Vastu tuult

Johannes Mihkelson's memoir "Against the Wind" offers a completely different perspective than the numerous memoirs written about Estonian farms and the educational paths of farm children. Mihkelson's memoirs begin in the environment of Pärnu's Poor Sinners' district and the Pärnu harbor labor scene. Soon, however, young Mihkelson finds himself in the capital of the Republic, Tallinn, where he works for the Central Federation of Estonian Trade Unions. The federation had only two paid employees, and Mihkelson was one of them. Trade unions were in the early stages of organizing their work, and they had to fight against the communist divisive policies and the emerging Vaps Movement in the early 1930s. Trade unions in Scandinavian countries served as a model. Mihkelson made his first foreign trips to Finland and Sweden.
The decades of the Republic unfold on the pages of Mihkelson's memoir just as they were. As a seasoned journalist, Mihkelson also writes in a fluent and vivid style, spiced with just the right amount of humor.