Latvian SSR

The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (Also known as the Latvian SSR, or Latvia) was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union from 1940 to 1941, and then from 1944 until 1990.

The Soviet occupation and annexation of Latvia began between June and August 1939, according to the agreed terms of the secret protocol of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. In 1939, Latvia was forced to give military bases on its soil to the Soviet Union, and in 1940 the Red Army moved into Latvia, effectively annexing it into the Soviet Union.

The territory changed sides during World War II, with Nazi Germany occupying a large portion of Latvian territory from 1941 until the Red Army entered Latvia in 1944 with the final territory occupied by the Germans liberated in 1945. The Soviet occupation of the Baltic states from 1939 to 1940 and then from 1944 to 1991 was widely considered illegal by the international community and human rights organizations.Motion for a resolution on the Situation in Estonia
by the European Parliament, B6-0215/2007, 21 May 2007
passed 24.5.2007
. Retrieved 1 January 2010.

Soviet instability during the 1980s and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 provided an opportunity for Latvia to restore its independence.

Creation in 1940

On 24 September 1939, USSR bombers entered the airspace of Estonia, flying numerous intelligence-gathering operations. On 25 September, Moscow demanded that Estonia sign a Soviet–Estonian Mutual Assistance Treaty to allow the USSR to establish military bases and station troops on its soil. Latvia was next in line, as the USSR demanded the signing of a similar treaty. The authoritarian government of Kārlis Ulmanis accepted the ultimatum, signing the Soviet–Latvian Mutual Assistance Treaty on 5 October 1939. On 16 June 1940, after the USSR had already invaded Lithuania, it issued an ultimatum to Latvia, followed by the Soviet occupation of Latvia on 17 June.

Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov had accused Latvia and the Baltic states of forming a military conspiracy against the Soviet Union. Moscow presented ultimatums, demanding new concessions, including the replacement of governments with new ones, "determined to fulfill the treaties of friendship sincerely" and allowing an unlimited number of troops to enter the three countries. Hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops entered Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. These additional Soviet military forces far outnumbered their individual armies. Stephane Courtois; Werth, Nicolas; Panne, Jean-Louis; Paczkowski, Andrzej; Bartosek, Karel; Margolin, Jean-Louis & Kramer, Mark (1999). ''The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression''. Harvard University Press. .

The Ulmanis government decided that, given the conditions of international isolation and the overwhelming Soviet force both on the borders and inside the country, it was better to avoid bloodshed and an unwinnable war. The Latvian Army did not fire a shot and was quickly decimated by purges, then incorporated into the Soviet Army.

Ulmanis' government resigned and was replaced by a left-wing government created under instructions from the USSR embassy. Until the election of the People's Parliament on the 14/15th of July 1940, there were no public statements about governmental plans to introduce a Soviet political order or to join the Soviet Union. Soon after the occupation, the Communist Party of Latvia became the only legal party and presented the " Latvian Working People's Bloc" for the elections.Vincent E McHale (1983) ''Political parties of Europe'', Greenwood Press, p450 It was the only permitted participant in the election after an attempt by other politicians to include the Democratic Bloc (an alliance of all banned Latvian parties, except the Social Democratic Workers' Party) on the ballot was prevented by the government. Its office was closed, election leaflets confiscated, and its leaders arrested.Misiunas & Taagepera, p26

The election results were fabricated; the Soviet press released them so early that they appeared in a London newspaper 24 hours before the polls closed.Švābe, Arvīds. ''The Story of Latvia''. Latvian National Foundation. Stockholm. 1949. All Soviet army personnel present in the country were allowed to vote.''Attitudes of the Major Soviet Nationalities'', Center for International Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1973

The newly elected People's Parliament convened on 21 July and announced both the creation of the Latvian SSR and the request of admission into the Soviet Union. A change in the constitutional order of the state was illegal under the Constitution of Latvia because a change was only possible after a plebiscite with two-thirds of the electorate's approval. On 5 August, the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union completed the annexation process and accepted the Latvian petition, formally incorporating Latvia into the Soviet Union.

Following the annexation, power in the republic was held by the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Latvia, while the titular head of the republic (Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet), and the head of the executive (the Chairman of the Soviet of the Ministers), were in subordinate positions. Therefore, the history of Soviet Latvia can broadly be divided into the periods of rule by the First Secretaries: Jānis Kalnbērziņš, Arvīds Pelše, Augusts Voss, and Boris Pugo.

Era of Kalnbērziņš, 1940–1959

The Horrible Year, 1940–41

In the following months of 1940, the Soviet Constitution and criminal code (copied from Russian) were introduced. The elections of July 1940 were followed by elections to the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union in January 1941. The remaining Baltic Germans and anyone that could claim to be one emigrated to Nazi Germany.

