Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Chapter II. The Baltic Minorities' Rights. Their relation to Municipal and International Law. Lecture delivered at the Grotius Society in London, November 1921 - Chapter III. The Baltic Minorities' Rights detailed. Paper read at the Assembly of the International Law Association at The Hague, September 1921
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has been proofread at least once.
(diff)
(history)
Denna sida har korrekturlästs minst en gång.
(skillnad)
(historik)
serfdom — although it had never been practised in its worst form, nor
out of malice — but it was a usage in conformity with the ideas then
prevailing over the whole of Europe. Since 1561, when the Baltic State
lost its independence and was taken over by Sweden, Poland, and
later on, by Russia, the position of the serfs in the provinces was very
similar to that of the peasant class in those States to which they
belonged. The Christianising of the Letts was probably not a case of
peaceful conversion, and the Crusaders who, at the bequest of the Pope,
over-ran the country, behaved no better than the Crusaders fighting
their way to the Holy Land. But this was only of historic interest.
At the present time, the Balts only claimed equality with the Letts
and Ests and were most willing to colaborate with them without any
aspirations for precedence. They only prayed to be relieved of
oppression, expropriation and banishment.
One of the members of the meeting said that he could corroborate
what he had heard in the lecture, as he, personally, knew of a former
land-owner in Latvia who, having lost all his means of existence, owing
to the expropriation of his estate, was now reduced to a position of
having to work as a manual labourer by repairing roads in Bavaria.
The lecturer said that Socialism and Nationalism in Latvia and Eesti
had been instrumental in bringing about the impoverishment of the
upper strata of society. There was no objection to the uplift and rise
of the masses as long as this was brought about in conformity with the
ideas of equality, the safety of private property and the maintenance
of personal freedom. But the mode of procedure of the Lettish and
Estnish governments was to a certain extent influenced by Bolshevik
ideas, which although they had proved disasterous in Russia, had a
hold on Latvia and Eesti.
Another gentleman suggested that the whole question might
perhaps be looked upon as of mere local importance.
To this, the lecturer replied that Europe did not produce sufficient
food-stuffs to feed her population, and relied upon an enormous
importation from abroad. It was therefore much to the interests of
Europe to secure food from those countries which grew corn. Latvia
and Eesti were agricultural countries which, before the war, exported
a large quantity of corn to the Western countries of Europe, but now
they were obliged to import corn for themselves, and this was the
result of the disintegration of agriculture by the so-called Agricultural
Reform. Since Western Europe is involved, she cannot be unconcerned
regarding the state of affairs existing in Latvia and Eesti.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
