Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic

Socialist republic formed during the Latvian War of Independence (1918-20)

This article is about the Soviet Latvian state in 1918–1920. For the constituent republic of the Soviet Union in 1940–1991, see Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic

Latvijas Sociālistiskā Padomju Republika

1918–1920

Flag

Coat of arms

Motto: "Visu zemju proletārieši, savienojieties!"
Workers of the world, unite!
Anthem: Internacionāle

Capital| Riga (to 22 May 1919)
Dvinsk (Daugavpils)
Rezhitsa (Rezekne)
Common languages| Latvian * Russian
Latgaliana
Government| Soviet socialist republic
Chairman|

• 1918–1920

| Pēteris Stučka
Legislature| All-Latvian Congress of Workers' Soviet Deputies
History|

• Established

| 17 December 1918

• Recognized by Russian SFSR

| 22 December 1918

• Riga captured by German Freikorps

| 22 May 1919

• Disestablished

| 13 January 1920
Currency| Ruble

Preceded by | Succeeded by

|

|  | Republic of Latvia

|

| Baltic Duchy
| Iskolat
| Republic of Latvia |

|

1. Local languages included German, Yiddish, Lithuanian and Estonian.[1]

Part of a series on the

History of Latvia

Prehistory

* Kunda culture
* Narva culture
* Corded Ware culture
* Amber Road / Aesti
* Baltic Finns (Livonians, Vends)
* Balts
* Latgalians
* Curonians
* Selonians
* Semigallians

Middle Ages

* Principality of Jersika
* Principality of Koknese
* Tālava
* Livonian Crusade
* Livonian Brothers of the Sword
* Livonian Order
* Archbishopric of Riga
* Bishopric of Courland
* Terra Mariana
* Baltic Germans

Early modern period

* Livonian War
* Kingdom of Livonia
* Duchy of Livonia
* Inflanty Voivodeship
* Swedish Livonia
* Polish–Swedish Wars (1600-1629)
* Second Northern War
* Great Northern War
* Duchy of Courland and Semigallia
* Couronian colonization

National Awakening

* Governorate of Livonia
* Courland Governorate
* Vitebsk Governorate
* The First Latvian National Awakening
* New Current

Modern Latvia

* Latvian Riflemen
* German occupation
* United Baltic Duchy
* Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic
* War of Independence
* 1934 Latvian coup d'état
* 1940 Soviet occupation
* Nazi occupation
* The Holocaust in Latvia
* 1944 Soviet re-occupation
* Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic
* Popular Front of Latvia
* Singing Revolution
* Restoration of Independence
* 2008 Latvian financial crisis

Chronology
Latvia portal

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The Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic (Latvian: Latvijas Sociālistiskā Padomju Republika, LSPR) was a short-lived socialist republic formed during the Latvian War of Independence. It was proclaimed on 17 December 1918 with the political, economic, and military backing of Vladimir Lenin and his Bolshevik government in the Russian SFSR. The head of government was Pēteris Stučka with Jūlijs Daniševskis as his deputy.[2]

## History

[edit]

The LSPR armed forces, which consisted of the Red Latvian Riflemen and other units of the Red Army, quickly captured most of the territory of present-day Latvia, forcing Kārlis Ulmanis's provisional government into a small pocket of territory around the city of Liepāja.

Stučka's government introduced sweeping communist reforms, resuming the radical policy direction from the abortive Iskolat government. Some reforms were initially popular, such as the expropriation of property from the bourgeoisie. The decision to unilaterally nationalise all agrarian land, however, had dire economic consequences for the cities, as rural support for the regime declined drastically.

The peasants no longer agreed to supply the townsfolk with foodstuffs on the government's terms, and shortages became critical. When the people in Riga and other cities began to starve, contributing to widespread discontent among the proletariat as well, a wave of Red Terror swept both rural and urban areas, seeking out alleged counter-revolutionaries supposedly responsible for the failures of the regime. Arbitrary Revolutionary Tribunals and the so-called Flintenweiber ("Gun-Women") were memorable components of this wave of terror.

When the Entente-backed Ulmanis government counter-attacked with the backing of German Freikorps units in the spring of 1919, they quickly regained the lost territory. The capital, Riga, was recaptured on 22 May 1919, and the territory of the LSPR was reduced to a part of Latgale in eastern Latvia, until the final defeat in the Battle of Daugavpils by combined Latvian and Polish forces in early 1920.

