Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (1918–1920)

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The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic ( Latvian Latvijas Sociālistiskā Padomju Republika (LSPR) ) was a short-lived state structure during the Latvian War of Independence and the Russian Civil War . It was formed on December 17, 1918 on the instructions and with the support of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and the government of Soviet Russia . The head of state was Pēteris Stučka .

Emergence

In the course of the occupation of the western areas of the former Russian Empire still held by Germany by the Red Army after the end of the First World War and the annulment of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk , the Bolsheviks under Lenin had the formation of pseudo-independent national Soviet republics in Poland and Lithuania , Belarus, Latvia and Estonia. At a meeting of the Latvian Communist Foreign Office on November 23, 1918, Joseph Stalin gave instructions to Lenin to establish an independent Soviet government. On December 4, 1918, a Latvian Provisional Soviet Government was formed, which in a manifesto of December 17, 1918 announced the takeover of power on Latvian territory. After the conquest of Riga on January 4, 1919, this government began its work.

Government and state building

From January 13-15, 1919, the First Congress of Workers, Landless and Soldiers' Councils took place in Riga . A 60-member Central Committee confirmed the following ministers and commissioners of the Soviet government.

Latvian 1 Ruble Banknote 1919

All members of the government simultaneously held positions in the Latvian Communist Party . The administrations of the districts and municipalities, which were set up analogously to the ministries, consisted of communists who were controlled by the superiors. The state constitution and laws were adopted by Soviet Russia and later supplemented and rebuilt by its own decrees. As the goal and task of the state, the new rulers announced on the one hand the immediate transition to socialism , the annihilation of the class enemy and, on the other hand, the military assistance with the Spartacists in East Prussia to transplant the revolution to Germany, Western Europe and the whole world.

Development until May 1919

March 1, 1919

When the May Day celebrations in Riga were staged at great expense, the government lost popular support. The aborted city council elections showed that even in the few steelworks whose workers were allowed to vote first because they were considered the most secure supporters, they voted against the communists. The state-monopolized food supply had led to a famine. After the distribution and consumption of the food supplies, which were already scarce due to the poor harvest and the German occupation, the demand could only be partially covered from February 1919 through requisitions and purchases in Belarus and the Ukraine . Even for the Soviet Latvian Army , which was given preferential treatment , there was no longer enough food. Category III residents such as pensioners , Baltic Germans and the unemployed were practically starved to death. So-called green partisan groups spread across the flat land and were already attacking district towns such as Cēsis . After the loss of Courland in March 1919, the front to the anti-Bolshevik troops of Rüdiger von der Goltz was only 40 km west of Riga. In the north the Estonian army had entered Latvian territory.

Military defeat and dissolution

An unforeseen attack by the Baltic State Army on May 22, 1919 brought Riga under the control of the anti-Bolshevik coalition. Two days later, when the Estonian army advanced from the north, no resistance was offered: the Soviet state and army were in the process of dissolution. The fled communist functionaries gathered in Latgale , the remnants of the Latvian red riflemen were integrated into the Red Army . The Soviet Latvian government ruled parts of Latgale for half a year. However, their rights and powers were limited to the equivalent of the Russian governorate administrations. In January 1920, after the complete loss of the national territory, the formal settlement took place to pave the way for the peace treaty of Riga .

literature

  • Hans von Rimscha , Hellmuth Weiss : From the Baltic provinces to the Baltic states. Contributions to the genesis of the republics of Estonia and Latvia. Edited on behalf of the Baltic Historical Commission by Jürgen von Hehn [u. a.]. Vol. I: 1917-1918. J. G. Herder Institute, Marburg 1971, DNB 720233739 ; Vol. II: 1918-1920. Ibid 1977, ISBN 3-87969-114-2 .
  • Edgars Andersons: Latvijas vēsture 1914–1920. Daugava, Stockholm 1967, OCLC 70328736 (Latvian).
  • Jānis Šiliņš: Padomju Latvija 1918–1919. Vēstures Izpētes un Popularizēšanas Biedrība, Riga 2013, ISBN 978-9934-8399-0-0 (Latvian).
  • Vilnis Sīpols: Foreign Intervention in Latvia. Translated from Latvian. by Kurt Ottersberg in conjunction with Dieter Guderjahn. Rütten and Loening, Berlin 1961, DNB 454724268 (original title: Ārvalstu intervencija Latvijā un tās aizkulises 1918–1920 ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jānis Siliņš: Padomju Latvija 1918-1919. Vēstures Izpētes un Popularizēšanas Biedrība, Riga 2013, p. 58.
  2. ↑ Jānis Siliņš: Padomju Latvija 1918-1919. 2013, p. 62.
  3. ↑ Jānis Siliņš: Padomju Latvija 1918-1919. 2013, p. 94.
  4. ↑ Jānis Siliņš: Padomju Latvija 1918-1919. 2013, p. 197.
  5. ↑ Jānis Siliņš: Padomju Latvija 1918-1919. 2013, chapter “Food”, pp. 135–145.
  6. ↑ Jānis Siliņš: Padomju Latvija 1918-1919. 2013, p. 195.
  7. ↑ Jānis Siliņš: Padomju Latvija 1918-1919. 2013, p. 222.