On 7 August 1940, all print media and printing houses were nationalized. Most existing magazines and newspapers were discontinued or appeared under new Soviet names. In November 1940, banning books began; in total, 4,000 titles were banned and removed from circulation. Arrests of authors like Aleksandrs Grīns occurred during this time.

As Latvia implemented a sweeping land reform after the independence, most farms were too small for nationalization. While rumors of impending collectivization were officially denied in 1940 and 52,000 landless peasants were given small plots of up to 10 ha, in early 1941, preparations for collectivization began. The small size of land plots and imposition of the production quotas and high taxes meant that independent farmers would likely go bankrupt and had to establish collective farms.

Arrests and deportations to the Soviet Union began before Latvia was annexed. Initially, they were limited to the most prominent political and military leaders like President Kārlis Ulmanis, War Minister Jānis Balodis, and Army Chief Krišjānis Berķis, who were arrested in July 1940. The Soviet NKVD arrested most of the White Russian émigrés, who had found refuge in Latvia. Very soon, purges reached the upper echelons of the puppet government when Minister of Welfare Jūlijs Lācis was arrested.

14 June deportations

In early 1941, the Soviet central government planned the mass deportation of ''anti-Soviet elements'' from the occupied Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. In preparation, General Ivan Serov, Deputy People's Commissar of Public Security of the Soviet Union, signed the Serov Instructions, "Regarding the Procedure for Carrying out the Deportation of Anti-Soviet Elements from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia." During the night of 13 to 14 June 1941, 15,424 inhabitants of Latvia — including 1,771 Jews and 742 ethnic Russians — were deported to camps and special settlements, most of which were in Siberia.

Among the deported were such obvious candidates as former politicians, wealthy bourgeois and farmers, police, members of Aizsargi, and NGO leaders, even philatelists and enthusiasts of Esperanto were included in the June deportation as unreliable elements. 600 Latvian officers were arrested in the Litene army camp, and many were executed on the spot. Many political prisoners were summarily executed in prisons across Latvia during the hasty Soviet retreat after the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Latvia lost 35,000 people during the first year of Soviet rule.

World War II, 1941–1945

The start of Operation Barbarossa cut short immediate plans to deport several hundred thousand more people. German troops occupied Riga on 1 July 1941. A few days later, Reichskommissariat Ostland, was established incorporating the territories of Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, and parts of Byelorussia.

During the short interregnum period, Latvians created two political bodies that sought to restore independent Latvia: the Central Organizing Committee for Liberated Latvia and the Provisional State Council.

Immediately after the installment of Nazi German authority, the process of eliminating the Jewish and Gypsy populations began, with many killings taking place in Rumbula.

Massacres were mainly committed by the Einsatzgruppe A, the Wehrmacht, and Marines (in Liepāja), as well as Latvian collaborators, which included the 500 to 1,500 members of the Arajs Kommando (which alone killed around 26,000 Jews) and the 2,000 or more Latvian members of the SD. Ezergailis, A. The Holocaust in Latvia, 1996 By the end of 1941, almost the entire Jewish population had been killed or placed in the death camps. In addition, some 25,000 Jews were brought from Germany, Austria, and present-day Czechia, of whom around 20,000 were killed. The Holocaust claimed approximately 85,000 lives in Latvia, of whom the vast majority were Jews.

A large number of Latvians resisted the German occupation. The resistance movement was divided between the pro-independence politicians of the Latvian Central Council and the armed Soviet partisan units under the Latvian Partisan Movement Headquarters (латвийский штаб партизанского движения) in Moscow. The commander was of the communists was Arturs Sproģis.

The Nazis planned to Germanize the Baltic's by settling some 520,000 German settlers there 20–25 years after the war. In 1943 and 1944, two divisions of Latvian Legion were created through a forced mobilization and made a part of the Waffen SS to help Germany fight the Red Army.

Stalinism re-imposed, 1945–1953

In the middle of 1944, when the Soviet Operation Bagration reached Latvia, heavy fighting took place between German and Soviet troops, which ended with a stalemate and the creation of the Courland Pocket, which allowed some 130,000 Latvians to escape to Sweden and Germany.

During the war, both occupying forces conscripted Latvians into their armies, which increased the loss of the nation's "live resources." In Courland, Latvian Legion units fought battles against Latvians of the Red Army.

Latvia lost some 20% of its population during World War II. In 1944 part of Abrene District, about 2% of Latvia's territory, was illegally ceded to the RSFSR.

In 1944, the Soviets immediately began to reinstate the Soviet system. After re-establishing military control over the country, in February 1946, elections of the Soviet Union's Supreme Soviet were held, followed, in February 1947, by Latvian Supreme Soviet elections and only in January 1948 elections to the local Soviets.

