Izborsk Tragedy

Izborsk Tragedy 

the shooting of 25 Estonian trade unionists near Novyi Izborsk in Pskov Oblast by White Estonians on Sept. 3, 1919. The first congress of trade unions of Estonia opened in Tallinn on Aug. 30, 1919, and demanded that the bourgeois government of Estonia expel the English diplomats-provocateurs from the country and immediately conclude peace with Soviet Russia. In response, 102 delegates to the congress were arrested on August 31 and sent to the vicinity of Pskov, where military operations were under way. The White Estonians, with provocative aims, sent 76 delegates into a forward area. However, the Red Army soldiers did not open fire, and all 76 delegates crossed the front lines. The White Estonians shot 25 delegates without any trial or investigation. The workers of Estonia responded to this outrage with a wave of protest strikes.

REFERENCES

Lenin, V.I. Poln. sobr. soch. , 5th ed. , vol. 39, p. 180.
Taigro, Iu. Ia. Bor’ba trudiashchikhsia Estonii za Sovetskuiu vlast’ i zamir v gody grazhdanskoi voiny (1918–1920). Tallinn, 1959. (Translated from Estonian.)