206 THE CLASS STRUGGLE GERMANY, THE LIBERATOR 207 But what were the Germans to liberate? How numerous is the German population in the Baltic Provinces? These provinces, Courland, Livonia and Esthonia, cover an area of 90, 000 square kilometres and, according to the census of 1897, have a population of 2, 386, 015. Divided among the various nationalities there are 1, 070, 295 Letts, 884, 553 Estonians, 165, 627 Germans, 128, 789 Russians, 62, 686 Jews, 36, 657 Poles, 23, 211 Lithuanians and 14, 897 of other nationalities.
The masses in these provinces are the Letts and the Esthonians. The Germans and the Russians are but a small percentage of the whole population of Courland: The Germans the Russians 5, In the country districts the Letts make up 95 of the agrarian population. The Esthonians occupy the government of Esthonia and North Livonia to walk. The Letts live in South Livonia and in Courland. Besides, there are approximately 400, 000 Letts in three counties of the Government of Vitebsk that border upon Livonia and Courland. Considering that the population has increased materially since 1897, the sum total of Letts will amount to about 1, 800, 000, of Esthonians 1, 200, 000, of Germans 180, 000.
Even in the cities that are generally regarded as German, the German population is in the minority. In Riga, for instance, in 1897, the Germans made up only 23. of the total population, in 1913 only 13. in Libau in 1897, 18. in 1911 11. in 1913, There is not a single city in these provinces in which the German population makes up even one third of the total population.
The Baltic Provinces, therefore are not German country.
Not only in the agrarian sections, but even in the cities the German population is in the decided minority.
The Baltic Provinces are at the present time economically and culturally undoubtedly the most highly developed part of Russia. In the last 50 to 60 years the Baltic Provinces, particularly their Lettish parts, have developed into a modern capitalistic country. Intensive agricultural cultivation goes hand in hand with highly developed industrial and commercial activities. In 1910, 114, 800 workers were employed in 782 factories, producing goods valued at 796, 726, 000 Rs. These products were exported almost exclusively into Russia. The Baltic harbor cities of Riga, Libau, Mitau are the outlets of the great North and Central Russian Hinterland.
The rapid growth of the Baltic cities is a direct outcome of this industrial development. Thus, in a few decades, Riga has developed into a modern city with 530, 000 inhabitants. Dvinsk and Libau have 100, 000, Mitau and Windau 32, 000 inhabitants.
Their favorable geographical situation was partly responsible for this development. In the economic development of Russia, Lettland plays the role of the industrial Vorderland and serves moreover as a trading and commercial centre for a part of the great Hinterland of Russia. Culturally the country is on a high level, not only higher than any other Russian province, but even higher than that of the Austrian ally of its liberator. In 1897, 79 of the inhabitants were able to read and write. The illiterate in these provinces are mostly the Jews, Russians and Lithuanians. The Germans, Letts and Esthonians are usually literate. And since then conditions have improved to a marked degree. It is noteworthy, that of 2644 noblemen between the ages of ten and sixty, 252, e. were unable to read. Among the Lettish farmers of the same age there were only analphabets.
The German minority is the ruling class in the Baltic Provinces. In the agrarian sections they are the nobility, the great landowners, in the cities they make up the manufacturing and commercial classes. The Letts and the Esthonians are the farmers and farmworkers, the small tradesmen, the factory workers, and the professionals in the cities. To be sure, there are also Lettish and Esthonian landowners and factoryowners, but they form an exceedingly small minority, The German nobility that has not been clamoring for liberation for the past two centuries, has been the most dependable support of the Czarist government. Nothing was too low, nothing too brutal for this junker gang, they were the most subser