Guerrilla movement

After the German surrender, it became clear that Soviet forces were there to stay and Latvian national partisans began their fight against the Soviet Union. At their peak, some 10,000–15,000 partisans in disorganized units fought local battles against Soviets, NKVD troops and Soviet government representatives. Forest brothers consisted not only of the former Legionnaires or German supporters but also of men who were trying to avoid Soviet conscription, dispossessed farmers, and even priests and school pupils who wrote and distributed patriotic leaflets and provided shelter to partisans. Many believed that a new war between the Western powers and the Soviet Union was imminent and expected Latvia to be liberated soon. After the 1949 deportations and collectivization, the resistance movement decreased sharply, with the last few individuals surrendering in 1956 when amnesty was offered. The last holdout was Jānis Pīnups, who hid from authorities until 1995.

Deportations of 1949

120,000 Latvian inhabitants deemed disloyal by the Soviets were imprisoned or deported to Soviet labor camps (the Gulag). Some escaped arrest and joined the Forest Brothers.

On 25 March 1949, 43,000 primarily rural residents (" kulaks") were deported to Siberia and northern Kazakhstan in Operation Priboi, which was implemented in all three Baltic States and was approved in Moscow on 29 January 1949. Almost 30% of those deported were children under 16.

Collectivization

In the post-war period, Latvia was forced to adopt Soviet farming methods, and the economic infrastructure developed in the 1920s and 1930s was eradicated. Farms belonging to refugees were confiscated, German supporters had their farm sizes sharply reduced, and much of the farmland became state-owned. The remaining farmers' taxes and obligatory produce delivery quotas were increased until individual farming became impossible. Many farmers killed their cattle and moved to cities. In 1948 collectivization began in earnest and was intensified after the March 1949 deportations, and by the end of the year, 93% of farms were collectivized.

Collective farming was extremely unprofitable as farmers had to plant and harvest according to the state plan and not the actual harvest conditions, and farmers were paid close to nothing for their produce. Grain production in Latvia collapsed from 1.37 million tons in 1940 to 0.73 million tons in 1950 and to 0.43 million tons in 1956. Only in 1965 did Latvia reach the meat and dairy output levels of 1940.

Russian dominance

During the first post-war years, Moscow's control was enforced by the Special Bureau of CPSU Central Committee, led by Mikhail Suslov. To ensure total control over the local Communist party, Ivan Lebedev, a Russian, was elected the Second Secretary. This tradition continued until the end of the Soviet system. The lack of politically reliable local cadres meant the Soviets increasingly placed Russians in Party and government leadership positions. Many ''Russian Latvian'' Communists who had survived the so-called 1937–38 "Latvian Operation" during the Great Purge were sent back to the homeland of their parents. Most of these Soviets did not speak Latvian, and this only enforced the wall of distrust against the local population. By 1953 Latvia's Communist Party had 42,000 members, half of whom were Latvians.

Hundreds of thousands of Russians were moved to Latvia to replace the lost population (due to war casualties, refugees to the West, and deportees to the East) and to implement a heavy industrialization program. An extensive program of Russification was initiated, limiting the use of Latvian and minority languages. In addition, the Russian people's leading and progressive role throughout Latvian history was heavily emphasized in school books, arts, and literature. The remaining poets, writers, and painters had to follow the strict canons of socialist realism and live in constant fear of being accused of some ideological mistake that could lead to banning from publication or even arrest.

National Communists, 1953–1959

During the short rule of Lavrentiy Beria in 1953, the policy of giving more power to local communists and respecting local languages was introduced. More freedoms came after the 1956 de-Stalinization. Some 30,000 survivors of Soviet deportations began returning to Latvia. Many were barred from working in certain professions or returning to their homes.

Soon after the death of Stalin, a number of Latvians in the Communist Party began to increase. By this time many locally-born communists had achieved positions of power and began advocating a program that centered on ending the inflow of Russian-speaking immigrants, ending the growth of heavy industry, and creating light industries better suited for local needs, increasing the role and power of the locally born communists, enforcing the Latvian language as the ''state language''. This group was led by Eduards Berklavs, who in 1957 became the vice-chairman of the Council of Ministers. Orders were issued that non-Latvian Communists should learn some Latvian or lose their jobs within two years.

They were opposed by the ''Russian Latvian'' communists who had been born to Latvian parents in Russia or the Soviet Union, had returned to Latvia only after World War II, and usually did not speak or avoided speaking Latvian in public. They were supported by the politically influential officer corps of the Baltic Military District. In 1958 Soviet education made learning national languages optional.

