Teataja emphasized the importance of education and commerce for the nationalist cause. The work was made difficult by the strict censorship policies imposed by the Russian Empire's governmental authorities. Early political career Päts's first political goal was to take power in the towns, where Baltic Germans still controlled the municipal governments. Päts served as a municipal adviser in Tallinn from 1904; and together with Jaan Poska, he organized an electoral block between Estonians and liberal Russians, which managed to win at the 1904 Tallinn municipal elections. Päts became a member of the city council; and in April 1905, he became the deputy mayor, chairing the city council. His active work at the town government left him little time for his newspaper. A group of revolutionaries, led by Hans Pöögelmann, had taken control in Teataja'''s staff and published anti-government articles and called people for a revolution. During the 1905 Revolution, Päts was already an activist on self-government reform, where he supported national autonomy in the Baltic governorates. In the escalation of the revolution, his newspaper was closed and its staff members arrested. Päts found out about this in advance and managed to escape to Switzerland, only to find out that he had been condemned to death in the Russian Empire. In 1906, he moved to Helsinki, Finland, where he continued his literary and journalist career. Much of his work was published anonymously in Estonia. He also advised local municipalities on land reform questions. In 1908, Päts moved to Ollila, which was located at the Russian border near Saint Petersburg. There he became one of the editors for the Estonian newspaper Peterburi Teataja ("The St Petersburg Gazette"), although he still resided in Finland. In Ollila, he was reunited with his family, with whom he had parted when he escaped to Switzerland in 1905. After his wife had become seriously ill, Päts found out that he was no longer condemned to death in the Russian Empire. He moved back to Estonia in 1909, to face only minor charges. From February 1910, he served time in Kresty Prison in Saint Petersburg, while his wife died of tuberculosis in Switzerland, where Päts had sent her for treatment. During his imprisonment, he was able to study foreign languages and write articles, to be published in newspapers. Päts was released on 25 March 1911. The governor of the Governorate of Estonia complained about Päts's activity in Estonia