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Hugo Erikovich Jalava (3 February 1874 in Saint Petersburg – 28 April 1950 in Petrozavodsk) was a train driver and carried out administrative tasks in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). He is known for his role in the Russian Revolution, when he helped Lenin flee Finnland in July of 1917 and then return to Saint Petersburg shortly before the October Revolution.

Life

Family and Occupation

Hugo Erikovich Yalava was born on the 3. of February 1874 in Saint Petersburg. Not much is known about his childhood as many records were lost during the second world war, as well as the Russian and Finnish civil wars.

In 1889, Jalawa worked as a lathe operator in a factory, from which he was dismissed for being "unreliable." He got a position at the depot of the Finland Station in Saint Petersburg as a boiler cleaner in 1898 and later became a fireman. He became an assistant train driver in 1901 and then a train driver in 1904.

He married the worker Lydia Germanovna Jalava (1886-1975) in 1903. Together, they adopted three orphaned girls.

Political and revolutionary work

Hugo Jalava actively participated in the work of the railway union and vigorously defended the interests of the workers in the years of the first Russian revolution (1905-1907). Jalava was chairman of the railway committee in the fall of 1905 during the political general strike in October. He repeatedly transported party members, money, weapons and illegal literature across the Finnish border. Starting 1907, "conspiratory" party actions were organised in his appartment.

Jalava was a member of the Social Democratic Party of Finland between 1906 and 1917.

Russian revolution

H2 293 as a Memorial-locomotive at the Finland Station in Saint. Petersburg

After the events of the july days in 1917, Jalava smuggled Lenin across the finish border twice with the steam engine H2 293. Disguised as a stoker, Lenin was able to stay undetected by the border patrols. From August to September, the Central Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) maintained written communication with Lenin through Jalava. On October 14, 1917, Lenin held a meeting at Jalava's apartment in St. Petersburg with leading party workers and militant organizations under the Central Committee of the RSDLP to discuss preparations for an armed uprising.

In 1918 Jalava participated in the Finnish civil war and was secretary to the foreign ministry of the revolutionary government. After the defeat of the revolution, Jalava returned to Saint Petersburg (then Petrograd). He worked as the head of the Secretariat Office for the Support of Finnish Refugees, which was established by the revolutionary government of Finland, and later in the People's Commissariat for Nationalities. In the years of the Russian civil war, Jalava returned to the railway and worked as a driving instructor and senior official in the depot.