Before the revolution, the inhabitants of distant Chukotka were subjected to cruel exploitation. The first Soviet ship brought the attorney of the Kamchatka Revolutionary Committee, Loss, and the ethnographer Zhukov. They set off for the "Lorraine" camp. The news of the arrival of Russian men quickly spread along the coast. Overcoming the opposition of the American Thomson, a shameless buyer, and the local nabob Alitet, Loss and Zhukov established fair trade laws and gathered around them the poor hunters.
The American settlers, Thomson and his son Frank, fled Chukotka. Driven out by Loss and Zhukov, the wealthy Alitet left the camp. In the spring, a detachment of Soviet soldiers arrived to help the Chukchi build a new life on free land.