Historians in the USSR viewed the Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940 as reestablishing of power, and the 1920–1940 period of Independence was viewed just as a temporary break in Soviet-Latvian history.

* May 1, 1919 celebrations in Riga

* May 1, 1919 decorations in Riga

* 5 ruble note

* 1 ruble note

## Government

[edit]

The formation of the Soviet Latvian government was initiated by the Central Committee of the Latvian Social Democracy (LSD) in Moscow on Joseph Stalin's proposal at an extraordinary meeting of the party's Russian bureau on November 23, 1918. Special meetings were created Latvian revolutionary composition of the provisional Soviet Government.[3]

In 1919 The 1st Joint Congress of Workers', Landless and Riflemen's Councils was held in Riga on 1 January, announcing the establishment of the Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic, the establishment of a dictatorship of the proletariat, and electing the Latvian Central Executive Committee (LCIK) with 60 members and 20 candidates. LCIK appointed 11 members of the Soviet Latvian Government or Council of Commissars:[4]

* Chairman of the Council — Pēteris Stučka
* Deputy Chairman — Jūlijs Daniševskis, Jānis Lencmanis, Oto Kārkliņš
* People's Commissar of the Interior — Jānis Lencmanis
* Commissar of Justice — Pēteris Stučka
* Commissar of War — Kārlis Pētersons
* Commissar of Agriculture — Fricis Roziņš
* Commissar of Finance —Rūdolfs Endrups
* Commissar of Industry — Dāvids Beika (Deputy Kārlis Pečaks)
* Secretary of the Council — Jānis Šilfs (Jaunzems)
* Commissar of Construction and Public Building — Eduards Zandreiters.

In April 1919, Kārlis Ziediņš, a member of the Revolutionary War Council of the Baltic Fleet, was appointed the head of the LSPR Maritime administration. Jānis Bērziņš (Ziemelis) was the Commissar of Education and Augusts Sukuts was the Commissar of State Control.

All members of the government were also members of the LCIK presidium and the central committee of the Latvian Social Democracy (later the Communist Party of Latvia). As a result, political power in Soviet Latvia was concentrated in the hands of a narrow circle of people. Eight economic commissariats were merged into the People's Economic Council, while the war, internal affairs and justice commissariats were merged into the Revolutionary War Council.[5]

## See also

[edit]

* Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic
* Iskolat
* Commune of the Working People of Estonia
* Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic
* History of Latvia
* Lithuanian–Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic
* Republics of the Soviet Union
* Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia

## References

[edit]

1. ^ (in Latvian) Decree on use of languages in official documents, 8 March 1919
2. ^ Purs, Aldis; Plakans, Andrejs (2017). Historical Dictionary of Latvia. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-5381-0221-3.
3. ^ "1919 in Latvia". Archived from the original on 21 April 2019.
4. ^ Latvian Soviet Encyclopedia . Volume 1. Riga: The main edition of encyclopedias . P.
5. ^ "History of Latvia, 1914-1940". Archived from the original on 21 April 2019.

## Bibliography

[edit]

* Stuchka, P. (1919–21). Piat' mesiatsev Sotsialisticheskoi sovetskoi Latvii: Sbornik statei i dokumentov (in Russian). Pskov: Izd-vo TsK KP Latvii. pp. 2 v. OCLC 38770737.
* Popoff, George (1932). The City of the Red Plague: Soviet Rule in a Baltic Town. London; New York: George Allen & Unwin; E. P. Dutton & Co. OCLC 413467.
* Krastyn', IA. P. (Krastiņš, J.) (ed.) (1959–60). Sotsialisticheskaia Sovetskaia Respublika Latvii v 1919 g. i inostrannaia interventsiia: Dokumenty i materialy (in Russian and Latvian). Riga: Izd-vo Akademii Nauk Latviiskoi SSR. pp. 2 v. OCLC 18861284. `{{cite book}}`: `|first=` has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
* Zile, Zigurds L. (1977). "Legal Thought and the Formation of Law and Legal Institutions in the Socialist Soviet Republic of Latvia, 1917–1920". Journal of Baltic Studies. 8 (3): 195–204\. doi:10.1080/01629777700000191.

## External links

[edit]

* Latvia in the Soviet Union (early flags)
* Latvia at www.worldstatesmen.org.
* (in Latvian) Significant documents from the history of the LSPR at historia.lv.

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