Minorities in Soviet Union

Medvedev’s article shows that myth perpetuation has not died with the coming of glasnost . Medvedev’s statement that the “Bolsheviks would never have won their war and created the Soviet Union,” without the support of Latvians, Etonians and other minorities implies that the Bolshevik seizure of power was a manifestation of the popular will of those “minorities.”

The Latvian and Estonian people, along with the Lithuanians, used the opportunity presented by the Russian Revolution and, after defeating the Soviet military, became independent, democratic countries. They remained as such until the Soviets, with Hitler’s cooperation, occupied them during World War II. Today, they continue to be unwilling Soviet colonies.

JAAK TREIMAN

Canoga Park