In April 1959, a fact-finding delegation from Soviet Central Committee visited Riga. During Nikita Khrushchev's visit to Riga in June 1959, hard-line elements complained about the nationalist tendencies in the Party and, with the blessing from Moscow, started purges of national communists and local communists, who had been in power since 1940. In November 1959, the long-serving First Secretary of the Party Kalnbērziņš and Prime Minister Vilis Lācis resigned from their posts and were replaced by hardliners. During the next three years, some 2,000 national communists were dismissed from their positions and moved to insignificant posts in the countryside or Russia.

The first post-war census in 1959 showed that the number of Latvians since 1935 had declined by 170,000, while Russians had increased by 388,000, Belarusians by 35,000, and Ukrainians by 28,000.

Because Latvia had still maintained a well-developed infrastructure and educated specialists, it was decided in Moscow that some of the Soviet Union's most advanced manufacturing factories were to be based in Latvia. New industries were created in Latvia, including a major machinery factory RAF, and electrotechnical factories, along with some food and oil processing plants. TV broadcasts from Riga started in 1954, the first in the Baltics.

Era of Pelše, 1959–1966

From 1959 to 1962, leading Latvian national communists were purged as Arvīds Pelše enforced his power.

In 1961, Pelše officially banned the Latvian midsummer Jāņi celebrations along with other Latvian traditions and folk customs. In November 1959 Pelše also instigated the purge of "nascent nationalists" from the Latvian government. Almost 2,000 members of the government were removed.

Between 1959 and 1968, nearly 130,000 Russian speakers immigrated to Latvia and began working in the large industrial factories that were rapidly built. The newly arrived immigrants were the first to receive apartments in the newly built micro-districts. Large factories, employing tens of thousands of recently arrived immigrants, and entirely dependent on resources from faraway Soviet regions, produced products – most of which were sent back to other Soviet republics. Many of the new factories were under the All-Union ministry and military jurisdiction, thus operating outside the planned economy of Soviet Latvia. Latvia's VEF and Radiotehnika factories specialized in producing radios, telephones and sound systems. Most of the Soviet railway carriages were made by Rīgas Vagonbūves Rūpnīca and minibuses by Riga Autobus Factory.

In 1962, Riga began receiving Russian gas for industrial needs and domestic heating. This allowed large-scale construction of new micro-districts and high-rises to begin. In 1965, the Pļaviņas Hydroelectric Power Station began producing electricity.

Era of Voss, 1966–1984

File:1967 CPA 3520.jpg, Soviet stamp in honour of the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution, 1967
File:Riga 1980 4kop USSR.jpg, Soviet stamp celebrating 40 years of the Latvian SSR
File:DR1A Riga.JPG, A train built in RVR
File:РАФ-22031.jpg, The iconic RAF minibus
File:Old soviet building (8229119199).jpg, The abandoned House of Press
File:Jurmala-Riviera meets Totalitarism.jpg, Soviet nomenklatura sanatorium in Jūrmala

Since there were not enough people to operate the newly built factories and expand industrial production, workers outside the Latvian SSR (mainly Russians) were transferred into the country, noticeably decreasing the proportion of ethnic Latvians. The speed of Russification was also influenced by the fact that Riga was the HQ of the Baltic Military District, with active and retired Soviet officers moving there.

Increased investments and subsidies for collective farms greatly increased the living standards of the rural population without much increase in production output. Much of the farm produce was still grown on small private plots. To improve rural living standards, a mass campaign was started to liquidate individual family farms and to move people into smaller agricultural towns where they were given apartments. Farmers became paid workers in collective farms.

While the early Voss era continued with the modernizing impulse of the 1960s, a visible stagnation began by the mid-1970s. Prestige high-rise projects in Riga, such as the Hotel Latvija and the Ministry of Agriculture building, took many years to complete. A new international airport and the Vanšu Bridge over Daugava were built.

An ideological model of "live and let live" came into place. The black market, absenteeism, and alcoholism became widespread. Consumer goods shortages became normal.

Era of Pugo, 1984–1988

National reawakening, 1985–1990

In the second half of the 1980s, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev began the introduction of the political and economic reforms of glasnost and Perestroika. In the summer of 1987, large demonstrations were held in Riga at the Freedom Monument. In the summer of 1988, a national movement coalesced in the Popular Front of Latvia. The Latvian SSR, along with the other Baltic Republics, was allowed greater autonomy, and in 1988 the old national flag of Latvia was legalized, replacing the Soviet Latvian flag as the official flag in 1990. Pro-independence Latvian Popular Front candidates gained a two-thirds majority in the Supreme Council in the March 1990 democratic elections.

Collapse of the Soviet rule

On 4 May 1990, the Council passed the declaration "On the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia

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