb. of butter.

Naturally, the smaller holders were unable to buy it. Agricultural prices continually fluctuated according to the situation on the world market. Often the peasant could not earn enough even to meet his expenses on his holding. Thousands of peasants were ruined and their houses and farms auctioned away.

Nor did white-collar workers feel any confidence in the future. Thousands of intellectuals were entirely without employment.

Such was the legacy the capitalists left the Estonian people.

The restoration of Soviet power in Estonia in 1940 gave everyone the hope and certainty that their lives would change fundamentally, that the national economy would develop and anxiety for the future vanish.

These hopes quickly began to be realised.

In the very first years of Soviet power the number of workers employed in industry went up by 50 per cent. The peasants received land. Plans were drafted rapidly to advance Estonia's economy.

However, these plans were not carried out. In 1941 the Nazis overran Estonia. Their three-year occupation did her economy tremendous damage. Whole towns like Narva were razed to the ground. Only a heap of rubble remained of the big Krenholm textile mills, the Dvigatel plant and many other enterprises.

In Estonia the Nazis killed 125,000 peaceful citizens and prisoners of war and drove away many inhabitants to Germany. During fascist occupation thousands fled to Sweden and other countries.

It has been reckoned that the total war damage done to Estonia's economy amounted to 16,000 million roubles.