Santeri Nuorteva
Encyclopedia
Santeri Nuorteva was a Finnish-Soviet journalist and one of the first members of the Finnish parliament. Nuorteva served in the Finnish parliament as a member of the Social Democratic Party
from 1907–1908 and 1909–1910. Nuorteva emigrated to the United States in 1911 and played a leading role in the sizable Finnish-language socialist movement in America, editing at various times he edited the magazines Säkeniä ("The Spark") and the newspapers Toveri ("The Comrade") and Raivaaja ("The Pioneer"). He was the official spokesman in America for the Finnish Socialist Revolutionary government of 1918 and, after its overthrow, was influential in the official affairs of the government of Soviet Russia
in America. In 1920 he was deported to Soviet Russia.
and boilerman
. After graduating high school in 1904 he started to work as a teacher and journalist in Forssa
. He was a language teacher at Forssa primary school in 1904–1907 and editor of the Forssa News in 1904–1906.
After leaving Forssa, Nuorteva worked as journalist for the magazine Socialist in Turku
in 1908 and then as editor of the magazine Kansan in Tampere
in 1909-11. Nuorteva was imprisoned because of Lèse majesté
in 1909.
Nuorteva immigrated to the United States
in 1911 where he instantly became a leading member of the Finnish Socialist Federation
in America and one of its most prominent spokesmen. He worked as editor of the daily newspaper Toveri ("The Comrade") in Astoria, Oregon
in the Pacific Northwest
from 1912 to 1913, before leaving for the East coast to edit the monthly magazine Säkeniä ("The Spark") and working on the editorial staff of Raivaaja ("The Pioneer").
During the Finnish Civil War
, Nuorteva was the chargé d'affaires
of the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic
in Washington, D.C.
in 1918-19. On May 10, 1918, when the government Nuorteva represented had been overthrown, an audience of Socialists filled New York City's Carnegie Hall
to hear him denounce the Finnish anti-Bolsheviks as allies of the German Junker class and not friends of America and its allies as they claimed. Implicitly defending the recent Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
which marked Soviet Russia's exit from the war against Germany, he hailed the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia as the greatest threat to Germany: "Today the Socialist Republic flag of Russia floats over a Socialist embassy in Berlin, a terrible symbol of the greatest menace to the German rulers, for this flag represents the power of a great popular idea that involves the complete destruction of kaiserism and junkerdom and all their works." He campaigned for U.S. diplomatic recognition of the Soviet government.
On September 21, 1918, the New York Evening Post charged that he was the author and fabricator of the Sisson Documents
, a controversial set of Russian-language papers that, if genuine, proved that the German General Staff had financed the Russian Revolution and that Lenin and Trotsky were both German agents. Eventually he became the information chief of the Russian Information Bureau, the de facto embassy of the Russian government, in 1919-20, as assistant to Ludwig Martens
, the unrecognized Soviet ambassador and a controversial figure in America.
In 1918, he also collaborated on a translation into English of Lenin's "Letter to American Workers."
In 1920, Nuorteva left the United States, traveling first to Canada
and then to England
where he was deported after 10 days to Soviet Russia
, the destination he requested rather than a return to the U.S.
Nuorteva was made the head of the Anglo-American Division of the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs.
In the Soviet Union
Nuorteva was again briefly arrested and jailed in 1921–22. After his release, he worked as the manager in the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in Petroskoi in 1922.
After he returned to Moscow
, Nuoteva worked as a journalist and as the commissar of Anglo-American department in Moscow
in 1923-24. In 1924,
Rosta
, the Soviet news agency, sent Nuorteva for a short time to Stockholm
as their representative. After working Stockholm, Nuorteva became the chairman of the Soviet Karelian Central Committee in 1924-1927.
while working for the editor of the Soviet dictionary.
