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Review of the Loomingu Raamatukogu edition (2020) translated from the Swedish language original “Moskoviter” (1924)
Cover image of the original 1924 Swedish language edition. Image obtained from a Russian auction site at https://egorovs.art/auction32/lot95
Moskoviidid (Muscovites) is again one of those fortunate translations which I am able to read in my heritage language of Estonian and which is not even available in English. It actually looks like there are no other works by Swedish essayist/artist Albert Engström that are available in English either (based on what is listed on Goodreads anyway)
Albert Engström was able to travel to the new Soviet Russia in late 1923 thanks to his contacts in the Swedish diplomatic and business community who hosted him there. This gained him access to some of the highest figures in the then fledging Communist government, including Trotsky, whom Lenin had promoted as his heir-apparent as General Secretary of the Party. Lenin himself was incapacitated with strokes and paralysis at this time and would die in January 1924, upon when Stalin usurped power and ousted Trotsky.
Early in his journey, Engström worries that he will only be allowed access to "Potemkim Villages" i.e. controlled views of society that only show the best conditions and progress. In the event though, there seems to have been no barriers to his access as presumably the authorities were yet to have developed their monitoring and propaganda machine to that extent.
The early part of the book covers Engström's visits with government figures, diplomats and business personalities. The latter part has him visiting the lower edges of society, street beggars, the homeless, the drug addicted etc. Along the way he makes his observations and sketches everything that he sees. This Estonian translation provides the complete series of accompanying sketches along with a translation of the Swedish text.
Trivia and Link
The original 1924 Swedish edition of Moskoviter is not listed on Goodreads. However, you can examine a digitized facsimile of the 1946 Swedish edition including all of the sketch illustrations at http://runeberg.org/moskovit/ ( )