refused to admit our representative for conferences with Russian citizens in England for the purpose of controlling the organization of their return to Russia. In the United States, our representative, Comrade Martens, began openly to initiate wide connections with the commercial world for the resumption of trade with us immediately upon the lifting of the blockade. When the newspapers brought the news of his arrest on July 21, we sent a note to the American Government with a protest and a threat of reprisals. The American Government replied, however, that Comrade Martens had not been arrested. But a severe blow was dealt to his activity by the declaration of the American Government that no transaction with the Soviet Government would be recognized or protected by the American authorities.[1] Negotiations were carried on with England regarding the exchange of arrested citizens and the repatriation of citizens of the two countries. The Finnish offensive, however, interrupted these negotiations.[2]
All the strength of the Entente—insofar as it still has some strength left at this time of growing disintegration of the old imperialistic world—was concentrated on the destruction of Soviet Russia and the support of its enemies. The year 1919 was the period of a general advance of counter-revolution. The Entente imperialism incited all the frontier states against us, having set up bourgeois governments by means of outside aid in those states which were, upon German evacuation, ruled by workers' and peasants' governments. Finland, Sweden and Denmark sent volunteers to crush the workers' and peasants' governments of Esthonia and Latvia. From Germany officers and soldiers entered Courland and Lifland to fill the ranks of the
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