Social Democratic Party of Finland
The Social Democratic Party of Finland is one of the three major political parties in Finland, along with the Centre Party and the National Coalition Party. Jutta Urpilainen is the current SDP leader. The party has been in the Finnish government cabinet for long periods and has set many...
from 1907–1908 and 1909–1910. Nuorteva emigrated to the United States in 1911 and played a leading role in the sizable Finnish-language socialist movement in America, editing at various times he edited the magazines Säkeniä ("The Spark") and the newspapers Toveri ("The Comrade") and Raivaaja ("The Pioneer"). He was the official spokesman in America for the Finnish Socialist Revolutionary government of 1918 and, after its overthrow, was influential in the official affairs of the government of Soviet Russia
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or simply Russia, was the largest, most populous and economically developed republic in the former Soviet Union....
in America. In 1920 he was deported to Soviet Russia.
Early years
Santeri was named Alexander Nyberg when he was born in Viipuri, Finland on June 29, 1881. His father Claes Fredrik Nyberg was a telegraph officer and his mother was Anna Aleksandrovna Saharova. Even before graduating from high school Santeri was working in a shop and as a seamanSeaman
Seaman is one of the lowest ranks in a Navy. In the Commonwealth it is the lowest rank in the Navy, followed by Able Seaman and Leading Seaman, and followed by the Petty Officer ranks....
and boilerman
Boilerman
Fireman or stoker is the job title for someone whose job is to tend the fire for the running of a steam engine.On steam locomotives the term fireman is usually used, while on steamships and stationary steam engines, such as those driving saw mills, the term is usually stoker...
. After graduating high school in 1904 he started to work as a teacher and journalist in Forssa
Forssa
Forssa is a town and municipality of Finland.It is located almost in the centre of a triangle defined by the three largest major cities in Finland , in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the Tavastia Proper region. The town has a population of and covers an area of of which is water...
. He was a language teacher at Forssa primary school in 1904–1907 and editor of the Forssa News in 1904–1906.
After leaving Forssa, Nuorteva worked as journalist for the magazine Socialist in Turku
Turku
Turku is a city situated on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River. It is located in the region of Finland Proper. It is believed that Turku came into existence during the end of the 13th century which makes it the oldest city in Finland...
in 1908 and then as editor of the magazine Kansan in Tampere
Tampere
Tampere is a city in southern Finland. It is the most populous inland city in any of the Nordic countries. The city has a population of , growing to approximately 300,000 people in the conurbation and over 340,000 in the metropolitan area. Tampere is the third most-populous municipality in...
in 1909-11. Nuorteva was imprisoned because of Lèse majesté
Lèse majesté
Lese-majesty is the crime of violating majesty, an offence against the dignity of a reigning sovereign or against a state.This behavior was first classified as a criminal offence against the dignity of the Roman republic in Ancient Rome...
in 1909.
Political career
He took the name Santeri Nuorteva in 1906. He became a member of the Finnish parliament in 1907 and served until 1910.Nuorteva immigrated to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1911 where he instantly became a leading member of the Finnish Socialist Federation
Finnish Socialist Federation
The Finnish Socialist Federation was a language federation of the Socialist Party of America which united Finnish language-speaking immigrants in the United States in a national organization designed to conduct propaganda and education for socialism among their community.-Early Finnish socialist...
in America and one of its most prominent spokesmen. He worked as editor of the daily newspaper Toveri ("The Comrade") in Astoria, Oregon
Astoria, Oregon
Astoria is the county seat of Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. Situated near the mouth of the Columbia River, the city was named after the American investor John Jacob Astor. His American Fur Company founded Fort Astoria at the site in 1811...
in the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
from 1912 to 1913, before leaving for the East coast to edit the monthly magazine Säkeniä ("The Spark") and working on the editorial staff of Raivaaja ("The Pioneer").
During the Finnish Civil War
Finnish Civil War
The Finnish Civil War was a part of the national, political and social turmoil caused by World War I in Europe. The Civil War concerned control and leadership of The Grand Duchy of Finland as it achieved independence from Russia after the October Revolution in Petrograd...
