Bolshevik who led the underground communist party in independent Estonia and was executed
Born on the island of Saaremaa, he joined the Bolshevik organization while studying law at St Petersburg University, led the October Revolution in Estonia on its Military Revolutionary Committee in 1917 and tried to arrest the ministers of the Estonian provisional government on the eve of the declaration of independence in February 1918. In Russia he served in the Cheka and took part in the investigation of the Left SR rising, and in November 1918, at the time of the Estonian Workers' Commune, he returned to Estonia to run the underground. After the Commune's defeat he led the Estonian party's central committee, organizing newspapers and propaganda and steering the legal labour organizations that contested parliamentary elections. Arrested in Tallinn on 3 May 1922, he was executed two days later by sentence of a military court and his body was thrown into the sea. Under Soviet rule the town of Kuressaare bore his name until 1988.
Related historical events
- 1918–1922The Civil War and Foreign InterventionLeader of Estonia’s communist undergroundA Bolshevik active in the 1917 revolution, he led communist underground work in Estonia during the independence struggle. Arrested by the republic’s authorities, he was executed in 1922 and became a commemorated figure under Soviet rule.
- 1918.11–1920.10Baltic wars of independence and border settlementsLeader of Estonia’s communist undergroundLed the Estonian communist underground from the time of the Workers' Commune, and was arrested in Tallinn in May 1922 and executed two days later.
Revolution and independence wars
A Bolshevik active in the 1917 revolution, he led communist underground work in Estonia during the independence struggle. Arrested by the republic’s authorities, he was executed in 1922 and became a commemorated figure under Soviet rule.