Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic
Latvia, 1940–1990. Draft, not yet reviewed
The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic was a de facto constituent republic of the Soviet Union covering the occupied and annexed territory of Latvia from 1940 to 1941, and then from 1944 until 1990. 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. 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. On 4 May 1990, the Council passed the declaration "On the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia," which declared the Soviet annexation void and announced the start of a transitional period to independence.
Seat of power: Riga
Rulers
Alfrēds Rubiks
Head of government, 1984–1990
Rubiks served as the Chairman of the Riga City Executive Committee from 1984 to 1990, effectively the last Communist mayor of the city. He was a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from July 1990 until the party was banned on 6 November 1991.
Portrait of Alfrēds Rubiks: SergeyTreinis, CC BY-SA 4.0, file
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Culture
- After the 1949 deportations and collectivization, the resistance movement decreased sharply, with the last few individuals surrendering in 1956 when amnesty was offered.
- In 1949, 120,000 Latvian inhabitants deemed disloyal by the Soviets were imprisoned or deported to Soviet labor camps (the Gulag).
- 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.
- The Latvian Army did not fire a shot and was quickly decimated by purges, then incorporated into the Soviet Army.
Picture
The Academy of Sciences edifice was built between 1951 and 1961 and was the first skyscraper in the republic.
Image: Sergei Gussev, CC BY 2.0, file
Sources
- Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (Wikipedia)
- Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (Wikidata)
- About the picture (Wikipedia)
Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.