, Nuorteva was the chargé d'affaires
Chargé d'affaires
In diplomacy, chargé d’affaires , often shortened to simply chargé, is the title of two classes of diplomatic agents who head a diplomatic mission, either on a temporary basis or when no more senior diplomat has been accredited.-Chargés d’affaires:Chargés d’affaires , who were...
of the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic
Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic
The Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic was a short-lived Finnish socialist government, established by a revolution just prior to the Finnish Civil War and in the aftermath of the October Revolution...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
in 1918-19. On May 10, 1918, when the government Nuorteva represented had been overthrown, an audience of Socialists filled New York City's Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
to hear him denounce the Finnish anti-Bolsheviks as allies of the German Junker class and not friends of America and its allies as they claimed. Implicitly defending the recent Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a peace treaty signed on March 3, 1918, mediated by South African Andrik Fuller, at Brest-Litovsk between Russia and the Central Powers, headed by Germany, marking Russia's exit from World War I.While the treaty was practically obsolete before the end of the year,...
which marked Soviet Russia's exit from the war against Germany, he hailed the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia as the greatest threat to Germany: "Today the Socialist Republic flag of Russia floats over a Socialist embassy in Berlin, a terrible symbol of the greatest menace to the German rulers, for this flag represents the power of a great popular idea that involves the complete destruction of kaiserism and junkerdom and all their works." He campaigned for U.S. diplomatic recognition of the Soviet government.
On September 21, 1918, the New York Evening Post charged that he was the author and fabricator of the Sisson Documents
Sisson Documents
The Sisson Documents are a set of 68 Russian-language documents obtained in 1918 by Edgar Sisson, the Petrograd representative of the U.S. Committee on Public Information...
, a controversial set of Russian-language papers that, if genuine, proved that the German General Staff had financed the Russian Revolution and that Lenin and Trotsky were both German agents. Eventually he became the information chief of the Russian Information Bureau, the de facto embassy of the Russian government, in 1919-20, as assistant to Ludwig Martens
Ludwig Martens
Ludwig Christian Alexander Karl Martens was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician and engineer.-Early years:...
, the unrecognized Soviet ambassador and a controversial figure in America.
In 1918, he also collaborated on a translation into English of Lenin's "Letter to American Workers."
In 1920, Nuorteva left the United States, traveling first to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and then to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
where he was deported after 10 days to Soviet Russia
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or simply Russia, was the largest, most populous and economically developed republic in the former Soviet Union....
, the destination he requested rather than a return to the U.S.
Soviet years
Back in Soviet RussiaRussian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or simply Russia, was the largest, most populous and economically developed republic in the former Soviet Union....
Nuorteva was made the head of the Anglo-American Division of the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs.
In the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
Nuorteva was again briefly arrested and jailed in 1921–22. After his release, he worked as the manager in the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in Petroskoi in 1922.
After he returned to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, Nuoteva worked as a journalist and as the commissar of Anglo-American department in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
in 1923-24. In 1924,
Rosta
Russian Telegraph Agency
Russian Telegraph Agency , abbr. Rosta was the state news agency in Soviet Russia . After the creation of Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union in 1925, it remained the news agency of Soviet Russia...
, the Soviet news agency, sent Nuorteva for a short time to Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
as their representative. After working Stockholm, Nuorteva became the chairman of the Soviet Karelian Central Committee in 1924-1927.
Death and legacy
Nuorteva died on March 31, 1929 in LeningradLeningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
while working for the editor of the Soviet dictionary.
See also
- Finnish Socialist FederationFinnish Socialist FederationThe Finnish Socialist Federation was a language federation of the Socialist Party of America which united Finnish language-speaking immigrants in the United States in a national organization designed to conduct propaganda and education for socialism among their community.-Early Finnish socialist...
- Socialist Party of OregonSocialist Party of OregonThe Socialist Party of Oregon is the name of three closely related organizations — an Oregon state affiliate of the Social Democratic Party of America established in 1897 and continuing into the 1950s, as well as the Oregon state affiliate of the Socialist Party USA from 1992-1999...